A Montana man didn't have time to think, only react when a grown grizzly bear charged at him. He was forced to shoot and put down the beast.
Speaking with Outdoor Life, Justin Lee reflected on his close brush with death. The last thing he expected when he went walking with his brother-in-law, John Long, was a grizzly bear. But both men were prepared, carrying sidearms, just in case.
"There was no time to be nervous," Lee told the outlet. "No time for calculation whatsoever."
He said they always come prepared in grizzly bear territory. Instead of hunting for bears, they were hunting for mushrooms. "We weren't hunting bear," he said. "We just carry these guns when we're down there in case. It just happened to be the 'in case' day that day."
Lee said he was alarmed when his brother in law came running back. He said that he saw a grizzly bear approaching them.
Grizzly Charges Man
He said, "He came running back saying, 'There's a bear. There's a bear.' Then I saw the bear and she had a cub. We started yelling and jumping up and down trying to scare her off. She just kept coming our way. Not charging but coming."
But when the bear saw the two, that's when she got spooked and decided to charge the two.
"She got our wind — she scented us," Lee said. "Then she got down on all fours and started jogging toward us instead of away from us. At 30 yards, she put her ears back and she was charging, so we started shooting."
Ultimately, they managed to kill the grizzly. Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks ruled the death as self-defense.
"They were very good," Lee said. "I'm sorry to have to kill a bear, especially a female with a cub. But there wasn't a choice. I've seen many bears and [have] been close to many bears. In all my encounters, they see me and they run away. But [this bear] just wasn't afraid of humans."
The Montana man is now more wary.
"It doesn't change the way I behave, but it makes me wonder about having guests," Lee says. "The grizzly bear recovery program in North-Central Montana has been wildly successful. When I was a kid, they were rare and in the mountains. It was a really big deal to see them. Over the years, it's become less odd. Now it's just standard."
