If there’s one animal you don’t want to mess with out in the wild, it’s a bear.
These two fisherman didn’t have much of a warning as the Alaskan brown snuck up on them while they were fishing. Luckily, the two men were somewhat prepared for the interaction, with one of them wielding bear spray while the other picked up a sharp tree branch to use if the big animal attacked.
The tension in the clip is almost palpable as the fisherman walk slowly along the water as the bear stalks closely behind. They follow all of the “beat deterring guidelines” during the encounter as they avoid any fast movement (so they don’t trigger the chase instinct) and repeatedly shout at the bear in a low voice.
One of the fishermen continually yells:
“Go on bear. Go on bear.”
The two men continue to walk along in the shallow water, keeping a close eye on the bear who matches their every movement from a distance. Both fishermen keep their weapons ready to go, with one holding their finger on the bear spray release button, and the other keeping the pointy end of the driftwood locked in battle position.
At one point, the bear speeds up and appears to cut off the men from walking in the direction they were heading. The two of them stop dead in their tracks and watch closely as the bear stares right back at them. A couple more “go on bears” seems to do the trick, and the bear goes trotting backwards for a moment as the men nervously continue to walk.
One of the guys can be heard saying:
“Just keep walking. Just keep backing away dude. Go on bear.”
The two fishermen decide to stop for a moment to what the bear will do, and the bear keeps coming at them (slowly, but surely). One of them briefly considers discharging a little bit of the bear spray as the big animal continues to make its way towards them.
And I know it might be cliché to call this footage “heart-pounding,” but around the 1:20 mark on the video, you can actually hear the man’s heart beat. The point of view makes it seem like its strapped onto his chest like a body camera, and hearing the fast, loud beat of the man’s heart confirms the high stakes that this encounter had.
Finally, the bear turns and around and takes off, and the two fishermen do the exact same thing. I’m happy that they got away from the situation unharmed, but there is a part of me that slightly disappointed that we didn’t get to see the bear spray or the sharp stick in action. The bear was probably just looking to steal a couple of fish from them anyways…
Take a look:
