"It Really Wasn't the Bear's Fault": Grizzly Attack Survivor Reflects | National Geographic

We see them all the time, but they usually go the other direction. With the S Cubs, it's a whole different category. When she saw me, she just basically said, "You're [Music] next." I was irrigating my ranch, and I have been doing this at that particular time for 50 years. Every morning, I get up early and take off with my shovel. My dog and I normally carry bear spray when I go hiking out in the hills, which I do a lot.

But I was irrigating. Well, June 20th, 2013, and as I was doing that, I heard my dog in a terrible fight, just literally screaming. Without thinking, I rushed around the corner. Twenty-five yards away was a s with two little cubs. Within two and a half seconds, she was on me. I swung at her with a shovel and hit her, but it didn't dissuade her. She reached up and basically removed the center of my face.

Then we went down on the ground, and she grabbed my left knee and drugged me about 20 ft. She just worked me over for what seemed like long enough, but it was probably like 20 or 30 seconds, and then she took off. I was trying to get my cell phone to work, and as I was doing that, I could hear her coming back because she had inadvertently charged off the wrong way and left her cubs back behind me.

So she came tearing down the hill again. I could hear her huffing and puffing, and she tied into me again. But I was really prepared that time. That time, she just kind of bit my scalp and tried to claw through my back, and then she left. I laid there for a few more seconds, and then I decided to better change locations, so I got up and walked home.

We met the ambulance, and then that was it. I didn't remember anything else till I woke up in Denver. I was in Denver in intensive care for two weeks. I was really disappointed that I had set this up, you know, because it was totally on me. I should have read the signs. I should have, you know, instead of just rushing into it.

It really wasn't the bear's fault; she wasn't doing anything but what any good mother would do. So it's in grizzly habitat, there's no question about it. And I've known that for years. It's like blizzards and weeds; now, predators are a fact that's not going to go away. You got to take it more seriously. [Music]