I have a very interesting family that covers a wide variety of individuals. From college educated liberals, to union reps, to business owners and hard working Americans. But, it was funny last summer at the reunion. We all agreed on one thing that we wanted from the government. Leave us alone. Someone once said the best government governs the least. Just something to think about for awhile before you ever say there should be a law against this or that.

 

But this article is not about politics, no I wanted to brag a little about my family. Just a little. My one cousin Don used to be a deputy sheriff in Grayling, Michigan in the 70's until he transferred to a new Sheriff's department down state. At the time Grayling was the home of Fred Bear Archery. Now, for all you new people in the Outdoors, Fred Bear was a very accomplished bow hunter. In his great life he had harvested I believe every big animal in the world with a bow. Not just a bow but a recurve bow. That is right, tigers, lions, Kodiak bears, elephants, black bears, dall sheep, etc. In fact if you can find any of his books talking about his many hunting trips they are well worth buying. The one I remember best was how he finally got the 9 or 10 foot tall Kodiak grizzly bear with his bow.

 

This was his 3rd trip to Alaska after the great bear. The other 2 trips had ended with a wounded bear charging that his guide had to shoot with a rifle. Oh yes, he might of been one of the best bow hunters in the world but he was not going after one of the most dangerous bears in the world without back up. This trip was about the same hunting hard for days on end and on the last day the trip came together. A huge Kodiak grizzly was walking along the beach hunting. The guide and Fred had spilt up. Fred thinking the guide was behind him as back up, but it was a misunderstanding and the guide was no where near Fred. Fred not knowing this watched the bear approach along the beach. When the bear was even he let the arrow fly hitting the bear perfectly behind the shoulder. The bear turned right at him and charged. The bear not seeing the hunter was running away from the danger. Fred was standing on the trail the bear was heading for. He turned around and told the guide to shoot the bear. But, the guide was no where in sight.

 

Fred carried a .44 mag pistol and pulled it out. This was his ditch effort and he waited as the bear approached hoping the huge bear would change course or fall over from the arrow wounds. I can not imagine the restraint that he must have felt not wanting to shoot the bear with his gun. At the last 10 feet I believe the bear turned and ran down the wood edge on the beach. Falling over dead farther down the beach. I'm writing this from memory so the details may not be the perfect recount of the events, but close enough to give you an idea of the great Man.

 

Fred Bear had a Museum in Grayling, Michigan that my Father took me to when I was a teenager and saw the stuffed bear and a lot of his other trophies. I believe the Museum is now in Florida. But back to my cousin Don. He still has friends in Grayling and the family reunion was just north of grayling. Anyways, Don was telling the story of eating breakfast one morning at the local restaurant in Grayling when someone came up and sat down. He was thinking oh great, someone is going to ruin his breakfast complaining about a ticket or how the Sheriff's Department is doing a bad job. He looked up across the booth and saw Fred Bear. You see Fred would sit with Deputies to keep the tourist from bothering him.

 

They became friends over the years and just before the company transferred to Florida Fred bear had T shirts made up about his company and signed the shirts. Here is a picture of the T-shirt.

 

 

 

 

One of his friend's that are now retired from the Grayling Sheriff department presented the t-shirt at the family reunion. The caption on the right bottom of the T-shirts says "Thanks Don for showing me how." Signed Fred Bear. Now before anyone jumps and down saying this is not true. Your right my cousin did not teach Fred Bear how to be a bow hunter. But that is one T-shirt that will be a prized for the rest of Don's life and I am proud to say part of my family heritage.

 

Bruce "Buckshot"