Brown Bear while Goat and deer hunting

Today was an extra special day. It started at 3:30 A.M. as I could not sleep due to excitement of going to one of my honey holes. We have been out several times since the season opened August 1st. Due to velvet still on the deer and a hard winter we had no real plans until today to drop a hammer on a live round.
Well I started forming 338 WSM cases from 300WSM. Got the back packs ready. Made breakfast and woke the little lady up. While she was getting ready I walked outside to check the weather and put fresh wood in the smokehouse. I had just brined twenty pounds of silver salmon yesterday and started the smoking process the night before.
After breakfast it's off to one of several secret spots. Thirty minutes of driving brought us to our spot at a stream full of salmon.
Break: Over the years a number of people have commented at the excessive sized of the caliber of handguns I hunt with. Last year Lisa carried a 338 equivalent a few times and this year with the new brake she carry's it 100% of the time. Mine has always been a 338 CE or bigger as two years ago I met a very large Brown bear Sow with two little bitty cubs 30 yards away from my truck after a day of mountain climbing. At 12' from the very large tree I got behind my two dogs flanked her. The cubs did not follow and with the tall grass she did not know I had help so I did not need to fire. She left! From that point forward I figured my 338 X06 handgun was a tad small unless I took her in the ear if she decided to come around the tree. Every see 700 pounds of fur with long teeth popping her jaws at 12'?

Well Lisa and I put on our hip boots and crossed the stream just after daylight broke. Thirty minutes later and a half mile from the truck those words that Lisa never wants to hear when she is crossing salmon filled streams crossed my lips, "BEAR"! 50 yards in front of us and chasing fish like there is no tomorrow is a 2 year old 500 pound boar brown bear.

http://i311.photobucket.com/albums/k...r/P9110004.jpg

After Lisa took a few pictures in the morning mist I stood higher on the bank exposing myself and yelled at him while waving my arms. Gone in a flash Two dogs and two humans for a little bear, poor guy must have thought an army was after him the way he took off.. SO we walked about a half mile further and stashed our hip boots and put on something more comfortable. Now its off to the races getting across the mud flats with Lisa (following) watching the back trail like her head was on a lazy susan. Then its climb,climb,climb until we break out into the first Alpine at 1500 foot elevation. Whoa baby what is that white spot in the middle of those rocks 800 yards in front of us? Sure enough a very nice Billy Goat was bedded watching the valley (us) below him. The little lady is pretty spent with the last mile of verticle so we take a break and plan our approach. Off we go in a diagonal direction away from him so we are completely out of sight while climbing to the top of a 2 mile ridge that runs behind where he is bedded. Then three hundred yards and 3 miles from the truck it happens. I feel a op in my right calf followed by a tremendous spasm in that same calf and I am down and out. SInce we were in the last of the hideous alders nothing could be done at this point. I had to hobble back down the trail we just made to the last lookout where we were watching the goat. Lisa (RN) has her handy danding prepared for anything kit with her. Determined that I had detached a portion of my soleus as part of my calf muscle on the side was flopping on the 3 mile return trip to the truck. I will say here if one doesn't have a roll of that sticky ace bandage tape it saved a lot of misery on the return trip.

This detachment is my fault and those of you that haven't experienced climbing in the mountains, DO NOT WEAR socks that are tight on your calves. I know this but forgot when I put on a new pair of Polypropolene liners on under my boot socks before leaving home this morning. I was suppose to look when I got out of the truck and put on my hip boots. When I got home and was taking off my socks there was a 1/2" deep crease around both calves right below the detachment.

All for now

Neal