This man needs to stop beating himself up. Getting caught off guard by an attacking grizzly bear. You're in his world there mate and you came out alive, nothing to be ashamed of.
This guy is so traumatized that he can’t even get the story out without expressing some type of defense mechanism. Like crossing his arms while telling the story, blockage of his speech, and his eyes not being able to focus. PTSD is real people.
Appreciate that he's not trying to tell a fishing story and he's upfront about the fact that he was terrified instead of playing it off or joking it off like most people would.
As an Alaskan I completely understand how Steve feels. I hunt quite a bit and I am always wary of brown bear. I have zero desire to ever have an encounter. Many folks with guns have wound up dead or hurt very badly by brown bear and they never fired a shot. Even if you were able to get a shot off that hit him in the hear and lungs, he would have roughly 40 seconds to live. That would be the longest 40 seconds of your life!
The fact that one of our times greatest hunters has the awareness and self-deprecating mindset to tell s truthfully what he felt is astonishing. In a world of tiktoc liars and false prophets he is a breath of fresh air. He literally told millions of listeners that the biggest baddest hunter quivered to his knees when charged by a grizzly. Amazing.
You can tell he is completely legitimate. He locks his arms together. Showing he is extremely uncomfortable. I don't blame him one bit. Very very lucky man.
I was trail running by myself in Montana this summer when I came around a switchback and surprised a giant grizzly; it jolted and ran away before I even realized what happened. I didn't think much of it at first, which was probably best because I was able to stay calm. But reality set in shortly after the fact and I'm still haunted by it to this day. It was a very humbling experience and let me know in a very real way just how vulnerable we are as humans.
I owned and operated a firearms and archery shop in Port Angeles, WA from 1978-1988. While it wasn't especially profitable in that small town locale, it kept me in beans and it provided many an entertaining conversation with colorful and interesting characters among my clientele.
I failed to help an elderly women when she tripped and hit her head on the concrete. I froze, but at the same time I knew that I should go and help pick her up. It took me what it feels like forever to decide to walk faster to help her, but after I made that decision, a young man RANNED past by me without hesitation and helped her. All I did was then walked away and told myself that it's going to be okay, she's getting help.
