August 27, 1998 Glacier Reporter: Badger Creek youth has close encounter of the bear kind By Sharon Anderson Glacier Reporter staff.
Caleb, an avid fisherman and hunter, advised his mother he was going to do a little fishing on their property Wednesday evening, Aug. 19. The Running Cranes live along Badger Creek, approximately five miles off Highway 89 from Old Agency.
Rayola was busy sewing when Caleb took off on the family four-wheeler for a quarter mile ride to the river from their home.
He was at his favorite fishing hole only a few minutes when he heard the crackle of brush behind him in the thick bushes that line Badger Creek.
Feeling quite uneasy about the current situation, Caleb hopped on his four wheeler and started to make his way through the bushes on an old trail. That's where he spotted the distinct hump only a few yards away.
Heart pounding, Caleb drove the machine around through the rough spots. He noticed the bear come out of the brush a few yards away and stand up on its back feet. "The bear probably stood six feet tall," reported Caleb. Caleb also made a mental note of the coloring of the brown bear, its coat seemed to glisten silver when it moved. Still looking back whenever he could, he was surprised to see the bear running at a fast clip right towards his machine.
"The bear seemed to be traveling at the same speed as my four-wheeler," said Caleb.
Trying to put more distance between himself and the bear, Caleb "pushed the pedal to the metal", forcing the machine to its maximum 60 mph.
Approximately 250 yards from his home, the bear gave up on its target and headed back into die bushes near the river. Good thing for Caleb. At about the same time, the chain on the four wheeler came loose forcing him to run the rest of the way home.
A hyperventilating Caleb threw open the door and all he could do was repeat "Mom, Bear! Mom, Bear!"
Rayola called the Blackfeet Tribal Police Department at about 7:30 p.m. to let them know the situation on their Property.
After Caleb calmed down, the two decided to walk a few yards to where the broken four wheeler sat in the field. "We were going to push the four-wheeler back home. We could still hear grunting and growling coming from the bushes," said Rayola.
"The Montana Fish & Game warden arrived about a half hour later. The Blackfeet Fish & Game bear trapper arrived about 20 minutes after that with a snare and part of a dead cow in the back of his pickup," said Rayola. "But they didn't catch the hear that night."
Rayola Suspects the plentiful berries near the river are what attracted the bear to her property. The game warden thinks Caleb may have inadvertently walked between a mother grizzly and her cubs.
"Once in a while we see bears and I'm always telling Caleb to be careful," said Rayola. However, she admits she will be glad When school starts at Browning Middle school so she doesn't have to worry about Caleb running into bears so much.
But Caleb says he'll keep fishing, just not in that Particular area during the summer. The experience did provide him food for thought about one career he might like to investigate-bear management.