Ah, bear is the tastiest meat in the woods!!! I like it even more than elk.

I rooted around and found some 35mm pic's of the surly bear in question. Sorry for the quality. Had to scan them.

Here you can see as stated it was small, no more than 150 lbs "on the hoof".

My son, pretty happy things eventually turned out as they did.

I have a theory about bear. The reason they take the punishment they do and don't just fold is that they have large lungs and the capability to store oxygen in their bloodstream. Even with vital organs shot to pieces, they are able to continue to move and, when antagonized as in a fight, will go somewhat longer than some other animals. The fact that they have really and truly massive bone means they have the skeletal structure to maintain stability and "project force" as long as the 0'2 stays in their brains. A pee-oed bear is a sight to behold.

This was not my son's first bear adventure. The year prior, when he was 13, he and I ran into another weird one.

A bear hiding in a culvert.

We weren't sure where the bear was in the culvert, so Sonny crawled down and peeked in the end of the hole........and there was the bear, growling and huffing so hard he could feel his breath!

I did not know a small, young human could spring like a cat, but that kid just left earth behind and when he landed again let us all know he found the bear!!!!!

We eventually succeeded in driving the bear out of the culvert, and it left that hole like a circus stunt man getting shot out of a cannon. We thought we were ready from our position above the culvert, but were totally surprised at the speed that thing had under its claws as it left.

We followed it with two magazineloads of .30-30 as it headed into the woods and the end result was roasts and chops.

Here we are, dirty and dusty from the day's events, and here's the bear, too...