Alive and Alone (7 page)

Knowing he might need meat in the future, if the weather turned to snow, David sighted his rifle on the area behind the big animal’s right front leg and slowly squeezed the trigger.  The loud report of his rifle shot filled the air and the moose dropped immediately in its tracks near a huge pine tree.  David, having been warned about the danger of approaching an injured animal, quickly ejected the spent cartridge and chambered a fresh round.  

The young man stood for almost ten minutes ready to fire once more if the moose so much as twitched a muscle, but he noticed no movement at all.  His Uncle Larry had told him on one hunting trip, “Son, when you shoot a big animal, always approach it from the rear.  That away if the animal isn’t dead and tries to escape you’re not in its way.  Many a hunter has been hurt by big animals only wanting to escape.”

Walking toward the downed animal from the rear, David saw right off the big beast was not breathing and the chest was completely still.  He suddenly felt sad he'd been forced to kill the magnificent looking creature, but he knew he had little choice if he wanted to survive.  His emotions were a mess as he fought down the urge to cry out of sadness and shout for joy at the realization of the amount of meat he now had on hand.  

David sat down on a large rock beside the pine tree and thought as he looked at the dead moose,
I’m sorry I had to kill you.  If things had been different, I
wouldn’t
have shot you.  But, I need the meat, I really do.  Please, forgive me.

After a few minutes, David pulled his knife from his sheath and walked over to the fallen moose.  He quickly gutted the large animal, keeping the liver and heart.  Due to the huge animal’s size and weight, David had a very difficult time skinning it.  Finally, after over two hours of struggling with it, he just removed the four large legs and took them back to his camp one at a time.  Returning to the carcass, he removed as much of the meat as he could from the back, ribs and neck.  
Well, I won’t starve that’s for sure,
he thought as he walked back to camp loaded down with dark red meat.

Since it was growing late, David placed the meat high up in the forks of a few trees around his campsite to keep small animals from stealing it from him.  By the time he had finished it was dark and he was bone tired.  He added a few small logs to his fire, stuck a large piece of liver on a green stick, and held it to cook over the hot coals.  David was surprised that he had a strong desire for liver, which under normal circumstances he would never even considered touching.  It was later as he read part of the survival book he started to understand his unusual desire was the result of vitamins and minerals his body was losing as he attempted to stay alive
.  There must be something in the meat I want because my body is low on it.

As soon as he had eaten, he checked his smoking meat and found it was semi-dry, but not dry enough to be called jerky.  He added a couple of small twigs to the fire and then made his way back to his campfire, where he placed a canteen cup of pine needle tea on to boil.  He still found the tea nasty, but it was better than nothing to drink.  
Come morning, I’ll have to start working on that moose meat.  I’ll bet I got six hundred pound of meat and I can’t let it spoil on me.  If the weather stays as cool as it has been I’ll be ok.  But, all it will take is one warm day and all that meat will be no good.  I think tomorrow I’ll make a good dozen more drying tee-pees and start smoking that meat,
he thought as his head lowered to his chest in exhaustion.

It was a little after two in the morning, when the old grizzly bear made his way toward the scent of fresh blood he’d picked up a little over an hour ago.  While his eyesight was poor, his nose was excellent and he had learned to depend on his nose and hearing much more than his eyes.  Right now, his nose told him of a meal close by.  He was old as grizzlies go, with his teeth no longer in good shape, and his body was sore each morning as he moved through the forests and mountains in search of food.  

As a young bear, he’d often fed on slow or old caribou from large herds or the occasional deer or moose he’d find in the woods.  As he aged, he found it more and more difficult to find enough to eat, because he was not as fast as he once had been.  Earlier this day he’d torn a log to pieces feeding on ants and while they were food, they hardly filled his huge empty stomach.  It was a constant battle for him to find enough food to get fat so he could sleep through the long and rough Alaska winters.  He thought of the delicious salmon he had fed on earlier this year, but the big fish were no longer in the fast running waters of his home range.  

His pace was slow but steady as he moved in the direction his nose indicated the food was located.  Suddenly he stopped.  He picked up a scent he had not smelled in a very long time.  It took him a few long minutes to correlate the smell with danger, but he had to eat, and knew he would face any danger at that moment to get a meal.  Had he been able to think clearly, he would have known the scent was of man.  The grizzly had only run into humans a few times in his long life, but each time they had hurt him severely and he associated the scent with extreme danger.

The old bear walked to the carcass of the moose David had killed earlier in the day and started to feeding immediately on the remains.  His powerful jaws snapped bones as if they were twigs as he ate.  Spotting the gut pile, the large beast made his way to the discarded organs and quickly ate all he could hold.  Once full, the bear piled leaved and other debris on the carcass and made his way back down the side of the mountain to find a place to sleep.  He would return in the morning to continue his feast on the dead moose.

David was awakened by a loud sound, but he could not clearly identify it, though he knew it was close by.  From what he could hear, something was moving near where he had killed the moose.  He added another small log to his fire and pulled his rifle closer to him.  At one point, he thought he had heard a low growl, but he was not sure if he really heard something or if was just the wind.  
Most likely it’s a pack of wolves that have come to feed on the moose’s body,
he thought as he relaxed a little.  David, like most experienced Alaskans, knew wolves rarely if ever attacked humans.  Besides, as long as he had his fire burning brightly he felt safe enough.  The thought of a grizzly never entered his young mind.

Less than thirty minutes after hearing the noise, the young man was once more asleep. Since the night was warm enough, he slept beside the fire with little cover on him at all.  As tired as he was, he didn’t awaken until a false dawn was peeking over the mountain.

David opened his fanny pack, pulled out the last Meal Ready to Eat, noticing it was beef teriyaki, and opened the container.  It was similar to the other meal, but only in packaging.  He noticed his main pouch was indeed beef teriyaki, the side dish was chow mien noodles, but his biggest surprise was finding grape jam and a short bread cookie.  He opened the accessory package and found an orange powdered drink, two small pieces of gum, a tea bag and even a small book of matches.  As he looked through the contents, he also found a pound cake, a moist towel to clean his hands, more hot sauce, salt, pepper, creamer, and toilet tissue.

As he picked up the toilet tissue he wondered,
why haven’t I gone to do a number two yet?  I’ve been out here for days now and I don’t have the urge at all. Must be the lack of a balanced diet or maybe I’m eating too much meat.

He pulled the survival manual open, but he could find nothing in the badly burnt book that talked about bowel movements or other health related subjects.  He suspected that part of the book must have burned in the fire, but he made a mental note to start looking for plants that might help his body stay strong.  Like most kids his age, David had been taught in school about health and the importance of the basic food groups, but he’d paid very little attention to the stuff because he found it boring.  Now he wished he’d paid more attention.

As his teriyaki warmed up in the canteen cup of water, he opened the chow mien noodles and ate them.  He enjoyed the crunchy tasting noodles and was disappointed when he’d eaten them all.  He considered opening the cake or the cookie, but instead he placed everything but the spork back in his fanny pack.  He picked the spork up and realized the name was appropriate, it was a fork and spoon rolled into one.  The end of the spoon had little fork like tines, but they were not very long.  At this point of his survival, David would have eaten his meal with his filthy fingers.

Opening the beef teriyaki pouch, he ate the warm meal slowly and enjoyed the thick sauce the most.  Never in the past had he enjoyed a simple meal so much.  Just like the last meal ready to eat, as soon as he’d eaten the contents, he cut the pouch open and licked the inside clean.  He knew neither of his parents would approve of his manners, but he was hungry and did not intend to let even the smallest part of his meal escape.  He then mixed the instant orange drink with the warm canteen cup water and sipped it slowly.

As soon as his meal was finished, David stood and placed his rifle over his right shoulder.  He started toward the killed moose, intending to see what had caused the noise the night before.  He suspected it was wolves, but he also knew it would be smart to see what had been at the animal’s remains.  

David took one look at the leaves and twigs thrown on the dead moose and knew immediately he had a grizzly in the area.  His Uncle Larry had been a serious bear hunter and more than once he’d sat around a campfire at night explaining that grizzlies would usually cover a kill up, or at least partly, in an effort to hide it from other hungry animals.

As he neared the carcass, Dave saw the first track in the soil.  The bears print was larger than David’s foot and that made an involuntary shudder run down the whole length of his spine.  
That is one big griz and I am not sure what to do now.  I wonder if I should move my camp up higher or maybe lower?  Then again, maybe if I don’t spook him or bother him he’ll leave me alone,
he thought as he kneeled and looked at the other prints of the large bear.

David quickly made his way back to this camp and stoked his fire back to life.  He sat on the log and wondered about his next step.  He didn’t like the idea of having to move, especially with all the meat he had, but he didn’t think he could kill a mad grizzly bear either.  Finally, after much thought, he decided to stay where he was and to continue smoking the meat.

Once his fire had burned down, David added fresh racks of meat to his tee-pee, placed a few small twigs on the little fire, and picked up his rifle.  He had decided it was time to see what was on the other side of the mountain.  Only this time, knowing a bear was in the area, he kept his rifle loaded and in his hands as he stepped into the trees.

Three hours later Dave was looking out over the tundra on the other side of the mountain.  At first, he saw nothing, but then off in the distance he noticed a thin finger of smoke.  His excitement grew as he realized the smoke meant other people were near.  But, as he stared at the smoke he wondered,
how far away were they?  And, what kind of people could they be
?  
Most likely,
he thought,
it is either some natives or a lone trapper out there.  It’s for sure not a town or anything very large or I’d know about it.

As he slowly walked back to his camp, he was thinking about what he should do.  He wondered if he should attempt to walk in the direction he’d seen the smoke or stay where he was.  His father had often told him that in Alaska distances were confusing and what looked like a mile could end up being closer to five miles.  Finally, he decided to think about it over night and decide in the morning.  He knew very well that his decision could literally mean life or death.

Dave had just placed is rifle down on the log and added another log to his fire when he heard a movement to his right.  Glancing up, he saw a huge grizzly bear standing on its hind legs sniffing the air.  Panic filled the young boy and he made a mad rush to pick up his rifle.  

The bear, seeing the sudden movement, gave a bloodcurdling roar, dropped to all fours and charged straight at David.

CHAPTER 6