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The Hunting Stories Podcast
Elk. Bear. Hog. Turkey. Deer and More. Hunting Stories that will make you laugh or maybe cry; real life chronicles from the field.
The Hunting Stories Podcast
Ep 122 The Hunting Stories Podcast: Tyler Johnson
Imagine standing face-to-face with the wild power of Alaska's wilderness, where every rustle in the bushes could mean an encounter with a grizzly. Join us as we sit down with Tyler Johnson, a seasoned hunter, who takes us on a thrilling expedition through his life-changing adventures. From heart-stopping bear encounters to the serene beauty of Adak Island, Tyler's stories are a testament to the raw and untamed spirit of nature. As he shares his experiences of hunting with his father on the Resurrection Trail, you're transported to a world where survival and memories go hand in hand.
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Howdy folks and welcome to the hunting stories podcast. I'm your host, michael, and we got a good one for you today. Today we're actually connecting with Tyler Johnson. I found him online through a viral video. You may recognize it. You can check out my Instagram page. I'll post it there. Hopefully it doesn't get taken down, but he's got a pretty awesome grizzly bear story, pretty awesome stories in general for this entire episode, for what is Halloween week. So happy Halloween guys. Thank you for tuning in. Share the podcast with at least one other person. Make sure you go vote Now. Let's let Tyler tell you some of his stories. Thank you, all right, tyler. Welcome to the Hunting Stories podcast. Brother, how are you?
Speaker 2:Good Fantastic.
Speaker 1:Good man, good, I'm super happy to have you here. I won't say why, because basically I heard about your story and I don't want to ruin it for the listeners, but I reached out to you and you were more than willing to come on and tell some stories for us today. So I want to say thank you very much, brother. I really do appreciate it. And your story I mean, I only know basic bits of it it seems pretty insane. So I'm excited to hear the full thing. So let's take a quick pause on that. And why don't you just introduce yourself so that people know who they're hearing some stories from today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm Tyler Johnson, born and raised on the Kenai Peninsula it's a peninsula in Alaska Grew up hunting with my father and grandpa all around the Kenai, so I'm not a stranger to hunting. Yeah, it's just kind of something I grew up with.
Speaker 1:Gotcha man, when are you?
Speaker 2:located now. I'm in Austin, texas, actually, okay.
Speaker 1:I was going to say, I was like you asked for me for Central Time. I actually just moved back from just south of you. I lived in New Braunfels for a year, so down there near Schlitterbahn.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you've been down there tubing the river and stuff like that, right? No, I just got here. So I got here. Actually, we drove from Alaska to here with a 12-foot U-Haul and my Jeep Cherokee, with my wife, my two-year-old, two dogs. Wow, 12, 4,000 miles of it and then flew back up to Alaska, and then this happened.
Speaker 1:No way. What took you all the way to Austin?
Speaker 2:if you don't mind me asking Well, my wife's in podcasting and uh, I wanted to do a little more exploring in my life. Yeah, and uh I said, shoot, fuck it, let's. Let's go to another extreme, from one extreme to the next, right.
Speaker 1:So right, yeah, your temp, your average temperature just went up like 90 degrees yeah, yeah, yeah, that's hot, that's cool man, that's cool. Yeah, austin's a great town, um, and joe rogan's doing some fun stuff there. I bet you'll have a great time there and, um, if you need some hunting buddies, let me know. I got some some folks down there that might be interested in in. Uh, well, we'll see. You know, sometimes people hold that stuff close to the chest.
Speaker 1:But yeah, we'll talk about that after I don't want to promise too much on air, um, but cool man. Well, let's, let's kick this thing off. We're just here to hear some fun stories and you said you got a bunch of them, so you can start with the big one or you can start with whatever you want. You. You tell us. Why don't you set the stage?
Speaker 2:well, I mean, I'll start with resurrection, might as well okay, is that what you're calling? Well that's the trail we were on. Oh, that's fitting. Yeah, okay, devil's past, a resurrection to well. I guess we'll find out. But uh, yeah it's. It's a pretty long trail. Uh, I think it's. Oh, oh no, I can't remember if it's 40 miles. It's a long trail. There's a lot to it. That's the thing about Alaska.
Speaker 1:Everything's big.
Speaker 3:It is.
Speaker 1:They say everything's bigger in Texas unless you're from Alaska.
Speaker 3:Unless you're from Alaska, exactly Go ahead.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so this place that we went hunting, my father and I. We've never hunted here before. We always planned on doing it, but every year we kind of go more South to the glaciers across Tustamina massive lake out there has, like its own weather system I that's. That lake has taken a many lives.
Speaker 3:Um, wow, and some people I know.
Speaker 2:so yeah it, oh wow it's a hell of an adventure that direction, uh yeah, but we decided to change it up and since it was kind of like a farewell almost, you know, hey, going to texas, you know, board raising last my whole life, it's kind of hard to leave that place yeah it's good, it's beautiful and yeah, it's just hard to leave small towns, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I believe it, man, I believe it.
Speaker 2:But yeah, resurrection. Beautiful, beautiful trail, long trail. I mean. When Saul sent it down, we were 17 miles from the trailhead.
Speaker 1:No way Okay. You were back there. I assume that was more than one day to get 17 miles, or is that day one? You made it 17 miles back there.
Speaker 2:We hooked it 17 miles. It was trail hiking, so it wasn't like we're bushwhacking it up a mountain that has cuts from 30 years ago. It wasn't like that. It was a well-maintained trail until we got to where we were at. We kind of veered off the trail quite a bit.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, keep going.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I guess the first day we hiked it would be 15 miles to where we were camping. That's where all these I mean when you're up there in the mountains all these little rivers kind of converge in a spot where trappers would go back in the early 1900s, right, um, and we decided that'd be a great place to start hunting.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, so we made camp around there off the main trail by about a mile, so we didn't have to run into anyone.
Speaker 1:Is it? Is it traveled enough that, like you, if if you camped off of it, you'd run into people regularly?
Speaker 2:I'm not 100. Sure we didn't see anyone off track, uh, so just being careful, then yeah, well, you know being careful.
Speaker 2:Finger quotes all right, keep going um, so, yeah, that first day, we just, you know, we hiked all the way out there and it was a long hike. So, you know, we camped out, got ready for the next day and, um, the second day we, you know, we're hunting for, first of all, we're hunting for black bear, right, um, so, side hilling, well, they're on blueberries. Um, they're good hunting in the fall, because all they're doing is eating blueberries and, uh, pretty easy to walk up on. But uh, yeah that first day.
Speaker 2:We killed one before that has that blueberry diet oh yeah, yeah, okay I.
Speaker 1:The reason I asked is I've heard that when bears eat like all berries, they just have the super sweet, delicious meat is, and I've also heard when they eat all fish they're disgusting. So is it? Is that the case when you have like that, that bear that's just stuffed full of blueberries, that they have a purple hue to their meat and it's just spectacular? Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's on my bucket list Okay. That's good man. I do recommend it. Hunting black bears on the Kenai Peninsula. I think this year we didn't see one. We saw a bear, but not a black bear. But typically when we go hunting where we're at, we'd see. I mean we're way back there where we usually hunt on Tuscany. We see, you know, like eight to 10 black bears a day, and it's we're going for sheep.
Speaker 2:So it's like, okay, well, we're going to hold off on you until like the last day, like okay, I'll get a black bear, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:So they're okay up there, cool, very cool man, very cool. Uh, I took you off track there asking about blueberry bears, but keep going oh, yeah, blueberry bears, I mean, it's a good way to get distracted by.
Speaker 2:But uh, yeah, that's what we were hunting for. Um, and that uh second day when we were up there beautiful day, you know, 62, 65 degrees in alaska, it's, it's beautiful um, we decided to go up to what we could find out was like the tallest point around that day and it took us all day to get up there. Um, we didn't see any animals. Uh, unfortunately, that day I it took us all day to get up there Um, we didn't see any animals. Uh, unfortunately, that day I saw a couple of people biking the trail from afar. But uh, yeah, that was about it for that day. It was just a nice, nice hike and kind of planning out our uh honey trip for the next day, which we decided to go down, um, across Abernathy to American Creek If you pull up a map on Resurrection you can kind of figure out where that's at and made our way back to camp and played some cribbage with my father that night, pulled out a little whiskey, you know, just hung out by the campfire. That was one of those perfect nights.
Speaker 1:Yeah, especially like kind of as a bon voyage, kind of hunting trip, like having that great night in camp with your dad doing what you guys have always done. I bet that was perfect.
Speaker 2:It was. It was already an epic hunting trip. I mean just the little stuff that we saw and kind of walked across it was already a pretty awesome trip. I didn't know it was going to get even more epic the next day but to say the least.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, but yeah, I guess I'll start off with that. I mean, I woke up and it was bluebird out that day. I mean there was not a cloud in the sky. Um and uh, we, almost for a second that morning, we, we like, looked at each other like maybe we just want to, like you know, pan the Creek, cause he could I mean there's's, potentially you might be able to find some gold in those creeks. But uh, yeah, I thought so, oh yeah, man, I'd stuck my hand in there.
Speaker 3:didn't get anything, obviously, but it's just kind of cool, you know, like there's a potential that you can stick in and grab a nugget of gold.
Speaker 1:That's super cool, that's super cool. Let me let me ask a quick question about like the. You said you woke up and it was bluebird or it was like I know. In the middle of the summer it's like sunshine 23 plus hours, sometimes 24 hours a day. Um, in this trip like, what time does the sun rise and what time does the sun set?
Speaker 2:kind of just gets dusk. I mean, at this time in august it does get a little bit darker, okay. Um, I mean we're not staying up past like one o'clock in the morning, so it gets pretty dusk at that time. But uh, you know, in the morning I think we woke up maybe. I mean we took our time. It's it's camp time. You know, you're not like waking up at six o'clock in the morning. I mean we're taking our time, we're having a good time.
Speaker 1:That was kind of my next question is like when do you guys get up? At six o'clock in the morning, I mean, we're taking our time, we're having a good time. That was kind of. My next question is like when do you guys get up? Are the animals? Cause, like in Colorado, you kind of got to be hunting 30 minutes after light, 30 minutes before dark, um, otherwise you're just wasting the majority of the day, cause that's when the animals are really moving in Alaska with so much sunshine. Do they still move during those, those peak times, or is it just kind of like all day, or how does that work? I guess I don't know. Maybe it's a bigger question than we have time for.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, it's a good one. In my experiences, I've typically gotten my black bear I mean midday, noon, afternoon it doesn't get super hot you know to where they're trying to hide from the heat.
Speaker 1:Gotcha.
Speaker 2:You know, some days, they do you know when it hits that super, super hot heat of 72 degrees 75, you're like oh my gosh, good luck in Texas, yeah, okay. I know, right, right. But yeah, they typically are just moseying around, you know.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Vegging out on some blueberries. I mean, I do the same. I kind of sit there and your butt turns blue, for how many blueberries are up there?
Speaker 1:No way. Okay, that's pretty cool. That's fantastic, so all right. So late morning, or you know, regular morning, bluebird day. Tell us what happens this day, because I have a feeling it's going to get pretty interesting here.
Speaker 2:Yes. So we kind of looked at our map and we saw that there was a potential of an old trail that we could follow to find our way to American Creek. And you know what? It started off like a pretty good foot trail right, it wasn't, you know like five feet wide or two feet wide. It was a foot trail and there was flagging At the very beginning. The flagging was pretty visible. You'd find one flag. Pick your head up and look around, might find it in 10 seconds or maybe right away, or maybe in 30 seconds. I think we started at 11 o'clock, started walking maybe even 1030. But you know we're moving. We don't have a lot in our backpack except for like game bags and our rifle. I had a lever action .22. You know, if we saw a black bear, my dad had his .30-06.
Speaker 1:Okay, got it.
Speaker 2:And also we both had what?
Speaker 1:were you hoping to get with that .22? Just like I don't know what's up there. Grouse, some grouse, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Some birds. I got one earlier. This like the first day on our walk out there. It's oh bird, Got it, Threw it in my breakfast, you know, the next day.
Speaker 1:Awesome, okay, yeah, yeah, I mean, top ramen tastes amazing up there. You know, when you're out hunting, you know what I mean. Yeah, I bet, yeah, so you get a little bit of fresh meat. You're like that's like damn, that is good, oh yeah, oh yeah, absolutely. Getting a grouse. You can only peak, refuel so many times in a row before, just like even just grouse or rabbit or whatever.
Speaker 2:Just tastes so good, so, so good, so okay yeah, top ramen tastes amazing, honestly, like it's like I look forward to top ramen. It's kind of weird, but uh, yeah, uh. So we're, yeah, we're, we're clicking around, you know, just moving and side hilling at this moment, uh, because we're kind of in between two mountains, um, on a ravine area, and uh, the trail starts to disappear a little bit to where there was a moment, a few moments, where you know I'd be leading and then I'd take a game trail on accident and like, okay, where's the flags? And we have to turn around, like, oh, here's a trail, right, yeah, there there was a lot of bear scat on the trail, but it wasn't like you know, I didn't go down and pick it up and like, yes, there's a bear here five hours ago no I didn't do that but you could tell that, like you know, there's bears around.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, you're last in question and uh, for the most part right and uh, yeah, it's probably about 1 o'clock. We kind of get to where it opens up to this bowl area. You know, let's take some pictures. We can see a flat way out in the distance, the grass. At this time, I mean, it looks like it's like two feet tall, but once you start getting into it it's like above your head.
Speaker 1:Oh Jesus.
Speaker 2:Okay, it's just like yeah, it was horrible hiking there for a bit, and at that point my father and I, you know, without saying anything, because we know each other pretty well when it comes to this Even if we did see a black bear, I don't know if we would have shot it At this moment. You know, we're just kind of like a father-son hike at that moment towards the end.
Speaker 1:You know like it's, I would not want to drag a bear out of this. You know that'd be horrendous. It was just it wasn't good hiking.
Speaker 2:Okay, all right, but we wanted to keep on going. You know it's curiosity, right? So yeah, I wonder what's going to be behind the next ridge. You know, just keep on going. So we just kept on going and, um, there was a moment around 2 30. Uh, it did get to. You know, like about ankle high kind of mossy. You know, feet are getting a little bit wet. Big open area. You're in this beautiful bowl, the sun's on you.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know there was no wind uh, so the bugs were kind of like attacking me a little bit oh, oh, I hate that Okay. And, uh, we lost the flag there for a bit. We can see out in front of us probably about 50 yards uh, willows, uh, in alders. I don't know if you ever hiked through willows and alders, but they are extremely difficult to move through the pack or just in general. Okay, difficult to move through the pack or just in general okay. They're very uh strong but flimsy like tree shrubbery.
Speaker 2:Anyways, it's like a wall, you know, it's like a wall of them and we see one flag, but we can't find where the potential where someone might have cut a path through. So we're walking up and down this kind of you, you know, swampy-ish, facing this wall of trees and my dad's ah, there's a flag. So he goes ahead of me about 15 yards, you know, and so I'm following behind him and it's this like cut, so you can see these really old cuts.
Speaker 2:You know come through you know this flag that is just weathered and almost white. I mean it's really hard to see. I mean they've been here for a while.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:So I don't, I can't, I mean I don't want to speculate maybe like 20 years, I felt like there's no one been on this trail forever. And the you know moose bears. What have you?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, you know, animals will take the path of least resistance, just like us, right? And uh, my dad takes that. So it kind of goes through like almost like a tunnel. It's about I don't know 10 feet, 10 yards, I don't know it's. It's not really long tunnel, but my dad exits out when I'm just kind of entering into it. Uh, into where?
Speaker 2:I can just feel like you get down on your hands and knees to get through this tunnel, or is it just like it was like, I mean almost orchard, like you know but okay much, if that makes sense, yeah right, yeah the shrubbery are just above your head right and you can just walk through and kind of like turn your shoulders through it right yeah um, and so my dad exits and I'm, you know, getting into it, and when I'm exiting out, my dad is now in front of me up a little hill right, and the grass is about waist to chest, high and right.
Speaker 2:When I exit, you know, and let me, let me explain something here too it kind of opened up like a bowl, like another bowl, like a little open area, like a little meadow right that's surrounded by all these alders and like a almost like a fighting ring right, we're foreshadowing, okay, you know Foreshadow.
Speaker 2:yeah right, there's a little creek, you know just a little creek. You walk through and stuff, and I take about five steps out of that to that open area and I don't know if you've ever heard a bear like a brown bear, grizzly bear, do its, do its growl no, I've never been close, I don't even.
Speaker 1:I'm sure I've seen one at a zoo or something, but I I've not lived that experience. Uh, which is fine by me, but yeah, no, I've not. I've not heard it. Um, but continue, because uh, yeah, I'm terrified for you already yeah, it makes you skin turn.
Speaker 2:Uh, it makes I mean you, everything stops. It's just you stop breathing. It's like what is that? You know what it is? I mean, I born and raised in alaska. You see, brown bears, right yeah but I've never seen one or heard one do that. Just it's like I can't. I can't even, you know, replicate, not even close. Oh, but uh, it's my dad. At that same time he says bear, uh, and to pull back a little bit, my father, he's been a fish and wildlife game warden oh 34 years got so he's got all the experience.
Speaker 1:He's seen everything.
Speaker 2:Yes, and I mean bear safety. I was in bear safety classes. My dad taught those classes right, so we're both. I have a 10 millimeter, my Springfield. My dad has a Glock 40 that he's issued for work right On his chest. I had mine on my head. Um, so we, you know like we're. We're used to seeing bears, but not like this right Not in the open and all of a sudden, bam my dad has had a few bears.
Speaker 1:How big is this, like arena that you had just walked into?
Speaker 2:I'd say diameter 30 yards you know Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1:It's in there with you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So you kind of walk into it and the bell rings.
Speaker 2:You start to ding ding and I'll tell you what. Bears don't waste any muscle movements. When they are going to do something it's with a purpose and they are fast.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard that. Yeah, I've seen some YouTube videos of bears just sprinting through the forest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's that was coming. That was coming up, my dad and he's yelling bear and she was about the same color as a grass, so I can hear this monster break through the alders sprinting towards my dad. She was about 15 yards away from us to start. You know, it's almost like a triangle my dad's 15 yards from me and between me and my dad. If it kind of had in between point between us, just beeline it over to the left 15 yards so it's like we're triangulated right there, right yeah.
Speaker 2:She darts towards my dad and I can just hear it go right towards him and he says and he turns his back because he has a backpack on, Because when you're about to be pounced on by a behemoth like that, it's turn your back and cover your back of your neck and pray that she doesn't chomp on the back of your head.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So he was turning at that moment and when he turned, she I think he said he was grabbing the gun on his holster and he was turning away from the bear. And when he was turning away from it, the bear changed directions and came at this guy right here. Jesus man, I had to be like oh shit. So I'm seeing oh bear's going towards my dad, oh, that's a brown bear, oh, that thing's moving.
Speaker 2:Oh shit, at me, like oh it's coming at me, like fuck right do something dude, yeah, yeah, you know, lightly fuck yeah yeah, to put it lightly and um, you know, like I said my dad, you know, if you had the brains, you know, kind of turn away and let it get your back. Um, I had a different reaction to it and I went for my gun. Um, and I had the uh, police holster. I had a police holster and that's a strap going over the top of the holster so someone can't just go up and snag your gun. But I don't think a bear is going to go up and snag my gun out of my holster. So maybe I had the wrong type of holster for the situation.
Speaker 1:What? Yeah, you know hindsight's 20-20. Okay.
Speaker 2:Right, I made it work. Okay, kind okay. So right, I made it work okay. Um, yeah, kind of uh and uh, she gets to me so fast. Dude, I just like something that massive. Moving that fast is just I would say unnatural, but that's natural for them right? Um, they, they book it hard. Uh, they're like I, just almost low to the ground and then pounced up at me and when she was pouncing up at me.
Speaker 2:I I was kind of turning away my left shoulder towards her because I had my gun on my right side. So I my reaction was, you know, turn my shoulder so I have a little bit more space to pull my gun out of my holster. And she pounced up, slapped me across my left shoulder, which I have a external frame backpack, and I do believe that thing saved my face from getting ripped off from her claws. I believe it 100% Quick question that I just thought of here.
Speaker 1:She was pretty aggressive pretty quickly. Was it just because you were in her bubble? Do you? Did she have cubs? Did she? Was she eating like? What specifically fired her up so that she attacked you so quick? Because you got you like popped out into that area and she just came after you she just went right towards us, right, and that is not.
Speaker 2:You know. You don't expect that from a brown bear. At least you know they don't do that, unless they have a very good reason to do something like that. And we didn't know till later that she had cubs okay, that's the number one thing you hear, okay, yep and uh. So she jumped up and, yeah, a mama bear fighting for her cubs. You know they're ferocious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're so lucky that that backpack saved your face. I believe I could see the paws coming in and just hitting that frame and moving Because your torso's attached your head and your whole body moving with her paw and just keeping you just far enough away to keep you looking still pretty, pretty, pretty.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Yeah, pretty enough, we'll go with that. Pretty enough, right? Yeah, so she smacks me. When she made impact with me, it was like getting hit by an NFL linebacker and how I always described it was like Terry Tate from the old NFL commercials. Yeah, terry Train.
Speaker 1:Office linebacker. Yeah, an office linebacker.
Speaker 2:And she hit me and my legs went up above my head. So she hit me pretty good right. And at that same time, when she hit me, I was able to unholster my pistol. I said unsheathed in the fucking video but no, sue me, right, I just got chewed on by a bear.
Speaker 1:You were bayoneted.
Speaker 2:Anyways.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I was like unsheathed my pistol, anyways.
Speaker 2:So she hit me. I pulled my gun out and unfortunately my left leg got in the way damn it of my pistol.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you need one warm-up shot right, yeah, right. Just make sure the gun works enough. Got to go through some meat, right. No reason not to shoot your other leg.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 10 millimeter has some penetrating power.
Speaker 3:I can tell you that.
Speaker 2:Fucking went right through right above my kneecap.
Speaker 1:I'm going to assume, because we're talking here right now, like it didn't really hit too. It didn't hit anything vital, right? It wasn't like or maybe I'm jumping ahead in the story, maybe we'll ask that question later.
Speaker 2:No, they say it's a million dollar wound. Don't hit me in the ass. But yeah, I'm paying a million dollars for it right now. No, not really. Yeah, yeah, it just blew the front part of my quad.
Speaker 3:So not bad, you know, but nothing like immediately life-threatening.
Speaker 2:Not that we knew at the moment.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, let's put a pin in that, because that sounds like we're going to learn more. Let's keep going.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so she smacked me. I put a hole through my leg and I put seven more rounds. Maybe that one went through my leg into her. I like to think it did.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Maybe I'm batting in a thousand, but seven more rounds went into her neck, jaw, face. She was on top of me at that moment, so it was just like boom, she's on top of me. I have now my pistol on my chest with both my hands shooting upwards at her. Jeez man. When that was happening, there was this weird moment where I remember seeing a collar underneath all that fur. I just remember saying, oh, she's a collared bear. That sentence went through my fucking head at that time. Why, I don't know Whatever, but it's a collared bear. Shoot, shoot, shoot Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, and I put that seventh round, uh, eighth round, uh up into her face. I don't know if I hit her spine, I don't know if I brained her or what, but the timeline of her growling and her falling over was probably about 10 seconds. Jesus Christ 12, maybe.
Speaker 1:Right, it's hard to. It's hard to tell yeah, I wasn't in their county Like one Mississippiissippi to mississippi, right I lose track of time when, like, a elk walks nearby me, let alone when a bear's attacking me like I would have no idea what the concept of time. So I, yeah ballpark, we're comfortable with ballpark times yeah and um.
Speaker 2:So, like I said, I, uh, my dad wasn't just standing there, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:He has the training cause. He's, you know, been a game warden for 34 years and then he they made him retire. I'm going to sidetrack here for a second, so someone knows my father right what kind of man this guy is, and he's probably the best hunting partner you can have yeah find out later.
Speaker 2:Uh, why, um and uh he without skipping a beat? Right, if he would start shooting from where he was standing and where the bear was on top of me, he would potentially shot, yeah, very easily been able to shoot me. Um, because what he said, when he turned his back and he looked towards the bear, he saw the bear's butt, my legs up in the air and the bear on top of me and we disappeared down that little hill. So, yeah, I mean at a downward angle, right yeah, yep and uh.
Speaker 2:So he circles around to the side and starts shooting broadside at the bear. When I'm shooting up at the bear and now we're at the point where I see her falling over, and when she's falling over I'm now at the same time I put my gun on the ground, I'm scooting backwards and my dad runs up and mag dumps into the bear's skull.
Speaker 3:Uh just right next to me, yeah, right, yeah, the pissed off father right uh, just him yelling.
Speaker 2:He's protecting his cubs right right yeah, I remember going like right, like right, fucking next to me dude yeah, it was awesome.
Speaker 1:Uh, at that moment thinking like any other circumstance, like what the hell are you? Doing, but right then, oh god very yeah, it was the perfect thing to do yeah and uh.
Speaker 2:So yeah, he, he, he dumps all that into the to the bear, does a quick reload. You know, at that moment I'm going to just pause right there, so everyone kind of understands where my background comes from. Also, my dad's a trooper, grew up in alaska outdoors, my whole life hunting. I also have done forest firefighting. Uh, for you know, a couple years ago I'm in a new job now, but when I was a little bit younger I would do forced firefighting. I was a hotshot for two years with Pioneer Peak Hotshots and before that, type 2IA a cruise going down. You know Canada, california, all these places. And that being said, we do you know training for certain scenarios where where, hey, you put a chainsaw through your leg, right, so you do triage um we have trauma kits.
Speaker 2:We put us through practice trauma kits and how to try to stay calm in those situations. Right, because when you freak out and you're losing blood, your heart's pumping more. When you pump more blood, you start losing more blood, and it doesn't help anyone when you're freaking out. Yeah, so I tried to stay calm after shooting a hole through my leg and having a bear bite down on my calf, and later find out that she uh, their adrenaline was going through my body. She actually, on addition, clawed my shoulder, which wasn't horrible because of the backpack. She clawed into my hip also.
Speaker 1:Okay, pause. Which hurt the most? Getting shot in the leg, bit in the other leg or the claws? I would assume not the claws. So we're really going to keep it a two-horse race. What hurt the most? Like? Once you maybe calm down a little bit, you're like this sucks. Which one was it that was the most suck?
Speaker 2:None of it. It was the fucking tourniquet.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay. Yeah, just the sheer tightness, just cutting the blood off your foot aching. Was it both legs that you tourniquet?
Speaker 2:No, or the gun wound. So I'll just start with how we start triaging.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, I'm getting ahead of it. I'm getting too excited that you survived the bear attack. All right, keep going.
Speaker 2:Survived that.
Speaker 1:Cool.
Speaker 2:And now I look down, I mean 17 miles in. Right Now what G-Mag dump onto her clip and I turn around. I'm on my butt looking at me. The bears are right next to me, dead. Honestly, I think I shot myself. I look down at my leg and I see a bullet hole in my left leg above my knee, and I put my fingers in the hole of the pants and I shred it open and that's where I saw the entrance wound.
Speaker 2:And I didn't know at that time, like, did it go straight through my leg, did it hit an artery? What happened? We carry a trauma kit with us. Uh, smart, every, every hunt we go on. Uh, my dad and I for some reason find herself in some situations or hunting okay we'll get to those later, but uh yeah yeah, we look down like, okay, quick clot.
Speaker 2:So I pulled a quick clot out, put it on there, put some. I actually, for some reason I had a wrist rocket rubber band that I decided to bring without the wrist rocket. But I remember thinking like, ah, I got a 22. But I'm going to bring this. For some reason in my head I'm like, oh, that would be a good thing to tie down a bandage while we're packing shit up. Before we left.
Speaker 1:Had to use it. Last second grab. Yeah, that's awesome. I was like this doesn't take much weight. Put it in there just in case.
Speaker 2:So we used that. I tied it nice and tight, put that quick clot and the bandage on there and then moved down to my other leg, and that's when we realized my right foot was. My boot was filling up with blood. It was just everything my.
Speaker 1:You shot yourself in the left leg right. I shot myself in the left leg.
Speaker 2:Now we're looking down at my calf. I have those old army surplus camo pants. They look like they're from Vietnam, the old dark green, black.
Speaker 1:Multi-cam.
Speaker 2:That's just black Down below. It's just black and I can see where it got shredded. And I open it up and we look down and try to push away some of the blood. Just sees like what the fuck's going on down there and it just couldn't. So we tried putting pressure on it and it wouldn't stop bleeding. So that's when my dad took the tourniquet, the pressure on it, and it wouldn't stop bleeding. Uh, so that's when my dad took the tourniquet, the uh, the one with the metal bar going through it. And, okay, he, I remember. You know, I'm trying to stay very calm in the situation, right, we're both trying to stay calm, you know. So we take a second to put the tourniquet on and I remember my dad twisting the tourniquet. He's like how's that feel?
Speaker 2:I'm like oh yeah that's really tight, oh fuck and then he goes crank and cranks it again. I go oh he's like sorry, that's how you do it okay, that's funny.
Speaker 1:So you say you're being calm, and I'll and I'll, and I'll vouch for that because, it's. I want to know when did you take the video? Because I saw this video of you being like hey, just got attacked by a grizzly shot myself in the leg, but I don't remember seeing a bandage on your leg or the quick clot or it. So did you make that video before you were dressing this stuff or after?
Speaker 2:So there's there's so many different variations of video out there um, you know that they did, but uh, so right after we put that tourniquet on, uh, in most of the videos you'll see that I point out where I shot myself and I had that bandage in my head, you know, or my hand, um, and then you know the, the bandage that I had, it was, it said, quick clot on it was like a ace bandage with a brick of quick clot. I've never seen that, I, I guess. So I was different, yeah, but I brought that on my leg anyways, moving forward, listeners would probably know what I'm talking about either way, you were cool as a cucumber in that video.
Speaker 1:I'm like man, this guy's, got attacked by a bear and shot himself and he's just like look at this guys and that's what had me reach out. I'm like I gotta talk to this guy because this is some crazy shit. But okay, keep going.
Speaker 2:Sorry yeah, so that that happened. Uh, you know, after my dad went crank and then said okay, you know, start yelling, there might be more bears around, we don't know. And that's when my dad grabs his phone and uses the in reach and uh smart, he knows, I mean him being fishing while he's been cert team also.
Speaker 2:I mean, the guy is just a fucking a unit you know, he's 58 years old, and then they had him retire from you know being a fishing wildlife, uh warden, and he said, fuck, I'm not done. And so the state troopers pick him up and he went to Sitka and he did Alaska state trooper thing. And he's a trooper, that's awesome man.
Speaker 3:With all the 20 year olds.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, couldn't have been a better guy to have with you for this, this circumstance, right so he starts, you know, in reaching some people and I'll let you know, contacting emergency services and everything.
Speaker 2:And that's when I pull my phone out and I'm like, well, this is a good time to document this. Yeah, okay, so someone knows, you know, like I don't know if I'm going to bleed out at that time, like, but I want you know and that's for me. I like videotaping, I like documenting. You know, that's just who I am. I go hunting and hiking all the time and I videotape it all. Um. So it was kind of like a like a calming, kind of like back to the familiar right kind of talking, my talking to myself, talking my way through this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, probably keeping yourself pretty calm by like explaining it.
Speaker 2:You know so yeah, it was a. It was a weird, you know kind of calming thing that I was. That helped me. So yeah not to mention adrenaline, definitely helped a little bit.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to. Yeah, I agree with that.
Speaker 2:Everyone out there like oh, the guy adrenaline like, yeah, it helped. I'm not going to lie, the fucking adrenaline helped. It's great in certain situations, but that wears off after a while.
Speaker 1:So how long did it take before it did wear off?
Speaker 2:and now all of a sudden you're in just a ton of pain. So that probably took around 40 minutes, maybe 30. Okay, the timelines. I took that video six minutes after impact and then I took another one five minutes after that and then I won five minutes after that. Okay, maybe another one after that out for that, and then I won five minutes out for that. Okay, that may be another one. I don't a hundred percent remember, but um, yeah, the next moments was the sun on me Ran out of water. That was a thing.
Speaker 1:Kind of sucked. Is it because you were pouring it on the wound or just ran out?
Speaker 2:Just ran out.
Speaker 1:Okay, can't win them all.
Speaker 2:Nope, I'm sure I should have brought more, but we didn't. Suck it up. So I remember um that turned those tourniquets, man, they save lives, but they are. They're painful they're not.
Speaker 1:I've never had one on that I don't even like when my hand falls asleep because of, like you know, you sleep on it or whatever, and it's kind of the same concept, right your lack of blood. You just can't even imagine the kind of pain. The fact that a bullet wound and a bear attack wound the tourniquet's the thing that you remember is the most painful. No thanks.
Speaker 2:That's crazy. Let me bring it into something where everyone can kind of imagine the feeling, where everyone has had this happen to them, please do. Please do You're on the shitter and you're looking at your phone for too long? Oh no, You're right your feet go numb and then that numb foot where you step in it feels like pins and needles put into a bucket of fire.
Speaker 1:Oh, good God and just hold it in there.
Speaker 2:Your leg's numb, but it feels like it's on fire. How can you put those two things together? Your leg's numb, but it feels like it's on fire. How can you put those two things together? I don't know.
Speaker 1:But it was like that.
Speaker 2:And when we were waiting for the helicopter I had some Norse music going, you know, anything that keep me grounded, and my dad was kind of standing in front of the the sun, uh, to block that. But I couldn't get comfortable, you know, after a while, because this is when I find out fucking bear claw being my hip, because I get to one side and like, ah, shit, that hurts, and then I'll lean on the other side. Hmm, there's a bullet hole.
Speaker 1:Um, were you bad from either of the claw? Was it bad from either of the claw things the shoulder or the hip?
Speaker 2:No. So the bullet cauterized like blaster right through the leg.
Speaker 3:So I didn't bleed that bad. Point blank, point blank.
Speaker 2:The hip, where the bear got me. So this is how we found out too. I was just standing, I was just not standing there, I was laying down and I remember I got some tea pouches because I I quit chewing tobacco a while ago and I had these things like teas, those, you know. They have no nicotine, just tea. And I remember I'm gonna grab one of those and I reached into my cargo pants and I pull it out and I look at it and there's a fucking hole through it, a claw mark, just right through the middle of this can.
Speaker 2:I'm like, ah, and almost comical, it just dumps out the dry leaves out of my ass. I'm like, ah, that sucks. And then I look down, I'm like wait a second, why is there? Oh, my pants are all ripped. And then I put my hand in my pocket. You know I already kind of did the hand, you know, like putting your hands up and down, trying to like point your hand at any blood, like you lost your keys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I missed it.
Speaker 2:And I put my hand down where the hole is in my right side and my finger fell into a crevice in my leg.
Speaker 1:I was like, oh, shit, jesus Okay, jesus man.
Speaker 2:Another one to add. So I grabbed my dad, gave me his bandana, slapped it on my leg and said back at it. So just sitting here, how?
Speaker 1:long did it take for the helicopter to get there?
Speaker 2:Two hours and ten minutes.
Speaker 1:That's, I think, reasonable.
Speaker 2:I don't know how you feel about that, but for 17 miles in in Alaska, I think that's pretty reasonable. Yeah, they had. Actually, it was kind of Kind of sucked at the same time because there was a moment where we were there for about 40 minutes and there was a helicopter that flew by what? Yeah, I was like one of those moments, like I'm over here, no, come back.
Speaker 1:That's awful.
Speaker 2:That's like the worst thing that could happen.
Speaker 3:Good God, psych.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 3:I can't even imagine.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine the high and the low of seeing that helicopter come and go. Yeah, just the thopping.
Speaker 2:Then one of the songs another one of the high and the low is one of the songs had like thopping noise at the very beginning, just a little bit like thump, thump, thump, and my dad goes oh, I hear the helicopter. And that's about an hour and a half into it where I'm like this fucking sucks, and I'm like oh, my god, and then he says oh, it's the song I'm gonna die a little bit inside, oh man gosh, that's crazy
Speaker 2:yeah, I was laying face to face with that bear. Uh, because I, when I got quote unquote comfortable, I was on to face with that bear. Cause I, when I got quote unquote comfortable, I was on my stomach and that bear was foot and a half in front of my face. The flies from the bear on their face was flying on a mine, but I wasn't moving. I was. I had full intention of taking a video of that beautiful helicopter coming flying in, but when that beautiful helicopter came flying in, I didn't pick my head up. I said I ain't moving. I found a comfortable spot, ain't moving.
Speaker 1:Yeah, God, I believe it man, that's crazy. That's crazy. Um man, I don't know. Keep going. I feel like whenever I ask questions, I derail the end.
Speaker 2:So it was about two hours ten minutes. They actually had a Blackhawk on the way to pick me up, yeah, but the troopers, as a contingency plan, had a helicopter come too and they actually got there just before. Oh, and the trooper walked up and I remember him just coming up and I picked my head up. He's like well, you can wait 15 you know 15 more minutes for the helicopter. I was like no, you get me the fuck out of here.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'll ride in a Blackhawk another time. Yeah, I'm good, yeah.
Speaker 2:And yeah, so they. He rolls me onto a tarp, this dude's, he's fucking jacked too. Yeah, and he grabbed me from the shoulders and just yoinked me out of there. He dragged me through all the bushes, you know, because it it landed about 50 yards away from us yeah and thank god we were at.
Speaker 2:We're at a big open area right um, and I remember him dragging me through the creek and for that split second I didn't feel any pain. All I felt was like a cold wash of water on my back and then the pain came back, you know okay yeah, they dropped me right up the skis of a helicopter and I remember looking up and the pilot looking at me and giving me a thumbs up like yeah, I'm like fuck, yeah, just get me in here.
Speaker 1:you know, yeah, and we'll celebrate'll celebrate later, bud, get me in here, yeah right.
Speaker 2:They open up the door and they're like my dad and I'm about to try to help me. I said, uh-uh, I push away. I'm like I'm getting in. I just kind of flop myself in there. Beautiful helicopter ride man. Been in some helicopter rides doing firefighting, but this was the most painful, beautiful helicopter ride. I mean, you're going over the turning arm, it's. Yeah, it was something else. And then seeing the helicopter landing pad was also pretty awesome too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, being at the hospital being like, okay, I did it, I'm going to be here tomorrow, let's go. That's awesome, man. That's a crazy, crazy story. So I'm just going to have to assume, like the bear was just left out there, like they just let, or did they go back and, like, harvested, it was collared? I don't like. Do you know what happened to the bear?
Speaker 2:Yeah, actually I do, you know, since my father does work in that field, he knew the people that would go out there. And typically in this type of situation, when a bear is killed in self-defense, you have to field, dress it and bring it out from where you're at, and that would have sucked.
Speaker 1:That would have sucked. So field dress. What meat is required of you to take out?
Speaker 3:No meat.
Speaker 2:Just the claws, I think the sex and the skull and the hide.
Speaker 1:Okay, and the whole hide? I bet the hide weighed 1,000 pounds, jesus.
Speaker 2:It would have been something heavy. I think so because she was collared. We did get much more information than you typically would.
Speaker 1:I believe it Okay.
Speaker 2:So my dad talked to the gentleman who collared her back in 2014. And I think they have to be at least five years old at the least.
Speaker 1:I can't remember, but she was 17. She was 17. Okay.
Speaker 2:She was 17. How old?
Speaker 1:do grizzlies get Like what is the average lifespan or like what is considered a long lifespan?
Speaker 2:I think 30 is a good time. Okay, bear, okay, um, don't quote me on that, but I, my dad and I talked about. He said he knows there's 28 year old bears out there, so okay, got it.
Speaker 1:Um, that's, that's good enough for me yeah, so they get pretty old.
Speaker 3:I mean, she was you know, maybe middle age, a little bit about that. Pack her out, which is very nice of them. Um then, what?
Speaker 1:what did happen to so the? The rangers went out there and did yes so, um, they had to retrieve the collar.
Speaker 2:Um, actually, the trooper who pulled me out in the process knocked his cam off, so they had to go back out there, um, and I'm not sure, knock his what off, his, uh, his chest camera.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, got it I immediately went to archery and I was like what do you have a bow for? You're not gonna scan, all right.
Speaker 2:But okay, camera got it um, yeah, so they went back out there. I'm not sure the timeline of how many times I went back out there, or if they went back out there two times or one time. All I know is how they got the collar off. Is yet the price? Yeah, the head off, cause the collar ain't coming off in the other way. Huh, um, so they, since I'm already out there, might as well do it for them, you know. So I was really nice of them.
Speaker 1:Okay, so they, they, they. Okay, so they got you the head.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so you're not. You can't take anything as a trophy.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's what I thought, yeah.
Speaker 2:But they have the skull down at the station that they put into bugs, so it's fleshy. Take all that and they put it together. So it should be done here shortly for at least a look at and see how many holes are in that and then, yeah, I was gonna say, put back together is a key point.
Speaker 1:I was thinking that that thing had to be just pieces after what you said, the 26 rounds or something that you and your dad put into that bear total that's crazy man. That's crazy man. That's crazy. I'm noticing you have a bear claw necklace. Is that at all from this bear?
Speaker 2:It was a gift from one of the PJs. Okay, they gave it to me and I'm like all right, cool, so I twist her up and put her on my necklace.
Speaker 1:That's the one that got you in the hip, we'll have to assume.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Apparently, this is when their claws are at their shortest. Uh, and it's still a pretty fucking big claw to wear around the neck, but it's a good reminder dude, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm glad you made it, man, I'm glad that you took your dad with you. It seems like, uh, if I ever go hunting in alaska, I'm gonna ask to go with your dad too. Uh, but, dude, that's an awesome story. That's absolutely phenomenal. Thank you for sharing. And really, though, like I'm glad you you made it out of there, because that could have ended in so many different ways. Um, let me ask about the wounds. Like, obviously you got out that's great anything remarkably serious or like um like, how's the recovery been?
Speaker 2:well, um, I will say the uh people at the wound clinic say that I heal abnormally fast so I might have turned into a werebear in the process I'm not sure, but that adds up too. Yeah, I'm actually, I can't sit still and they wanted me to sit still and I think not everyone, but some people want me to, hey, stop moving. But I think because I moved around so much, that probably sped up my recovery and I actually just two days ago I went for my first couple mile run, which is to say the ago I went for my first uh couple mile run, which is, to say the least you know, pretty awesome, and just three months after having holes through your leg.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when? What is the date on this Cause? It's right now. It's mid to late October, October 19th roughly. You said you went for that run, so how long before you were running.
Speaker 1:Uh, so we had been, uh, August 17th august 17th damn, that is quick yeah, you probably still scabbed over and you're going for a run with bear attack jesus christ man okay, yeah, good on you, man. I always feel like when I'm injured, if I'm up and moving, it does heal faster. It's like being bedridden doesn't work for me either. I can't, um, I can't say that I'd heal from a bear wound in a month and a half. But good on you, brother.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's still kind of nasty, I mean like it's yeah, it is what it is. Yeah, I believe it, but nothing vital like just meat, mostly, mostly meat. Just yeah, they said I should go get a lottery ticket after, and I did, and I did win.
Speaker 1:I won a gun, two guns actually at the NRA, no shit.
Speaker 2:I'm not joking, dude. I went to the state fair on my crutches four days after it happened, just kind of crutching around. Everyone's like oh, some bear attack dude. I'm like yeah, and the NRA dude's like come in here and buy a ticket off the wall of guns. And I was like okay, so every hundred tickets they sell they pull a name out of this bucket and sure as shit, I was 92, 92nd person to go in there and I'm pointing out the uh xm, uh springfield that I had, that I shot the bear with. And this guy behind me says tyler johnson. I'm like shut the fuck up no, you know way yeah and uh, I he.
Speaker 2:I paid 20, so I was able to pick two guns out. So I said, hey, man, can you wait till tomorrow. My dad's going to be here and I want to surprise him with a gun.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because that guy saved my life, right, he got me out of there. I mean, I don't think I talked about it enough. The training that he did to get the right people out there.
Speaker 1:in the time that he did through an in-reach, did he just hit the SOS button or was he messaging specific people? Messaging specific.
Speaker 2:I mean I remember him going over the lat and long. My son has a bullet wound in the right leg, bare bite, or in the left leg, bare bite. In the right leg Control or the bleeding is controlled. He is conscious and awake and he just kept on sending that and sending that and the coordinates to multiple people who can help.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:He came to the state fair fair and I was like hey, why don't we? Walk over here, crutch over here, clink, clink, clink I was like you, like any of these guns he's like yeah, I was like pick one out. He's like what do you mean? I was like I fucking won yesterday. He's like no, you didn't.
Speaker 1:I was like get two guns, so I'll say that was a great week, but it started pretty shitty Um yeah man dude. Awesome, Tyler, that's a great story from top to bottom. Uh, gosh. Yeah, I'm glad I saw your video and I'll I'll try and find it. Maybe I'll have you send it to me, Uh, one of your videos, because I'd love to share it with uh, with the listeners. They can see how calm, cool and and collected you really were through this entire process. It's absolutely amazing man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they keep on taking it down from TikTok. I guess my life is too graphic for that, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:I post a cover photo for my podcast, which is usually someone holding a deer just a grip and grin, and I get flagged within 10 seconds every time. But I'm flipping around on that bullshit and I get kill shots just non-stop on there Deer getting blasted by arrows and they can show that, but I can't show a grip and grin. It doesn't make any sense.
Speaker 2:I know they're like brutality. I'm like dude, this thing fucking tried to kill me. Yeah, yeah, I'm like dude, this thing fucking tried to kill me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, whatever. Yeah, they've told me one more flag and they might take my account away and I honestly don't know if I care, but whatever, so okay, let's keep going. Man, you said you had a bunch of stories. I'm not going to make you tell me stories all night, but if you got another one you want to tell us, let's do it why? Why don't you set the stage? Do you know where ADAC is?
Speaker 1:I do, because I've been invited to go out there this year and it terrifies me, because hot don't mind, cold don't mind wind whoops my ass.
Speaker 1:And I think their slogan tell me if I'm wrong is it's the birthplace of wind, so I'm a little terrified of going but I think that makes me grow as a person, so I'm probably little terrified of going, but I think that makes me grow as a person so I'm probably going to do it. But yeah, I do know, it's for the listeners Adak Island and you again, tyler, you tell me if I'm wrong because you know better than I do, but it's 1500 miles from mainland Alaska. It's closer to Russia than it is from Alaska. It's like a three-hour plane ride from Anchorage, right, it's like you get up there and then you go out. It's the very end of the Aleutian Islands, is that roughly accurate?
Speaker 2:Damn near the end. A2 is the only I think the only island past that which is World War II history. Japanese step foot on there and ADAC has one of our now dispersed military bases there. I think they stopped going there in the early nineties. I'm not a hundred percent sure on that, but yeah, everything is still there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 6,000 members of the military were there. They brought in caribou cause they're not necessarily non-native cause they're native to. Alaska, just not native to the Island. Um, and then they abandoned the base and now the island is swarmed with caribou. So I am, I've done you caught me with something that I, very recently, have done a fair amount of research into.
Speaker 2:But yeah continue.
Speaker 1:Adak Island super interested.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we went. Oh, when was it? It was, I think it was October Come to find out If you are going go a little bit more towards December January, by the way.
Speaker 1:Why is that? Because that's not when I was planning on going, so now I'm worried.
Speaker 3:When are you?
Speaker 2:planning on going.
Speaker 1:The trip is currently planned for August. I haven't paid any money or anything yet, but that's when they're going.
Speaker 2:Uh-huh Okay, money or anything yet, but that's when they're going. Uh-huh okay, well, be prepared to ask someone to charter you a boat around and go to the other side of the island, because, uh, they are the caribou that are swarming. Adak are on the other side of the fucking island when I was there, so I didn't see a damn caribou, but I do have a big story about this, though okay, okay, what.
Speaker 1:And you were there.
Speaker 2:You said again october, right I think it's october, november there wasn't any snow. It was um, so I can only imagine it was probably beginning of october maybe the end of august it might have been august. Anyways, it was around this time when the caribou weren't on that side of the island okay, so for all your listens out there. Uh, keep in mind you might want to go when there's snow. And they're easier to track when there's snow right. Yeah, so there's that it does suck. You know wind and snow.
Speaker 1:How bad do you want?
Speaker 2:your caribou.
Speaker 1:I don't know if I want it that bad. We'll worry about that in August. Okay, let's go back to your story.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we get there and we have a group of well, I think there's about 10 of us. Um, I'm kind of fly by the seat of my pants kind of guy. I didn't do any real research on a deck, I just kind of like, fuck it, another adventure, let's go, man, I'm all about whatever.
Speaker 1:I'm good to go.
Speaker 2:Um, so again, it's my dad and I and another hunting partner of ours, don, great dude to go hunting with man anyways, and there's another couple people that are with us, and I don't think anyone really did their research, except for Don, and they probably thought you'd be shooting caribou from the back of a pickup truck while Well, drinking Budweiser. It is. It is not that, my friend.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think the only people that were ready for, you know that type of situation where people who were a little bit more uh, apt to go hiking a mountain on a regular basis, which Don and my dad, myself.
Speaker 3:That's what we do when we go hunting, so we're like cool, let's do it.
Speaker 2:You know, um, so those guys, after you know two days, they decided to stay back and, uh, don't blame them. Um, to get where you need to go hunting, where we were at, which is, um, I'm actually looking up at all. Right, look at a map right now. I thought it was Husky, but I guess it's called hyper's pass. Anyways, uh, you get, you drop off at, um, this kind of Creek and you have to hike out and be ready. If you're hiking out there, if you're afraid of heights, man, like, be ready, because there's, you have to. Um, oh, it is Husky Pass. Anyways, you have to skirt the side of this lake, side-hilling, on cliff's edge.
Speaker 1:Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2:That is dug in, the trail's dug in about a foot deep, uh, and you got a wall of grass next to you about a half a foot on the other side of you, and then an 80 foot to 100 foot drop into just the deep, like you can see, into this lake, but you can't see the bottom. Yeah, it's eerie, uh it, but it is a hell of a hike out there, um and uh. So we did that for a few days. We went around and we went all the way, uh, around mount reed, and, um, we found some uh, what one of the foxholes. Yeah, by the way, be careful of that too, there's foxholes everywhere, uh, and like the animal box, they make holes Okay.
Speaker 2:No, no Like military foxholes dropped them off and they dug holes getting ready for um aerial attack from the Japanese. Like it's the they like left everything there, man. It aerial attack from the japanese, like it's the they like left everything there, man. It is insane. And we were down in this area where you can see these dugouts and it's I love history, man, and just to like be there and see the history of it. It's like chernobyl, that city, that town, I mean yeah, just completely abandoned massive yeah, it's, it's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, everything's wind ripped, whatever. But get back to the foxholes. We were, you know, looking for caribou, but we found herself not finding any. So we got to the bottom of this area where it looked like they dropped off a whole bunch of military personnel, and I decided to stick my arm into one of these foxholes jesus, it's like you know, like I'm like poking in it, you know, like, like, what's in there you know we'll use this term.
Speaker 1:We'll call it poking the bear.
Speaker 2:Uh, for you, yeah and um, I have my walking stick and I hear a thud thud. I'm like I know they have a lot of UXDs or what is it? Unexploding ordinance UXOs, yeah.
Speaker 3:Around there, but I was like no way they would have them in here, shit.
Speaker 1:Now, there wasn't one in there but I was worried where the story is going to go. But okay, I know right.
Speaker 2:Curiosity killed Tyler, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but no, I stuck my arm in there and I started pulling out these, these boards, and it's just like pulling out of the muck, like I mean they were deep in there and I flip one over and it has a little paint sign on there and so I keep on digging in there, pulling out more shit, whoever like. When they left this place, they just threw everything in their foxholes and just let it be and over time, with the water and everything that just filled up, and it was like a, like a, like a time capsule, and I ended up pulling out these crates with little symbols on them, like an a and a triangle and um, I can only imagine like pieces of cot I know it's not like super cool, like, oh, you got a piece of fucking dude.
Speaker 2:It's like in the 1940s well, that's I mean, that's pretty cool yeah, I thought so, um, so that was probably, I don't know day three, day four, um, that morning we started early because it's about a I can't remember like a 40 minute drive out to this trailhead, something like that. Anyways, we want to start off early because we wanted to go way back there. Beautiful landscape, but it's like you know, the more beautiful it is, the more crazy she is, kind of thing, you know, the more beautiful it is, the more crazy she is, kind of thing, dude, that's something that can come with women and mountains.
Speaker 1:The more beautiful they are, the more crazy they are.
Speaker 2:So I remember that morning I was walking in line, don, in the front, my dad, I think, you know whatever the line was, but I was in the back and I have a nice full brim leather hat uh, I usually wear, and that morning, uh, adat gave birth to wind and rain and I had my. We had our head down for most of that trip, walking towards where we wanted to go, which ended up being, uh, let's see here, yeah, that's towards hikers pass, I think. Anyways, it's back there, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And um it sucks to walk into rain. It just beats on your face.
Speaker 1:It sucks so bad.
Speaker 2:It's just straight into your face. So we had our heads down and there would be a reason why I mentioned that part, uh, because later on that day we, we stop and we have lunch and, oh, rain goes away, opens up and everything turns beautiful, uh, and we wanted to get to this area on top of the next mountain over and look down into this big, bold area where we thought potentially we would see one caribou One, please.
Speaker 1:Right, okay.
Speaker 3:And we get damn near to the edge of where we need to go.
Speaker 2:We're hiking all day. I think this is probably around noon and we started at like 7.
Speaker 2:Something like that we were hiking, you know, just chucking along. Yeah, Maybe it was 1 o'clock because we did have lunch down below a certain area. I think it might have been an hour hike away. Anyways, like I said, it was raining all morning and I'm walking in front of my dad and Don's walking in front of me and I remember like, oh, there's the edge, it's right there and we're walking over to it. Go down this little hill, start walking flat. And then I hear my dad behind me scream. He slipped and what we didn't know happened at the moment he tore. My dad behind me screamed, he slipped and what we didn't know happened at the moment. He tore his patella tendon or his quadriceps tendon. Oh Jesus, Just rolled back into his leg and I heard my dad scream. And I've never heard my dad scream like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I remember turning. Did he slip? And because of the slip he tore it, or did he tear it? And when he tore it he then fell and slipped. No, it was because of the slip.
Speaker 2:Okay, Because he slipped down the hill and he like tried to catch himself and it went just shredded and balled up into his leg. Gross.
Speaker 1:I've torn my Achilles tendon Sucks, so I can only imagine how much worse the patellar tendon would be. So ugh. So I can only imagine how much worse the patellar tendon would be.
Speaker 2:So ugh, yeah, on top of the mountain, by the way, that we were at just at the very like height as far as we could, until we were like okay we probably need to turn around after we look here, can't find anything because we won't make it back in time. So it was like the worst timing, anyways.
Speaker 1:And that's when the grizzly bear ran out. Your dad shot it 30 times.
Speaker 2:Okay, sorry, that's all good yeah.
Speaker 2:So, you know, like I said, my dad, for that, you know he's, he's usually the one doing search and rescues, right, he's out there rescuing people that get stranded Same thing Like what happened to my dad, right, yeah? And so now we are met with the situation where we're on top of the mountain and, uh, my dad is riding in pain and he's now like he's shivering and he's kind of going into what we suspect would be shot right from. Yeah, uh, hiking all day, dehydrated, potentially, and exhausted, and then having that happen, um, I think he, he's gonna listen to this.
Speaker 2:He was thinking he was like 55, 56, no, he was 56, I think, old man anyways so I gotta give him shit anyways, yeah, so uh, that's pretty horrible um injury yeah, bad timing yeah, that's awful and um.
Speaker 2:So we, we wrap him up in, uh, our emergency blanket and we start making a fort for him. You know, out of rocks they were up there, you know, two feet high, just to get the wind to just go right over the top of him. When it does kick back up on top of a mountain, fully exposed, can't move him. I mean, he tried getting up. He screams um, and so that's when I, that's, this is I, this is before the bear attack, right, obviously, four or three years ago. So this was the cool story before that yeah, then you went and trumped his story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right and I remember looking at my dad he's holding that in reach in his hand and he just now he's like is this really happening to him? Right? You know, I have the most respect for my father, yeah, yeah, and just just seeing him in that that vulnerable state, knowing like shit it's. It's time for me to now step up.
Speaker 1:It's happening. The student has become the teacher.
Speaker 2:Right yeah.
Speaker 1:Is there much for like emergency services on Adak Island, or is that where the problem was here?
Speaker 3:Because, like, you've got to get them from memory.
Speaker 2:It's weird.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay.
Speaker 2:Sorry. So we contact the Coast Guard, we contact my dad's doing the contacting not like shivering, shaking. I think I would have learned after that one to know how to pick up a damn in reach and learn how to use it. But besides that, we're in contact with them and they're saying, hey, shelter down, there won't be anyone to pick you up until tomorrow. Is what?
Speaker 1:we got back Jesus Christ okay.
Speaker 2:And the rescue team and ADAC, the people that are coming to get us. They don't do a lot of hiking around there. To say the least, you got some athletes coming your way. Yeah, she got some athletes coming your way. Yeah, uh, they wanted us to hike around mount reed to husky pass to. I didn't. When you look at a mountain you're just like what the no yeah, right any.
Speaker 2:Anyways, they're like okay, we're gonna wait for the helicopter right for tomorrow. And so don was like okay, man, if this is going to be a you know overnighter thing. Oh, actually they came back and say it's gonna be like two days after that, like 20 minutes later uh, and so he's like okay, if this is going to be a thing, then I'm gonna head back and grab some people and get some supplies for us, and well, we're, we're going to hold out here. So, Don leaves, which is also insane Like.
Speaker 1:Going off solo.
Speaker 2:Going off solo and you talk about that ledge to the water.
Speaker 1:I hope I'm not guessing here. But yeah, keep going.
Speaker 2:Sorry, no, no, he's good. My anxiety is peaking right now. I bet. Yeah, no, he makes it. But he also hikes, like, like I said, it took about a 45-minute car ride Because they dropped us off and they were going to pick us up later on that day, which we weren't there for that. Anyways, he hiked almost all night to get to the house. Just to tell everyone, like Chris is fucked up on top of a mountain, help.
Speaker 1:So when they went to pick you up and you guys weren't there, they didn't like go. Huh, we should figure out where they are. I think they just went back to camp.
Speaker 2:Maybe, I think maybe they knew they got like. Maybe I'm not sure I wasn't there, but all I know they weren't coming to get us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Don was the one who was like I'm going to go and get you guys supplies so we can make it through this. Well, after Don left about an hour, my dad's sitting there. We were sitting there listening to Neil Gaiman North Mythologies, just bringing us back to where we are in the tent, trying to calm. Getting back to the familiarities trying to keep calm in situations right, yeah yeah, neil Gaiman's got some great stuff too. Okay to like. The familiarities.
Speaker 2:Trying to keep calm in situations right like yeah, yeah, neil, neil gaiman's got some great stuff too, so okay, amazing, and uh, yeah, I spent a lot of hours and like crazy storms in a tent just listening to the uh, neil. Anyways, the coast guard messaged us back two hours later and they said no one's coming to get you, you're on your own. Uh, what? No shit, I'm not like is it okay?
Speaker 1:is it weather related? Was this? Was there a storm they never gave?
Speaker 2:us an explanation, and I have an idea of what it was uh because we found out later about other stuff, and I I'll tell you about that here in a little bit okay, sorry, I keep jumping.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, you're doing a great job keep going.
Speaker 2:Um. So at that moment, uh, my dad. That's. This is when my father looked at me and he said what do you want to do? And I was like, let's get you the fuck out of here. So I give him, uh, my walking sticks. Uh, we have what they have in our other trauma kit, which would be a rubber kind of tourniquet where you're wrapping and, like you know, tighten it. So my stick band.
Speaker 1:Good question I have. Yeah, I know don is left. You get noticed. So this is two hours after it happened. When they say no one's coming or when it, what's the timeline here, and like what time of day is it?
Speaker 2:Four or five o'clock, I think it is. In the afternoon, maybe five, okay, I have it all videotaped also, by the way Of course and it's all timestamped, so I'm just kind of just out the window. Now we'll take ballpark.
Speaker 2:We're not going to get upset with ballpark times, so we make a brace for him, right, a splint, makeshift splint. And so he has two walking sticks on his leg wrapped it around, to where he has to keep it straight, because I think he realized how often you use your quadriceps, you know, because each time that would flex. I'm sure it was like someone's stabbing him in the leg.
Speaker 3:Gosh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so our idea was the cripple would walk behind me as I go ahead and scout the area where we need to go for the easiest path for my father to follow. Now that brings me back to what happened earlier. It was pissing rain and Don you know he has his GPS and I'm sure you know I should have paid attention all the way out there.
Speaker 1:But you had your head down.
Speaker 2:I had my head down. You know Don was showing the way, so he knew this way back. That's probably why he felt confident enough to be like hey, I'm going.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, here's the question Does Onyx work out there or like anything like that?
Speaker 2:We didn't have Onyx at the time. Uh okay, this hunt we had onyx, okay, this last hunt, yeah all right, all right well oh, but my dad did give me uh, his uh. I can't remember if his his in reach or it was, maybe it was on. It was some type of uh mapping system where it would show where we had a path before and we can try to find it.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, but the trail that we were on past um that big lake I was talking about the trail kind of just goes. Just there's no real trail, just go Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:To the free right. There's kind of a trail, but it's not really, uh, trafficked like you know a lot of other trails, um, anyway, so we're, we're hiking and I'm videotaping this time and we're I'm on top of a ridge line now looking down, like I think we came from down there, and I'm looking over. I was like, okay, I see Husky, where we're at the other day, um, I kind of see like the path where I potentially need to take and so, uh, there was a moment where we had to cut down towards this Canyon area, which then we would side skirt back towards that Lake which is about four miles away. Um, and I go down this hill and it's kind of, at the bottom of this hill is rolling hills going up and down, up and down. I couldn't get a good look at where we had to go and so I made a reference point, turned around it's like, ah, the moon is right there.
Speaker 2:Yep, the moon was right there. And I sprint ahead and I look around, I, I, I mean, I had adrenaline sprinting ahead, sprinting ahead and I stop. I look, I'm like, oh, I think we need to go there. And I turn around and because I went up and down so many hills that wind kicked up and those clouds came in, never make a moon or the stars your reference out in adak buddy, because guess what you will turn yourself around yeah, like a top and um.
Speaker 2:this is where I learned where panic does not help, and I sprinted back trying to find everything looked the fucking same dude, it, it, it was. It got so windy where you would yell and just, and then that wind would take your voice and just throw it to the side. Jesus, if you were 20 feet in front of me.
Speaker 1:I'm not going to yell.
Speaker 3:That's it. You wouldn't be able to hear me, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I remember I, I, I was running and my heart's thumping Like where the fuck am I? Like I did not just lose myself and lose my dad. Like you know, all this is going through my head, like I need to save him, like what is going on and I said stop, just take a second, here You're not too far away.
Speaker 2:I mean, it was maybe like a five minute run, right. So I kind of have a general, maybe idea where I need to go, um, and so I start moving a little bit slower in the middle of the night, right. Uh, this is starting to get dusk.
Speaker 1:So at that time.
Speaker 2:We are now. Um time is against us to where I need to find this trail with my father, or else we are going to be bedded down um.
Speaker 1:So yeah, there it was.
Speaker 2:we were going against time at this at this moment, and uh, long story short, I found my dad and he was hobbling his crippled ass down this way, still making his way down that side of that mountain that you know we were at uh previously, and he had no clue what just happened. I wasn't about to tell him.
Speaker 1:So I was like I'm staying a little bit closer to my dad.
Speaker 2:Um, so I I mapped it out a little bit better. You know for him to come, and you know, and maybe every like 20 minutes I hear him slip and scream and my dad, when he gets mad, starts swinging shit, you know like.
Speaker 2:I learned to stay at least a walking stick length away from my father while walking through alders, because when those alders grab onto your backpack and pull you back and you have like 80-pound backpack, 100-pound, you know it pisses you off and I learned to stay far away from that guy. Yeah, because he just starts swinging Right, but he didn't have anything to hit. He's just swinging out of here, god damn yeah.
Speaker 2:Anyways this is where the story gets a little bit weird. Okay, perfect. So I want everyone to have an open mind about this. We are on ADAC in the middle of the fucking ocean, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, closer to Russia than Alaska, closer to.
Speaker 2:Russia, closer to China, whatever we're out there. And we get to this area where we get down and I was like there's the trail, I can see it. I can barely like I can kind of idea where we get down and I was like there's the trail, I can see it. I can kind of idea where we're going. And we get to this area where it's in between two mountains and it plateaus, where we can walk across that plateau and get on the other side and we start side-hilling back to that lake and we get to the middle of this area and you can hear a mosquito fart from 10 feet away.
Speaker 2:Dude, the wind gone, everything gone, clouds gone. It was like this weird stillness just happened. And I remember turning around towards my dad walking towards me and it was like five minutes ago. There was a little bit of sun and then it was just dark. And I turn around and I'm looking back and the stars just kind of came out out of nowhere. And I'm looking towards my dad hobbling towards me and I find out, oh, this is where we took lunch. I look back up towards we were just at where we set our sos out and I see a light up where we're at, and it moved vertical moved, no shit in the most odd way I have ever seen anything move.
Speaker 2:And my dad turns around and he says, oh, it's a helicopter, and he starts doing this flashlight shit like S O S. And I look at my dad and I have experience around helicopters all the time. Yeah, I'm looking at my dad and I have experience around helicopters all the time. Yeah, I'm looking at my dad. I was like Dad, do you fucking hear anything, dude, do you hear anything? You would hear a helicopter thaw from right there. You would hear that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:What is that? No shit. Two more lights show up and they're moving in this weird triangle way right above where we were just at, and then they disappear, and then they come back and they're just moving around and this week, like shit doesn't move, like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, you can say like, okay, let's run through it, Right, Um, it could be well, let's run through it, Right, Um, it could be well. What are those called the? Uh, those drones, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Where the fuck is that drone coming from in the middle of ADAC?
Speaker 1:Also, if it's real quiet, you can hear drones.
Speaker 2:You can hear drones yeah, yeah, yeah. So just chew on that for a moment. And I remember my dad. I look at him. I said, dude, stop that. I do not want to be anal probe right now. I said that out loud to my father, and that's something that I never thought I've ever said yeah um, and I tried taking a video of it.
Speaker 2:This is the whole. Here we go. Where's the video? Evidence dude, I tried. You know what? My phone said Zero storage. Huh, and I have a very blurry clip and it looks like a light. I'm like what the shit? And 20 minutes later my phone started recording again man. You know, we can think of like whatever you know it's cool. Yeah, we'll just move on from there yeah that's soaking for a second.
Speaker 1:It's weird in the middle. That's interesting. I like it. Yeah, this is this episode's coming out on halloween, so this is right in in the right train there. But uh, I've seen some shit in the woods. I haven't seen anything like that one time. I thought I was seeing that, what I think you think it was, and it was Starlink. But me and my buddy spent an hour staring at these satellites thinking what the hell is that? Have you ever seen Starlink in the sky? Super weird.
Speaker 2:Super weird, is it? No, I haven't.
Speaker 1:It's a string of lights that don't look like they're in the atmosphere, but they are in the atmosphere but they are, and they're completely silent and they just were moving across the sky. And my buddy and I were like, okay, where's the nearest air force towns? And we're trying to figure it all out. And we stood there just staring at the sky for like an hour and then we realized the sun was coming up and we were trying to hunt. So we like ran to the spot that we were going to hunt, googled it later, took a bunch of photos, um, and figured out it was starlink. But it's like 15 lights in a line is what Starlink is. Doesn't sound at all like what you were dealing with.
Speaker 2:No, yeah, this was it made my father. Yeah, I think it made him a believer.
Speaker 3:I like to think he's always been like nah, that's impossible.
Speaker 1:Infinite universes out there, man, it's possible Bro that does not happen, just saying like what?
Speaker 2:is that what? Why did it move? Like it moved so fast and precise, went into vision, came out like it flew away. So I like, I don't know, we can, we can speculate on this a little bit. Uh, this is, this is the adag trip. So it's uh, it's always full and there's even more. So, um, about 10 minutes later you know, like, okay, whatever that is, I I'm on a mission, I need to get my father out. Uh, be it a UFO, or Russia, or China, whatever you know, I, I don't care, I'm getting my father out of here and that's, that was my mission.
Speaker 1:Hell yeah, um, and so to shoot a bear in a out of here that's, that was my mission, hell yeah, and so you need him to shoot a bear in a couple of years.
Speaker 2:Yeah, right, and uh, we moved through the night and uh, where we were hiking again, if you go out where you just where we were at you'll see that all that, a lot of these trail. You are hiking on the knife's edge of a cliff In the dark with someone that has a braced leg when it's pissed rain all day. The most beautiful thing is out in the middle of the ocean like that the stars. I live in Alaska, man, and I've seen some beautiful stars. The light pollution there is very minimal, but out there in the ocean you can see the stars behind those stars and then you can just see the stars behind those ones. I took a picture with my phone and you can never take pictures of stars with your phone, but you know what?
Speaker 1:It did that night. It did that night. That's awesome, man and I'm glad you're saying some positive things here, because you basically scared the shit out of me. You're going to adac now. I'm hearing some of the beauty and some of the yeah, so okay, sorry oh, it's all right.
Speaker 2:um, so we we moved through the night. Uh, we did lose the trail a few times because, like I said, there's, there's I mean quote unquote trail. Right, yeah, it's just like tracking. That's pretty much what we were doing Like, is there? Was there footprints here earlier? Can I see like some blade grass just pushed down from feet, anything? And I was, we were.
Speaker 1:All right, guys. That's it. Another couple stories in the books. Again, tyler, thank you so much for sharing your story. It's terrifying, it's absolutely terrifying, to be charged by a brown bear and then, of course, shooting yourself at the same time. It's insane. I'm glad you survived. I'm glad you had your dad with you. It's awesome. Also, the Adak story scared the shit out of me. I don't know how I feel about going to Ad-Ac anymore, but glad I heard your story, brother. So thank you, sir, for coming on the podcast. You listeners, thank you guys, for tuning in. Make sure again, you share it with one person. Get out and vote if you haven't already. We're running out of time. And then, yeah, if you don't mind, subscribe to the podcast, whatever you're listening on and give it a rating and that's it, guys.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for tuning in. Now get out there and make some stories of your own.
