Little rock, big bear

So I threw this little rock at a big bear the other day and I know what you're thinking — how does that make any sense because anyone with any sense knows that it makes absolutely no sense to throw a small rock, a tiny rock, at a great big animal like a grizzly bear?

But I did it anyway.

And you know what?

It worked.

The bear ran like I'd shot it with a rocket. Like I'd put a rocket launcher on my shoulder, pulled the trigger and launched a big old grenade at it. That's how this big, old bear acted. Tucked its butt in and ran like a scairt dog.

Thing is, the rock didn't even come close, really. It just sort of came out of my hand wrong and zipped through the trees near the bear, but it made that zipping sound, you know the kind of sound when a rock comes near your head. The sound of stone through air.

And off the grizzly went.

Good, I thought.

Now in my business, which is photography and nature photography at that, scaring off your subject by throwing rocks at them might not seem like it makes any sense.

But to me at that time, in that place, it made perfect sense. See I was with Boy Wonder and we were coming back from cutting firewood and here's this griz, this big beautiful griz, walking in the middle of the road.

I had seen the griz in Glacier National Park a few weeks before. I took her picture then in the middle of the road and I took her picture now as well.

But I knew more about her than I did then. I knew she'd been sniffing around campgrounds. I heard the story from the campground host who, too, had chased the bear with nothing more than a broom away from tents. I heard the story about how the bear wasn't aggressive toward people, but still, she concerned folks because she was, after all, a grizzly and a campground full of people is no place for a grizzly to be.

So biologists trapped her in a big trap that looks like a barrel and then moved her from the campground to a different spot and then chased her with dogs and loud noises and cracker shells, which are shells shot from a gun that make a lot of noise but cause no harm.

So when I saw her in the road that day. In the middle of this road that hunters travel regularly during hunting season, I knew I could probably chase her off. In fact, I wanted to chased her off because while the vast majority of hunters are good guys and I have absolutely nothing against hunting and have hunted myself, I also know there are a few lugheads out there who would most certainly consider plugging this big, beautiful girl.

So when I saw her I stopped the truck and took a few pictures. Then I yelled at her and waved my arms and she just looked at me with those sad puppy-dog eyes, and that's when I picked up the closest rock and chucked it at her.

Now sure, she could have come at me, but I'm really not that brave. I was just five steps from being in the cab of my truck.

She was a good 30 steps from getting to me. I figured I could beat her to the cab if I needed to.

I threw my rock and off she went.

It's not easy chasing off a willing subject.

But sometimes it's the right thing to do.

Chris Peterson is the photographer for the Hungry Horse News.