The wild

“Did you pack both coolers”, said dad.
No dad not yet. I haven’t had the time yet. I would have thought that dad knew that I was just happy going to our simple cabin in Marienville Pennsylvania for our yearly hunting trip, but this year he wanted to do something different. See, well dad and I go on a yearly hunting trip every year in early fall to do a little early deer hunting in early Muzzleloader season, some small game hunting, and to just get away from it all. This year dad had decided to take me to a place where his father had taken him when he was my age, Rimersburg in Harkin son Main. I am excited about going but I would liked to have spent another weekend in Pennsylvania. Living in Ohio I don’t get to go there much. This year dad also said that I can take my two year old male beagle, Rusty we bought him two years ago off of a guy who owned a farm. I taught him to be a rabbit dog and this will be his first time actually hunting.
“I’ll pack both the shotgun’s ,and the Muzzleloaders” ,said dad
as he was finishing packing his gear into the truck before we ate dinner. Ugh dad’s dinner strikes again, mom was on vacation to Utah to see some of her Kin, and dad can’t cook worth the his life. I finished packing my Gear into dad’s truck. There wasn’t really much room because dad only had a 1962 dodge ram and it was only a single cab so we had to fit whatever we could up front ( including dad, Rusty, and I), and the rest of the gear had to go in the back
“Time for dinner”, dad called.
We were having something dad could cook a little bit, “ but barely”, mashed potatoes, baked beans, and fried mushrooms.
He says it will give me strength for the trip, but “ I dought it.’’ It would take about twenty three straight hours to get to Harkin son Main so the next morning “Wednesday” we got up at 4:30 A.M.
We left about 6:47 and we were on our way. For the most part the first few hours went well until dad asked,
“ Did you remember to pack the radio transmitting wachy talkies.”
I had forgotten them. Three whole hours into the trip, and I forgot the most important equipment. The most valuable of our gear, and the only way of survival if we were to get lost. He didn’t say much. All he said was,
“son responsibility comes naturally in a man’s life, some just have to find it.”
We didn’t talk most of the trip until we saw the sign that said welcome to Main. Now we both were excited, and I asked dad if we were to be there tonight by 8:00. “We should get there by 7:00 he said.” Surely enough we reached Harkin son about 6:30. We found a 5 room boarding house that allowed Rusty to stay in the basement.
“Nights here can reach below 5 degrees”, said the owner of the store.
We got settled down in our room and I said dad, “ what would happen if we got lost or hurt.” He said
“Just find the river ,or a creek, and walk upstream until you reach help.”
The next morning we got cleaned up and walked around town to eat breakfast. We brang rusty back a 5lb bag of dog food called, “Canine five”, the bag said it would, “prepare for the wild”. Later on dad, and I rented a canoe. We had decided on canoeing down about 8 miles on the river to a spot a couple of hunter said was a prime spot for deer, and small game. We went to the little town’s Merchantville called “Rimersburg Merchantville”. I read a little travelers magazine called, “The Wild”. I was reading about how bear, and moose attacks are growing in Main. We went to rent the canoe, and then we ate dinner, and we went to the boarding house to get some sleep.
We got up at about 4:30 A.M., and left about 5:00 A.M. We packed our gear, ourselves, and Rusty into the canoe and left down the river from the little town of Rimersburg, in Harkin son Main.
It was freezing paddling down the river. It felt like the wind off of the river was going to flip the boat. I could barely feel my face. Rusty was whimpering, and dad said that
“we would be to our spot soon, and that we have about a half an hour until dawn.”
We soon got off the canoes. I grabbed all my gear, and let Rusty loose. It was about two hours later when dad started talking about how, he remembered this feeling of freedom with his dad back years ago.” We had heard a noise in the brush. I looked at dad, and then pulled up my Muzzleloader. I thought about the stories of the bear attacks in the travelers Magazine. Then it stepped out of the brush. There it was standing there. About thirty yards away. A little whitetail yearling.
Dad Whispered, “ don’t shoot.”
I put down the gun and waited. I thought I heard a rustling in the brush, but I wasn’t sure We had hunted until early afternoon when dad had decided to move. We got up but waited. Had there been something there. There was another rustling in the brush. Rusty started to growl. I looked around me. Then there was a complete silence all around us. It was getting dark. We were walking to the canoe to make camp. That night We ate some canned foods that we had packed in the canoe. We made a Minnie shelter made out of sticks, and leaves to keep the wind off. I gathered fire wood. I had taken Rusty with me in case I heard something. Then we went back. I put logs on the fire then I went to sleep. Dad soon followed and we were off to surving a cold, and bitter night in Main. I couldn’t sleep, in fact I heard the strangest noise that I’ve ever heard. I think Rusty had heard it to because he was awake, and he moved closer to the fire. I suddenly fell back to sleep, and then didn’t wake up until the late morning. I woke up and Rusty was still laying right beside me by the fire. I looked over to get dad but he was gone. I got up too look around, but there was nobody there, no one. Frantically I looked around, then I remembered the canoe. If dad had went hunting his gun, and gear would have been gone. I ran to the canoe, but everything was laying in its position of what we had left it. Rusty was nosing frantically in the bushes. I thought of all those bear stories I have heard, and I figured one must have smelled the food remains that were left by the fire. I didn’t know what to do. I had forgot the main supplies to get out of here at home. The Wacky Talkies. That’s when I heard it. A growling sound about 200 yards off. A growling sound of death. A bear.
I had to think quick so I grabbed the shotgun, Rusty, some shells, and I was off to look for help. I had remembered what dad had said when I asked him what would happen if we got lost. He said to go down river. I heard the sound again it was getting closer. Rusty started to howl so I let him loose. That’s when I saw it. It had to have been 7 feet tall. A grizzly bear. I shot once. It started to run off. Rusty would have ran him down, but I grabbed his collar. Slipped on the leash, and ran down river. It had to have been 20 minutes later I finally stopped running. I didn’t know what to do. I knew the bear would be back. I started to walk slower, and slower until I came to a stop and listened. I had no idea where I was. I must have been at least two miles from camp. If I were to save dad I would have to find the town we had left, and get help. I kept at a steady pace until it was getting dark. I had no place to go. I tried to make a little shelter when I spotted a little cave about 20 yards away. I walked over to it and decided to stay there for the night. I remembered how to make a fire from boy scouts and it didn’t work. “I guess I’ll be cold tonight”, I told to Rusty. I was very hungry, but had nothing to eat. I guess will just have to wait out a cold night in Main by myself. Rusty had curled up beside me. Now it was getting dark. I was scared. Scared for what might have happened, and scared for what might happen to me. It was getting colder so I moved deeper into the cave. That’s when I heard it again. A roaring noise coming from the entrance of the cave. Rusty’s hairs stood up. I grabbed the gun and held it out. Just sitting, and waiting. It must have been there all night, because I woke up with the gun in my hand. I walked outside the cave. The bear was standing on the riverside. If I can sneak up on it, and get close enough this shotgun might kill it. I thought for a minute. As long as Rusty was not going to come out of the cave I might be able to pull it off. I snuck down to the riverside crawling closer, and closer. The bear looked up towards me, and sniffed the air. Had it seen me, or did it know I was there. It saw me. By this time I was less than five paces away. I pulled up and shot. How did I miss. The bear was raging towards me. Then out of nowhere Rusty came snarling at the bear. I loaded another shell, and hit it in the back. Rusty laid there all cut up on his side. The bear was getting back up. I loaded another shell into the chamber, and the bear was dead. It fell backwards into the river. It was finally gone. Rusty was whimpering. He was still alive, but hurt bad. I had picked him up in my arms, and started to carry him with me down the river.
I walked a few more miles and smelt the smell of breakfast coming downwind. That’s when a little cabin came into sight. I walked faster, and faster, until finally I reached the door. I knocked as hard as I could on the door, and then a middle aged woman came to the door. She rushed me in. By this time it had started to snow and I might have got lost in it if I hadn’t came upon this cabin. She called her husband in out of the back room. I told them the whole story. She fixed up an old remidee for Rusty’s cuts, and brooses. Her husband was a hunting guide around these parts. So she took me into town to get a rescue crew for my dad, while he went and searched. We got into town and took Rusty to a vet. We had told the sheriff the story and he got a dozen guys to look for my dad. That night I stayed in the same boarding house in which dad and I had stayed on our way here. I could not sleep at all worrying about dad and rusty. Wonder if I had lost them, both of them. When morning came a large man came into my room and took me down stairs. There was good news and bad news, he told me. The good news was they found dad about two miles from our camp where the bear had dragged him, but the bad news was that he would have to stay at the town’s doctor for a few days while he recuperated.
They let me see dad a few hours later. After a while he woke up. I told him the whole story. I told him that I had shot the bear, and about the cabin I had found. The doctor told me I had to leave. I stayed at the boarding house while dad got well enough to travel. We left five days later. Rusty was better, and we left in the old Ford to go home. There was a ticket on the window for sitting in front of the boarding house for so long. Dad and I just looked at each other and laughed. I asked him if we should tell mom and he said we’d have to. Then we put Rusty in the truck, looked at main one more time, and left to go home.

The End