WEBVTT

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The merciless wild

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the heartless seems

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when nature unleashes her.

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Cool.

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Could you escape?

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Could you survive?

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These are the true stories

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of outdoorsmen confronted by death.

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Armed with raw courage and a will to live,

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they are the ones who beat the odds

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and return from their own fight

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to survive.

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A lifelong

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bond of hunting
forged between father and son.

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The kinds of hunting we do, as, you know,
help deer, antelope.

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Threaten to be pulled apart
in the jaws of a Wyoming grizzly.

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He came straight out.

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Forcing the father
to decide his life for his sons.

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Who were fighting for his life.

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Will either of them survive?

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The mayor was on top of me.

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The Ron Lemmings senior and junior.

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For them, the towering mountains,

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wild forests
and big game have beckoned each fall.

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Ron has taken

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his son hunting and fishing
since Ronnie was two years old.

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When Ronnie killed his first deer.

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He was 12 years old.

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I was probably more excited.

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And then he was over with Virgil.

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The kind of hunting we do
is, you know, elk, deer, antelope.

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And I mean moose.

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Anything we can draw a tag for?

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For father and son.

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It's the trail of the mountain man
and the Native Americans

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as they ride their horses
far into the rugged wilderness

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with rifles.

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And we hang out with bows.

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Usually we hunt with bows every year
because you can hunt with a bow.

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And if you don't kill anything,

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then you can also go back there
in rifle season.

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I like bow hunting best.

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That's more of a challenge
if you got to get in really close.

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There's just something about it.

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I mean, you're all camo out.

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It's really close range.

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It's definitely more exciting, I think.

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Well, hunting.

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In October 2009, the call of Bugling Elk

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draws the two men up
to ride the high lonesome, which is in

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fact home to every brand of wild game,
including the deadliest.

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On wake up hunting and bowler.

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Basically, you know,
we see everything and we see,

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you know, deer, elk, bighorn, sheep, moose

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and of course, grizzly bears, black bears.

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The hunt has started.

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Well, they've had several chances at elk,

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and it seems just a matter of time,
which fills

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their fourth day
with excited anticipation.

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Before leaving camp, though,

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they ask for help and protection,
as they always do.

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Please keep my son safe.

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We just more or less
pray that we will have a safe hunt.

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And maybe we have an opportunity
to get close to an owl or whatever,

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and then we'll take it from there.

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I think probably

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that morning when I said that prayer
that I was hoping

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that I would have a boy in front of me
and that he would guide that arrow

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and that I would
finally get to put my tag on.

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I know.

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Today
neither knows what their prayer may mean

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before the mornings over

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prayer counts,

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but so does using elk scent
to help them disguise their human odor

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and get into range for a shot
with their bows.

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Though
this could have fateful consequences

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as the hunt begins,

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they decide that Ron Senior
will hunt below, while Ron

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Junior calls from above and tries
to get an elf to walk by his dad.

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He's into our our favorite little spot
there and started calling.

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And right off the bat
a bull answered us and started coming in.

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We had been set up for probably,
I don't know, 5 to 10 minutes.

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And Ronnie was behind me about 40 yards.

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I was down the hill from him.

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And there was, I believe, a five point
goal came in and he was just below me.

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And he turned and went off to my left

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and I couldn't see him, but Ronnie
kept calling, knew he was still there.

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I was just waiting for him to move back
in an area where I can get a shot at him.

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I seen that bull coming

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out and he was right exactly where
I thought he was going to come out.

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And my dad was in a perfect position.

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I thought for sure that was
that was his elk

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where we were getting that elf for sure.

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The last piece
looks like it's about to fall into place

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when without warning, the Elk Bulls.

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Now spooked and took off.

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And everything was, you know, I couldn't
figure it out.

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There was no reason for him to spook.

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And, you know, after
he spooked and took off, I stood up.

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Then I heard a stick break behind me,

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and I turned around
and that's when I seen the bear.

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And what's a mystery at first

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becomes true terror.

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When I turned around,
the bear was probably 20

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yards from me, just standing there
looking at me, the look on his face.

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I knew this wasn't good.

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So I heard Ronnie yell, Get out of here.

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And instantly I knew it was a grizzly bear
because he would never open his mouth

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if it wasn't a bear.

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I didn't

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threw my arms up, you know,
and I yelled at him to get out of here.

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Most of the time
they turn and run off this one.

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His ears went flat
and he came straight at me

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full speed.

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For Ron Senior.

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It's a nightmare playing out in horrifying
slow motion.

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The very first thing
that I thought of when

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I saw that bear behind him
just for a split second,

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I was holding him
when he was a little tiny baby.

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And then my next thought was
that Bear's got them all.

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My son.

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Ken, a man with only a bow and arrow
in his hand, rescue his son.

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And does he risk becoming prey himself

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without seeming provocation?

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A grizzly bear is charging down on archery
ell counter run lemming

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and his father can only watch in horror.

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I mean, we're talking like a second

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and he's just,
you know, standing a foot away from me.

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There was no time, you know, to think

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about what you were going to do
or how you were going to do it.

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I just got behind the tree

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and he followed me
all the way around the tree.

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And then I just took off
straight down the hill as fast as I could.

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I knew he was chasing me
and I was just trying to stay up.

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I knew I was.

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I wasn't gonna be able
to keep that up long

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because it was such a steep hill
and I was going so fast.

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The only clear path down the hill happened
to be right by where my dad was at.

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They were getting

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close to me by that time
and I just thought, I have to do something

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and shoot the bear with the ball
was the only thing I could think of

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that might help.

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And not even knowing that
that was going to do anything.

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It's all adrenaline and desperation.

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As Ron Senior comes to full draw,

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praying his aim will be true.

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I drew back.

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I had to wait just for a split second
until I knew I wasn't going to hit Ronnie.

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And then I shot.

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I had no idea that I had hit the bear
the way everything was going.

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It just seemed like, you know,
this little arrow didn't do anything.

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I saw my dad and guys bow back,
and I heard his bow

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go off, and I seen a flash of an arrow

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just go right by my leg.

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I didn't know if the arrow hit the bear.

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And about the same time
I was on the ground, I.

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I guess the bear caught me at that point,
knocked me down.

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The massive grizzly is now
on top of Ronnie and about to clamp him.

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And it's powerful. Jaws

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and slash him with its raking claws.

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When I hit the ground,

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the first thing I could think of was
I didn't want to be on my stomach.

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I wanted to be on my back
where I could see what was going on.

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And I rolled right
straight over to my back.

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And the bear was, you know, he was right
on top of me trying to look like,

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you know, and I know they always go

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try to get in people's heads
and they take your face and stuff.

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And that was the only thing
that was going through my mind

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was they keeping away from my face
and in my head

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the adrenaline
and everything that was going on.

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I actually didn't even know that he

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had bitten me at this point.

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Ronnie's laying on his back.

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Chicken and slogan.

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I mean, he was fighting for his life

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somehow.

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Ronnie gets back to his feet
and makes another run

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to escape the grizzly.

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I took off down the hill again, and he's.

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He's driving right on me,
chasing me down the hill again. And

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I went to jump in between two trees.

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And the bear kind of pinned me
down, up against that tree

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and it knocked the wind out of me.

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And I'm trying to turn around
and reach behind me.

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And that's when he went through my hand.

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The bear is in for the kill.

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Ron Senior has to resort
to last ditch measures

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to try to save his son,
putting himself in harm's way.

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And I couldn't shoot bear
because, you know, it

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it would have been a chance of the arrow

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going through the bear and hitting him.

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So I just thought the only thing I can do
is try and get him off of him.

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And I started beating on it with my bow.

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And after a little bit,

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I felt, you know, he got off me also
and there was no more weight on me.

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And I'm thinking now he's going to leave,
you know?

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And I looked over
and I could see my dad standing there

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and I seen the bear
take a couple steps towards him.

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And I
thought, I don't have nothing left in me

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and this thing's
going to go after him now.

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Ron Lemming Senior may have only succeeded

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in giving the Grizzly
another target for its rage

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deep in the Wyoming wilderness.

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Ron Lemming Senior has been able
to halt the attack on his son,

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but now the infuriated grizzly

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is ready to turn on him.

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And when it turned and looked at me and
took a step toward me, I thought, well,

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now I'm going to get it.

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As the bear appears ready to attack
Ron Senior,

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it suddenly begins behaving oddly
and turns away.

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And then about that time, he turned around
and he walked right beside me

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and just kind of went down, just walked

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right down the hill
and went about 20 yards down there.

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And he stopped and he turned around
again and looked at us.

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Wounded and bleeding on the ground.

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Ronnie Lemming shouts at his father

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to shoot the bear again
before it can come back.

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But all Ron Senior can see
is the horrifying sight

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his son presents.

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He was covered in blood,
I mean, from head to toe.

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And I just thought, oh, my gosh, you know,
I mean, my worst

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fear was there.

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And of course, after asking him
and he kept saying, I don't know,

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I'm thinking, Mom, you've got to know
because you're you're half dead.

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And I'm just thinking bad things.

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Suffering from shock, Ronnie cannot answer

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his father's questions
about where he is injured.

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Desperate to help his son,
Ron cannot forget a bear

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that still looms just yards away until.

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Then,
he just took off, wandered down the hill

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and fell over.

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The bear wasn't moving.
When we figured he was dead,

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it was
like he took a five gallon bucket of blood

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and dumped on me
and then dumped it all over the ground.

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I just assumed when I seen all that blood,
it was mine and you know, but I couldn't

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feel, you know,
I didn't really feel no pain at that point

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because of the adrenaline
and everything that was going on.

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And I so I just
I assumed it was my blood, but

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I wasn't sure.

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Surprisingly, maybe miraculously,
they find that the vast

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quantities of blood are not Ronnie's
but were pumped out

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of the bear.

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Both hunters realize

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that grizzlies are a threatened species,
and so there will be an investigation

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of this one's death,
which they document with their camera.

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Despite his injuries,

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Ronnie is able to begin
the arduous trek back to camp.

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Ever the true hunter.

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He even suggests
one last attempt at a trophy.

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Just before

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00:14:17.089 --> 00:14:20.326
we had left the scene of the attack,
he tells me,

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00:14:20.326 --> 00:14:23.596
he says, I hope it's not too bad
because I want to keep hunting.

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00:14:24.563 --> 00:14:26.999
And I said, Kid,
you're going to the hospital.

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00:14:27.032 --> 00:14:29.702
There's no more hunting. That's true.

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00:14:29.702 --> 00:14:32.171
As the long, painful war continues,

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they hope Ronnie's wounds won't threaten
just the hunt.

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00:14:35.808 --> 00:14:44.550
But his life, too.

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00:14:45.150 --> 00:14:49.321
Wyoming's Boulder Basin outside
Yellowstone, has been the favorite

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00:14:49.321 --> 00:14:53.158
wilderness hunting grounds
for father and son Ron and Ronnie Lemming.

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00:14:53.459 --> 00:14:57.396
But now it's become a territory of terror
as they rush

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00:14:57.396 --> 00:14:59.732
to reach medical help

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00:15:03.469 --> 00:15:05.404
on the ride to the pickup truck.

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The numbing effect of the shock fades
and Ronnie begins

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00:15:09.174 --> 00:15:12.745
to feel the pain
with every clapping step of his horse.

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00:15:13.178 --> 00:15:15.447
I felt pretty good as we were riding out.

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We got now a few miles from the trailhead,
and then I could kind of, you know,

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I started
feeling some throbbing and started

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then I started feeling the pain, you know,
because it took us

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probably 6 hours
to get back to the four hour pickup was.

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At trail's end of the torturous ride.

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Ronnie is able to get word to his wife,
who can hardly believe what she hears.

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I had my cell phone in the in the pickup

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we got down there and I called her
and I told her I got attacked by a bear.

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And she was kind of
I thought I was screwing around

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or something, you know,
she didn't really believe me.

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00:15:53.118 --> 00:15:55.854
And I said, no,
I really did get attacked by a bear.

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I said, I'm
going to have to go to the hospital.

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00:15:58.590 --> 00:16:00.693
And he called and said
that he'd been attacked by a bear.

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And I just thought he was joking at first.

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00:16:02.461 --> 00:16:03.662
I was like, Oh, brother,

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00:16:03.662 --> 00:16:06.231
because in my mind,
if you're attacked by a bear, you're dead.

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12 hours from the time of his attack
by a grizzly bear,

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00:16:10.970 --> 00:16:14.440
Ronnie Lemming and his father
pull into Ronnie's driveway.

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My son, for all the blood, it just kind of
hit me like, man, I mean, this is real.

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00:16:20.346 --> 00:16:21.313
This is really happened.

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00:16:21.313 --> 00:16:23.882
And then it was just kind of like,
okay, get in the car.

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00:16:23.882 --> 00:16:27.019
We need to go to the hospital.

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00:16:32.491 --> 00:16:36.462
When we got to the hospital
and got in there,

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00:16:36.462 --> 00:16:40.766
they looked at it and they said
that I was going to have to have surgery.

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00:16:42.001 --> 00:16:44.570
And because they needed to cut,
you know, around

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00:16:44.570 --> 00:16:48.407
all the bite wounds and all that,
they needed to cut that open.

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00:16:48.407 --> 00:16:51.744
They were worried about him
getting infected.

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00:16:51.744 --> 00:16:54.546
By the time we got to

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00:16:54.546 --> 00:16:58.017
the hospital and they got him
into surgery, it was like midnight.

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00:16:58.484 --> 00:17:02.187
I do remember sitting out in the waiting
room by myself and that was kind of

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00:17:05.791 --> 00:17:07.092
just going

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00:17:07.960 --> 00:17:09.294
through my mind

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00:17:09.695 --> 00:17:10.562
until

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if their dad had died.

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How do you tell?

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00:17:15.067 --> 00:17:17.703
Like a three year old

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00:17:17.703 --> 00:17:18.370
fight

303
00:17:20.239 --> 00:17:25.077
projects that were sitting out there
and just those thoughts

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00:17:25.177 --> 00:17:30.015
go through my head,
just thinking, really thankful that I'm.

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00:17:30.015 --> 00:17:31.817
That didn't happen.

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With Ronnie in the hospital.

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00:17:36.655 --> 00:17:41.827
Ron Senior escorts a game warden and a
biologist back to the scene of the attack.

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00:17:41.827 --> 00:17:43.562
The next day

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00:17:45.397 --> 00:17:47.599
as the biologist examines the grizzly.

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00:17:47.900 --> 00:17:52.237
It becomes clear
just how remarkable Ron shot was.

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00:17:53.138 --> 00:17:54.473
They check the bear.

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00:17:54.473 --> 00:17:58.110
They used to remember us stare,

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00:17:58.444 --> 00:18:00.946
and he followed the path of the arrow.

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00:18:00.946 --> 00:18:05.150
And he told me that the arrow had hit
a major artery

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00:18:05.150 --> 00:18:08.020
and went right into the heart.

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00:18:08.420 --> 00:18:11.857
An inch right or left, up or down.

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00:18:11.857 --> 00:18:14.760
And Ron's
arrow might not have found a killing spot.

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00:18:15.561 --> 00:18:18.897
The Bible speaks of the arrow
that flies by day.

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00:18:19.531 --> 00:18:22.067
And Ron Lemming has to wonder if he and

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00:18:22.067 --> 00:18:24.636
his son's prayer had not guided it.

321
00:18:25.070 --> 00:18:28.073
On the career path of the arrow.

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00:18:28.173 --> 00:18:31.977
I thought of the prayer and I thought,
yes, God guided that Earl.

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00:18:32.811 --> 00:18:34.446
The shot couldn't have been more perfect.

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00:18:34.446 --> 00:18:37.683
I don't think about it. I just know.

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00:18:39.151 --> 00:18:40.752
I think that

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00:18:40.752 --> 00:18:44.556
shot my dad, too,
was definitely a miracle.

327
00:18:44.556 --> 00:18:47.192
I know that arrow

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00:18:47.192 --> 00:18:48.360
was guided by God.

329
00:18:48.360 --> 00:18:51.029
There's no doubt in my mind.

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00:18:51.196 --> 00:18:53.198
You could make that shot
a million more times

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00:18:53.398 --> 00:19:03.142
and never hit that exact same spot.

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00:19:03.208 --> 00:19:07.279
When the warden is satisfied that killing
the grizzly was an act of self-defense.

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00:19:07.713 --> 00:19:10.983
He presents the lemmings
with the grizzly skull and claws

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00:19:11.917 --> 00:19:15.587
to mark their brush with death.

335
00:19:15.587 --> 00:19:18.157
Ronnie soon bounces back from his injuries

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00:19:18.490 --> 00:19:20.792
and heads right back into the wilderness.

337
00:19:21.727 --> 00:19:25.464
Today, Ron and Ronnie
do not apply the masking, Elk said.

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00:19:25.464 --> 00:19:30.536
That may have provoked the Bears attack
and they carry sidearms for protection.

339
00:19:30.936 --> 00:19:33.505
What's happened to me
hasn't and slowed me down a bit.

340
00:19:34.573 --> 00:19:38.544
I was back up there on the month
after, a month after, in the same spot.

341
00:19:39.311 --> 00:19:43.949
As far as hatred toward bears,
I have none whatsoever.

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00:19:43.982 --> 00:19:47.286
In fact, I love the bears. I think they're

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00:19:48.453 --> 00:19:49.721
one of the

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00:19:50.222 --> 00:19:53.392
greatest looking animals
that God ever created.

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00:19:54.426 --> 00:19:55.827
I think about the bears more.

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00:19:55.827 --> 00:19:58.330
I'm constantly on the lookout for them.

347
00:19:58.630 --> 00:20:00.933
But, you know, I was before, too.

348
00:20:01.333 --> 00:20:02.901
I knew they were I knew they were there.

349
00:20:02.901 --> 00:20:05.070
I knew they were dangerous.

350
00:20:05.938 --> 00:20:08.740
I'm probably looking over my shoulder
quite a bit more than I used to, though,

351
00:20:09.575 --> 00:20:12.444
you know, used to
I could go up there, take a nap on a

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00:20:12.744 --> 00:20:14.213
on a hillside in the afternoon.

353
00:20:14.213 --> 00:20:16.949
I don't do that no more.

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00:20:17.349 --> 00:20:22.321
Father and son still ride their horses
into the wilderness and bring their bows.

355
00:20:22.888 --> 00:20:27.659
And if anything, the ordeal they
experienced has only drawn them closer.

356
00:20:28.026 --> 00:20:29.828
My dad's definitely my hero for this.

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00:20:29.828 --> 00:20:34.967
And I don't I don't think that I don't
think anybody else could have done it

358
00:20:36.768 --> 00:20:38.437
to stand there

359
00:20:38.470 --> 00:20:41.673
as close as we were to him
and make the shots that he made.

360
00:20:41.673 --> 00:20:44.142
And then there ain't nobody
I know that could have done that.

361
00:20:45.210 --> 00:20:47.579
Do I consider myself a hero?

362
00:20:47.579 --> 00:20:49.014
No, I do not.

363
00:20:49.014 --> 00:20:51.416
For one thing, he's my son.

364
00:20:51.416 --> 00:20:53.785
I love that kid more than life itself.

365
00:20:54.386 --> 00:20:56.555
I think he saved his own life to stop.

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00:20:56.588 --> 00:20:59.491
And the way he fought that bear
when he was on his back,

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00:21:00.559 --> 00:21:02.060
it was amazing.

368
00:21:02.060 --> 00:21:06.365
And I think a lot lesser man
ought to give up at that point.

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00:21:06.365 --> 00:21:08.533
And they would have been dead.

370
00:21:08.533 --> 00:21:08.800
Yeah.

371
00:21:08.800 --> 00:21:11.069
What happens made me just.

372
00:21:12.571 --> 00:21:14.840
Just respect life a little more, you know?

373
00:21:14.840 --> 00:21:17.542
I always did. Anyways. But,

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00:21:17.542 --> 00:21:18.577
you know, you just.

375
00:21:18.577 --> 00:21:20.412
You just don't know, you know?

376
00:21:20.412 --> 00:21:22.848
You don't think you're going to you
don't think it's going to happen to you

377
00:21:23.482 --> 00:21:24.349
when you go out there?

378
00:21:24.349 --> 00:21:25.150
You know, I've been out there

379
00:21:25.150 --> 00:21:29.187
a million times and it's never happened,
but it can at any time.

380
00:21:30.555 --> 00:21:31.823
The lives of a father

381
00:21:31.823 --> 00:21:35.827
and son rested on courage and instinct
while balancing

382
00:21:35.827 --> 00:21:39.698
on the blades of an arrowhead flying
perhaps

383
00:21:40.465 --> 00:21:43.635
by the power of prayer.