Order of Man - FFN 077： How to Fight a Grizzly Bear

00:00:00.000 You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart

00:00:05.000 your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.

00:00:10.440 You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who

00:00:17.240 you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,

00:00:22.800 you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,

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00:01:29.000 that growth. Uh, if you've been part of the order for some time, you know, this guys, you are listening

00:01:33.760 to our Friday field notes. Uh, we do host another show, which is released each Tuesday where I have

00:01:39.400 the opportunity to interview some incredible men. I know a lot of you guys have listened to all 200

00:01:44.500 episodes now. Uh, but on Friday, I typically share some thoughts, some ideas, just some things that are

00:01:49.880 bouncing around in my brain, some thoughts from throughout the week, but this one, this one's a

00:01:53.880 little different last week. I was invited to the Spartan world championships in Tahoe. And while I

00:01:59.740 was there, I had an opportunity to sit down with Todd or some of you might recognize that name. Most of

00:02:05.220 you have probably watched his viral video. Uh, if you don't know who this guy is, this man survived not

00:02:11.260 only one grizzly bear attack, but two grizzly bear attacks on the same day in October of last year,

00:02:18.540 Todd was hiking in the mountains. He spotted a grizzly bear, uh, the grizzly bear and him both

00:02:23.660 made eye contact. The bear ran off. He thought he was in no trouble. Uh, only a few minutes later,

00:02:28.420 he turned around and found that bear charging towards him. So he pulled out his bear spray.

00:02:32.280 He fired and then collapsed as he found himself in a life and death struggle against this grizzly bear.

00:02:39.100 Not only did Todd survive again, a lot of you guys have seen his story, but on his way back to his

00:02:43.940 vehicle, he was attacked by the same bear again in a second life or death struggle.

00:02:49.140 So I figured I'd share this conversation with you. If you would please disregard the background noise.

00:02:53.540 It was a little noisy where we were at the Spartan world championships, uh, but you'll hear an amazing

00:02:58.440 conversation with me and this amazing man, uh, might sound like just another conversation between

00:03:03.580 two guys, but listen closely, listen very closely. If you do, you're going to extract some extremely,

00:03:10.000 extremely valuable life lessons from a man who has cheated death twice.

00:03:16.240 All right guys, welcome back. Uh, as you know, we've been, we've been recording, uh, all day

00:03:20.320 today at the, uh, 2017 Spartan world championship. I'm here with Todd or Todd. We, uh, we were able to

00:03:26.160 connect. I know you weren't on the schedule, but I wanted to fit this in, man. And we had a mutual

00:03:29.860 friend that, uh, actually connected us on Facebook. Uh, yeah, I don't actually know him. He's kind

00:03:33.940 of, Oh, you don't know him. He's a mystery Facebook friend. Oh, is that right? Oh, that's funny.

00:03:37.060 Well, either way, I'm glad that he, yeah, well, I bet, I bet, I, I bet, uh, things over the past

00:03:42.340 year probably changed around a little bit for you. They have, it's been a little crazy the last,

00:03:46.400 uh, 12 months. Actually it'll be a year on Sunday. Yeah. Is that what it is? A year on Sunday?

00:03:50.840 October 1st, 2016. I can't believe that story, man. And for those of you who don't know,

00:03:56.160 well, I don't, I don't want to say it. I want to let you get right into the story. Uh, but I,

00:04:00.000 but I remember watching this video and just the thing that really stood out to me was your level of,

00:04:05.820 of calmness and collection and how cool you were in the moment. Was that your personality? Is that

00:04:11.060 shock? Is that what it, what was that attributed to? Well, I, after the whole situation, which we

00:04:16.980 haven't even told you, at the end of the whole ordeal, um, I'd had 45 minutes to, you know,

00:04:23.360 walk out of the woods and to think about it and to relax and calm down. And when I got back to the

00:04:27.760 truck, I was, I felt pretty safe. And at that point I'm like, well, I just got to share this with a

00:04:31.520 couple of buddies. I had no idea that video would go viral. Oh my goodness. So, so let's talk about

00:04:36.460 this story because last year you were attacked by a grizzly bear twice, twice on that same and

00:04:42.500 same day, about 10 minutes apart. Yes. So just, just take us from the top. I know, were you out,

00:04:47.460 were you, were you hunting? Were you hiking? What is it you were out doing? Yeah, I was not hunting.

00:04:51.240 I was just scouting for elk before hunting. Okay. All right. It was during the bow season,

00:04:54.800 but I was sure for a hike and just wanted to get up in the back country, look for some elk and just kind

00:04:59.420 of get an idea where they're going to be for a few weeks later. And based on what I've seen,

00:05:03.160 I mean, you know, this is bear country. You're, you're prepared. You've got, you've got your 1.00

00:05:07.020 firearm with you. You've got bear spray with you and you're even calling for bear at this point,

00:05:11.600 knowing that there's probably bear in the area. I know there's bear in the area. I mean,

00:05:15.500 the Southwest Montana has got grizzly and black bear and I see him on a regular basis. I'm out there

00:05:21.300 in the woods for work. I'm out there for recreation, for play and going to run into,

00:05:25.660 going to run into bears occasionally, but hopefully or usually they run the other

00:05:29.120 direction. They see you, they want nothing to do with you. Kind of wrong, wrong day,

00:05:32.520 wrong place, wrong bear. And, uh, things went sour. Why do you think this particular bear?

00:05:37.700 I mean, cause if I remember right, at what, at what, how, what was the distance when you initially

00:05:41.920 saw it was a female, right? It was a sow. Yeah. Yeah. Grisly with two cubs. Right. And I saw her 0.84

00:05:48.140 maybe 80 yards and she was at one end of the meadow. I was at the closer end and, uh, and she,

00:05:53.880 we saw each other at the same time and she just took off and I'm like, this is a good bear.

00:05:57.340 She doesn't like people. There's not going to be an issue. She's going that way. I'll just head up

00:06:01.560 the trail the other direction. So I waited, you know, like a minute. Then I started up the trail

00:06:05.200 and just took a few steps and I heard a noise and kind of looked over my left shoulder and she had

00:06:09.960 come all the way around the ridge and came in behind me. Why did she do that? I mean, that's not normal 0.98

00:06:15.680 bear behavior, right? That's not normal behavior. Um, apparently, you know, maybe just, just her 0.95

00:06:20.200 threatened maybe with her cubs there. Um, there was a situation the week before in that same drainage

00:06:25.360 where a bear had charged a couple of hunters on horses and they had actually shot at her

00:06:30.200 and she charged the horses. So she could have been wounded. That's a possibility. And either way,

00:06:34.240 she, uh, she came around the ridge and I heard the noise turned. She was 35 or 40 yards, um, behind me

00:06:41.300 coming down the ridge in a full charge. And so you grabbed your pepper spray first or your bear spray.

00:06:46.540 I had my bear spray on my chest right there close and a shoulder holster with a pistol. And I just

00:06:51.340 instinctively grabbed the bear spray. That's more effective. And that's usually what I'm going to

00:06:55.500 have with me in the woods all the time. Sure. And so I just instinctively, instinctively grabbed the

00:06:59.840 bear spray, pulled it out of the holster, pulled the safety clip and look back up thinking, you know,

00:07:04.900 likely a bluff charge threatening me that she's going to go back to her cubs. And here she was still

00:07:08.900 coming wide open. She never changed her charge. And I just at 30 feet just started spraying and just

00:07:14.640 her momentum coming downhill just carried her right through that spray. I'm sure it was in her sinuses and 1.00

00:07:19.460 everything, but it took a couple of seconds for it to really affect her. And that was just enough

00:07:23.080 time for her to be on top of me and get four or five good bites out of my right arm and shoulder. 1.00

00:07:28.280 Did you feel those bites or were you in shock or what did this, what did this feel physically like

00:07:33.320 at this point? I mean, could you feel the teeth sinking into you at this point? Yeah, I definitely

00:07:37.840 could on this. And it happened so quick that you really wasn't time to think about it or really,

00:07:42.220 but it just like then five seconds, she's bit me a half a dozen times. And yeah, I felt the first bite

00:07:47.060 for sure. And then your adrenaline starts to hit and then it happened that quick, it was over and she

00:07:51.880 was gone. And I was just like, wow, I stood up and I'm like, I just survived a grizzly bear attack.

00:07:56.920 This is crazy. And I looked at my arm and I got, you know, I'm bleeding and I got some puncture wounds,

00:08:01.300 you know, pretty deep puncture wounds, but I'm like, all right, I survived. I can get out of here and

00:08:05.420 head to the hospital and get some stitches. I thought that was the end of it. So I started hiking down the trail.

00:08:10.120 Do you remember what it was like when she hit you? Uh, it was, well, I had, I sprayed and then

00:08:16.240 she was just a few feet away. And so I just started going down to my knees. So you fell in the, yeah.

00:08:20.460 So I basically felt down, fell down and she was on top of me. It was the second attack that is when 0.76

00:08:25.100 she actually knocked me down. And that was even, that was a lot worse. But so you, so you started

00:08:30.200 walking back and about how far were you before you heard her come back? Uh, well, it was just like

00:08:35.560 five minutes down the trail, a few hundred yards. And I'm kind of walking along the Creek and it's,

00:08:39.660 it's pretty noisy with the water there. And I didn't hear anything until I heard a noise the

00:08:43.720 last second turned. And she was maybe 10 feet behind me coming wide open again. And at that

00:08:48.700 point I didn't even had bear spray in my hand, still had my pistol right there, but there was,

00:08:52.720 there was no time to even do that. It was basically corner of my eye, turned my head and she's knocking 1.00

00:08:57.980 me down to the ground and I'm on my face again. I'm trying to protect the back of my, my neck and

00:09:03.420 I'm curled up in a ball, protecting my face, my vitals. And this time she's mad. And her first bite

00:09:08.740 is in my left arm. And I heard the crunch of the bone and just felt the nerves and the

00:09:13.540 tendons getting torn. My arm went numb. And, uh, I, I just made like this wincing sound kind

00:09:19.300 of like, ah, as she bit is the pain and the sound of it. And that just triggered like a

00:09:24.180 frenzy attack. She was just on top of me at that point, had me pinned to the ground. She 1.00

00:09:28.140 bit my right shoulder and arm probably 25 times, had a claw rake the right side of my scalp and ripped

00:09:34.480 a five inch gash. My eyes filled with blood. Um, her claws are digging into my lower back 1.00

00:09:39.460 and she's just picking me up, slam me around, trying to flip me over. I'm just using every

00:09:43.680 bit of strength I had to hold that right and keep that position to protect my vitals.

00:09:49.140 Was she picking you up by your clothes, by your flesh, by your arm? Like how was she attempting

00:09:52.800 to pick you up?

00:09:53.400 All of it. Yeah. She had, my backpack was pretty trashy. She picked me up on my backpack. She

00:09:57.480 had me on the shoulder. She ripped my arm around a few times and kind of pulled it away 1.00

00:10:01.420 from where I was protecting the back of my head. At one point she bit me in the side

00:10:05.300 and luckily she didn't rip. She just bit in a release. So I've got canine marks front 0.95

00:10:09.480 and back on my side of my ribs. But when she bit me in the side that time, it kind

00:10:13.420 of turned me and I right there, like six, eight inches from my eye is her eye and

00:10:18.620 looking right, right there in her face. And just like, just imagining her, she just

00:10:21.960 turning, like take my face out. Just every bit of core strength I had to pull back

00:10:26.100 into that super crunch on the ground and try to keep from getting rolled over and

00:10:29.620 flipped. What was her strength like? Was it just, I mean, obviously you're, you're

00:10:33.940 going through this and to say it's amazing would not be the right word, but what

00:10:37.460 is, what is, what is her strength like? Yeah. You can't, you can't imagine it. I

00:10:40.900 mean, a bear is so much stronger. I mean, they can take down elk and deer or moose or

00:10:44.720 whatever it's there. You know, you can't imagine it. And it was just the strength

00:10:48.740 and the weight, you know, she's maybe a 400 pound grizzly bear. She's got me pinned to 1.00

00:10:52.120 the ground. She's just picking me up, slamming me down. My face is getting smashed

00:10:55.960 into the dirt. My chest is getting smashed into my knees and almost knocking the wind

00:11:00.760 out of me. Just getting thrown around. She ripped the backpack off. She ripped my pistol 0.96

00:11:04.320 off. I'm just getting trashed around in the dirt. It was, and the whole time I'm just like

00:11:08.820 knowing that you can't fight back. I have no chance. So I just have to try to play dead

00:11:12.660 and be a non-threat and hopefully she'll leave and go check on her cubs. 1.00

00:11:16.180 Was that, that notion of, of laying there, playing dead, protecting the vitals, was that

00:11:21.720 training? Was that instinctive for you? Where did that, that idea come from?

00:11:25.500 I think that's what saved my life. And over the years, I've spent my life in the woods.

00:11:29.260 And so I've read the stories. I've had some bear safety classes. I've, you know, I know

00:11:34.100 a little common sense, you know, you know that you can't run from a bear. You can, they run

00:11:38.260 up to 40 miles an hour and you don't have a chance with that. And plus if you run, it's

00:11:43.800 kind of a trigger response for a carnivore to chase its prey. Things that you just know you

00:11:47.300 don't do. I think the key is that I had thought about this. I spend, you know, like I said,

00:11:52.000 I'm in the woods every day. So you think about, okay, what if I was in this situation? What

00:11:56.340 do you do? What do you, and you run it through your head and it's kind of like a muscle memory

00:12:00.040 thing. It's like, if you think about enough, if you practice pulling your bear spray out

00:12:04.200 and practice, um, not actually spraying, but pulling the safety clip and know, and just

00:12:09.360 run it over and over. Then if it actually happens in a surprise situation, you do it

00:12:13.080 automatically about it. You don't panic and run or scream. I didn't think about pulling

00:12:17.120 my bear spray. It just, I automatically pulled the bear spray and then all of a sudden I'm

00:12:20.340 like, Oh, now I got to use it. You know? So yeah, you taught, I mean, you talked about

00:12:23.820 that. You said I, I instinctively did it. I'm like, well, has he been attacked by a

00:12:26.680 bear before? But, but what you're saying is you train this stuff.

00:12:29.560 Yeah. Just training, the practicing it and just knowing what you should and shouldn't do

00:12:34.280 and running it through your head. You know, if you've never thought about it, the first

00:12:37.960 thing when something surprises you, you scream and run. Cause that's just an automatic response.

00:12:41.980 But if you've already thought it through a hundred times and I'm in the woods

00:12:45.580 thinking about it, what if this happens today? What am I going to do in this situation? Do

00:12:48.860 I have a tree to climb? Well, that's maybe not a good idea. What do I have? I have bear

00:12:51.940 spray. I got to play dead. So I stayed in that position and just, I felt that on that second

00:12:56.240 attack, I felt the pain of that first bite and just that crunching sound. And then, then

00:13:01.180 it was like adrenaline running and will to survive. Okay. I know that if I'm moving or making a

00:13:05.740 sound, she's going to keep eating on me. They're chewing on me. So I just need to play

00:13:10.020 dead. I need to be a non-threat. So I just held that position and a thousand times through 0.88

00:13:14.260 my head. I'm just like, don't move. She's going to leave. Don't move. She's going to

00:13:17.400 leave. And I said it over and over and over. And it's also, I couldn't feel the pain, but

00:13:21.700 all my other senses were heightened. I could feel and hear like the crunch of like her teeth,

00:13:26.320 you know, inch long canine going right into your muscle and you can hear it and feel all

00:13:30.020 of that. But I didn't feel the pain, just the pressure and the sound. I could smell her.

00:13:34.420 She just reaped so bad. And then it's kind of at the end of that, she's just not moving and

00:13:39.020 she quit biting and she's just got me pinned to the ground, got her claws or dug into my lower 1.00

00:13:43.000 back. And she's just sniffing the back of my neck. And that was maybe the earliest part.

00:13:47.840 I can't imagine that. You can feel her breath right there and you can hear it. And then she'd 0.99

00:13:51.600 sniff and you're just like, oh, don't bite my spine. It'll be over. You know, that's one

00:13:55.220 bite and she could kill me. And all of a sudden, oh, and she'll bite my shoulder or she'd bite 1.00

00:13:58.360 my arm and she'd sniff again. And finally she determined that I wasn't a threat anymore

00:14:02.200 because I wasn't moving or making any sound. And she stepped off. She was gone. And so I'm

00:14:07.440 just laying on the ground there, still hunkered down. And I'm like, okay, is she 10 feet

00:14:11.200 away or did she go over the ridge? I don't know. If I move, is she going to come back?

00:14:15.260 Spurs it again. Yeah.

00:14:16.120 My arm's useless. Like I'm defenseless at this point. What do I do? And so I was thinking,

00:14:21.580 okay, I'm just, don't move. Don't move. And I got to thinking, well, if she checks on the

00:14:24.740 cubs and then they're still up a tree or something, and then she decides to come back again, I'm

00:14:29.880 not going to survive a third. It's like, I need to protect myself or get out of here. And

00:14:34.120 but I'm scared to move at the same time if she's still there. So I really slowly pull the

00:14:37.940 hand from behind my neck and reach for my pistol. And it's like, where is it? It's not

00:14:42.840 there. And so I reached it. I'm like, okay, it's there. Reach again. It's like, it was

00:14:46.080 gone. It had been ripped off during the attack. She had broke the strap and ripped the whole

00:14:49.500 holster off. So now I felt completely defenseless. My bear spray had been knocked away. And so

00:14:54.200 I'm like, I just got to get out of here. So I really slowly reached up, wiped the blood

00:14:57.300 from my eyes and looked each direction. And she was gone. I saw my pistol laying there.

00:15:01.680 I grabbed that real quick, hammer back just in case. Didn't see her. Picked up my stuff

00:15:06.240 and like, all right, I just got to get distance between her and I. I got to get down the trail.

00:15:10.500 What were, what were you carrying?

00:15:12.260 I had a 10 mm auto.

00:15:13.920 Okay.

00:15:14.360 Yeah. Which is, I mean, even, even if it was a bigger gun, their head is shaped kind of

00:15:18.240 missile shaped and on an inside thick bone and there's likely just ricochet off. You're

00:15:22.580 never going to get to the brain from the front or rear. You need a side shot or rear shot, 0.51

00:15:26.820 but a bear's charging at you. You don't have that. You can shoot her in the front, you know, 0.79

00:15:30.320 in the shoulder, maybe you'd hit a lung or it'd just be luck. And plus when you're in 1.00

00:15:34.040 that kind of a stress situation and it's charging it that fast, you don't even know if you're

00:15:38.020 going to hit it.

00:15:38.620 Yeah. Yeah, definitely.

00:15:39.820 Maybe, maybe not.

00:15:40.360 Right.

00:15:40.700 It's a whole different, everybody says, well, I had two seconds to draw and shoot. You get

00:15:44.280 a couple of shots off. Maybe you hit it. Maybe you don't. Maybe you hit her in the shoulder. 0.91

00:15:47.520 Now she's wounded and really mad. Maybe the bang scares her off. You don't know.

00:15:51.500 Right. Do you get criticism for the way that you handle this situation?

00:15:54.440 Oh, there's always people out there.

00:15:55.560 What do they say?

00:15:56.340 Oh, they say, oh yeah. I had to just unloaded her on her with my 45. 1.00

00:15:59.280 Tough guy stuff.

00:15:59.920 45, yeah, 15, 13 shots or whatever. And you know, yeah, maybe it started at a hundred

00:16:04.320 yards.

00:16:05.100 Sure.

00:16:05.420 Then you're shooting at a grizzly bear. That's not necessarily a threat. If it's at a hundred

00:16:08.540 yards and investigation comes around and you get a $10,000 fine and you can't hunt for

00:16:12.760 seven years.

00:16:13.640 You don't want to shoot one if you don't need to. Plus she has cubs. I don't want to kill

00:16:16.780 a sow with abandon cubs if I don't need to. And 99% of the time, a bear is bluff charging

00:16:22.740 or they're just checking you out. Or if you're backing out of the way, they're like, all right,

00:16:25.920 I'll get out of here. You know? And it's just like, this is one of those rare situations and you

00:16:29.520 don't, I didn't know it was coming. And I just pulled that bear spray, you know, had

00:16:33.720 I pulled the pistol, I would have had maybe one or two shots. Maybe it would have worked.

00:16:37.280 Maybe not. Everybody says I would have done that. It's like, you might've just crapped

00:16:41.380 your pants.

00:16:42.980 That's true. That is definitely what I would have done. Yeah, man, this is crazy. So, all

00:16:49.100 right. So obviously you're thinking you're going to die. I don't want to put words in your

00:16:52.460 mouth, but I can't imagine you're thinking anything other than that. Is that right?

00:16:55.400 Yeah. That second attack, I really was, you know, my life flashed before my eyes. I thought,

00:16:59.700 okay, you know, what am I going to do now? I've got a really mad bear. She's not leaving

00:17:03.080 this time. She's just chewing me up. I can't see anything. So I've got blood in my eyes.

00:17:06.720 I don't know how bad my wounds are already because I can't feel any pain. Yeah. But I

00:17:10.240 know I'm getting chewed on pretty good. Jeez. And so, yeah, I'm just thinking I could die

00:17:14.220 here, but I'm, but you're just like telling yourself, it's like, don't move. You can ride

00:17:18.180 it out. Every bit of survival and strength you have, keep that position, do it. I know I have

00:17:23.080 to do and just hoping that something's going to change. She's going to leave.

00:17:26.660 Did your thoughts at all go deeper than that? Like, Oh, cause I know, I think, are you,

00:17:30.520 are now, are you married or, or have a girlfriend? I had a girlfriend at the time. Okay. I'm not

00:17:34.160 married. I mean, does it go deeper than that? Like I'm thinking about her and how she's going

00:17:38.260 to respond if I die. Like, does it go deeper than that?

00:17:41.280 In just that split second or two, that runs through your head, your parents, your family, your,

00:17:46.200 your siblings, you know, girlfriend or whatever. Yeah. It runs through your head and you're like,

00:17:49.900 is this the, you know, what, what did, or didn't I say to somebody in the last week or day or

00:17:54.720 whatever? What should I have said just to, and you just never know. It's like, this is it. What

00:17:58.720 is left undone in my life that I wasn't prepared for? You know, what kind of things did you feel

00:18:03.040 like was for you that, that I feel like these are things that are undone that I, if I survive this,

00:18:08.180 I will do. Well, during that whole attack, I wasn't thinking. Sure. That makes sense.

00:18:12.240 Looking back, you're just like, Oh, I wish I would have done more enjoy things. I enjoy in my life,

00:18:17.240 you know, take, instead of being a workaholic, get out and hike a little bit more and play and

00:18:20.800 take more vacations. But you're just pure survival, focusing on just trying to keep it together and

00:18:26.080 keep that bear from flipping me over and get to my face and rip it and I out or my throat or vitals

00:18:30.900 or whatever. So yeah, she'd finally, she'd left then. And I was like, all right, I got to get out

00:18:35.400 of here. I got to head down the trail. And so how far was that for you? It was three miles down to the

00:18:39.580 trailhead and then a half hour drive to town to the hospital. How long did it take you to cover that

00:18:44.400 three miles? Like 45 minutes. I was walking pretty fast. I stopped a couple of times after I got a

00:18:48.820 little bit of a distance and kind of assessed the wounds. I'm looking at, looking at my arms,

00:18:52.960 like, okay, I'm bleeding. I got blood dripping and my shirt soaked with blood, but I don't have

00:18:57.120 any severed arteries. I'm not going to bleed to death. I'm not going to go into shock. So I just

00:19:00.920 want more distance. I just wanted to get back to the truck where I'd be completely safe.

00:19:04.900 When was the point where you felt like, okay, I'm in the clear? Was that when I got in the,

00:19:09.720 when you get in the truck or is that?

00:19:11.140 No, it was probably like halfway down the trail. I'm like, uh, it's been 20, 30 minutes and I'm a

00:19:16.420 mile and a half away. And it's like, she's not going to follow me. You know, she has cubs and

00:19:20.300 she's gone the other direction. She's not going to chase me down or anything. But then I got to

00:19:23.720 thinking, it's like, okay, I still got a mile and a half and I'm in bear country.

00:19:27.100 Right. What if you run across another one?

00:19:29.000 You know, and I can't defend myself at all now. And I'm still, my arms are cramping up and I'm like,

00:19:33.160 yeah, you could run into another bear, but luckily nothing else happened. I made it to the trailhead.

00:19:37.420 But one of the things I was impressed with is that you had enough presence about you,

00:19:41.300 if you will, to consider leaving a note, even for some other vehicles, I think that were there.

00:19:46.120 I got, I got to the trailhead and there was one other truck. There were some hikers,

00:19:49.220 but it's Saturday morning during bow season. And I'm like, I know there's going to be some

00:19:52.800 more people coming up here to go bow hunting this weekend. And it's just, you know, it's eight

00:19:56.340 o'clock in the morning and there'll be some people coming in. So I'm like, I need to leave a note on

00:20:00.040 the bulletin board there at the trailhead that says, uh, you know, bear attack or aggressive

00:20:06.220 bear in the area, something just to warn people. And so I'm trying to get in my truck. My left arm

00:20:10.480 is useless. My right one's got 25 bite wounds in it. So it's hard to even move. And I'm trying to

00:20:15.640 get up in the truck, find a sticky note and a pen and, and write a little something to put on

00:20:20.340 something bleeding all over. I can't get the console open. You know, I finally had to give up. I'm like,

00:20:25.160 this is going to be it. Not, you know, it's not eligible either. I gave up on that idea and just

00:20:28.920 figured I just tell, tell fish and game when I got back to town and they could come close the

00:20:32.660 trailhead or do what they thought was necessary. So what did they do? Uh, they sent a fish and game

00:20:37.900 and the interagency bear study team came up the next day, I believe with horses and just looked to

00:20:42.380 see if they'd run into her. And they, as far as I know, they never did see her. She's, she's still

00:20:46.780 out there somewhere. Interesting. Interesting. So you get, you get buckled up in your car,

00:20:51.760 you head back down to town. What's, what's that like? What do you do? Well,

00:20:54.680 before that I got to the trailhead, couldn't write the note. I'm like, all right, time to head to

00:20:58.480 town, but I should record this for my couple of my hunting buddies. Right. And so I've got a couple

00:21:02.940 of friends that we always share, like at the end of the weekend, it's like, God, did you see some

00:21:06.480 elk? How was your, you're like, I got, I got the best story of all time today this weekend. I got

00:21:11.320 you guys beat, you know, I'll take a quick couple of photos of the wounds, do a little 30 second video

00:21:16.180 and just show a couple of friends. I had like two buddies in mind, but knowing there's a few more to

00:21:19.760 luck to see it. So then I headed town, got into the hospital and they spent about seven or eight

00:21:26.200 hours doing stitches on both arms, had a doc on each side, putting stitches in a bunch of x-rays

00:21:31.320 to see what was wrong. And I had a chip out of my arm, the bone in my left arm, two tendons that

00:21:36.260 were sticking out of the, my arm. And so the doc's like, yeah, this is going to take an orthopedic

00:21:40.700 surgeon to try to figure out how to reattach these. And he's like, I'll just push them back in. So

00:21:44.720 stitch over it, you know, for now, and you have to see a doc tomorrow. So he's trying to shove these

00:21:49.080 tendons back in my arm and they're, they're just keep popping back out like three times. He pushes

00:21:53.820 them in, they pop out, finally gets them held in, gets them stitched in. So I'm just covered in

00:21:59.320 stitches and blood. And, uh, that's had a five inch gash in the side of my scalp and they got all

00:22:04.440 they, do you still have a scar there? You've got a hat on right now, but it's underneath the hair.

00:22:07.880 So you can't see it. And someday when I go bald, it'll be sticking out. I thought about it. I

00:22:11.660 should just shave a little strip right there and just show that big scar. Well, that's what I was

00:22:16.500 going to ask. I mean, you seem, you seem like somebody who has taken this in a positive, in a

00:22:22.800 positive way. Yeah. Well, I mean, I don't want it to change my life. I live in the outdoors. I work

00:22:27.640 in the outdoors. It's everything I know is an outdoor activity. And so I don't want it to scare

00:22:32.880 me away. I don't want to scare other people away. You know, it's just one of those rare things that

00:22:37.080 happen, wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. And, but I'm still going to be back out there. I've been

00:22:41.400 out there. I've been working in the woods. I saw a sow and a cub grizz this spring at about 40,

00:22:46.600 50 yards. She ran the other way, stood up, looked at me a couple of times and the whole rest of that 1.00

00:22:51.360 day, I was pretty anxious. I bet. Did you stay out there that day? I did. Yeah. Wow. I was still

00:22:55.340 working. She went one direction. I actually went up the trail a few miles before I was actually

00:22:59.900 working, but they can be anywhere. Every turn there could be something you don't know. Jeez. But so it

00:23:04.960 was, it was kind of crazy and stitched me up and got, had to go in a surgery like two days

00:23:10.480 afterwards and get, uh, some exploratory surgery in my arm, try to figure out what's going on.

00:23:15.860 They had to reattach those two tendons, uh, considerable nerve damage still. The part of

00:23:20.780 my forearm, I still don't have any feeling. You can't feel it. But I got, you know, 90% of my

00:23:25.040 motion back. I get a lot of my strength back doing most everything I need to do. So I'm feeling

00:23:29.380 really lucky, really, you know, I survived something that was incredible and it's, it changed me in a way

00:23:35.580 that I'm, I'm a little more nervous out there, a little more cautious, but I'm also looking forward

00:23:41.240 to doing other things that just cause you just never know. It's like your life is fragile and

00:23:45.400 you're, you sit here and we worry about little things in our lives and they really don't matter

00:23:48.780 because the next second it could be over. It's like, you got to get out there and take advantage

00:23:52.380 of the things that really matter to you. Yeah. Let's some of the, blow some of the little stuff

00:23:55.840 off, get out there, enjoy your life, take some more vacations, take some more time for yourself.

00:24:00.040 You just don't know. Things just creep up on you and you could be put in a life and death situation,

00:24:04.080 just, you know, heartbeat. Uh, I'm curious about, and this is something I was really interested in

00:24:08.920 asking you about is, is this being an outdoor guy? Is this like, is this a badge of honor now?

00:24:13.580 How do you wear this thing? You know what I mean? How do you wear this experience? Uh, I don't think

00:24:17.840 as a badge of honor or anything, I'm just still the same person. I'm just happy to be out there

00:24:23.420 sharing my story and I'm just to help other people. I mean, tell people, get out and practice

00:24:28.780 your, with your bear spray, pulling it out. You know, if you've got an expired one, actually

00:24:32.240 practice spraying it with the wind, not into the wind, but yeah, practice spraying it. So you know

00:24:36.760 what it feels like, how it shoots, it kicks a little bit, you know, how it aims and just be ready. And

00:24:41.280 the more you do that, the more, the better your odds are, if you get that situation of doing the right

00:24:45.660 thing. And so I just want to share my story, hopefully educate some people, help some people out

00:24:50.300 and I'm meeting a lot of great people at the same time. So I'm here in Lake Tahoe, beautiful place

00:24:55.320 and meeting some incredible athletes down here as well. And this is great. Yeah. Isn't this a cool,

00:24:59.780 this is a very cool venue here in Tahoe with the Spartan races and man, I'm honored. They'd,

00:25:03.780 they'd, uh, bring me up to do this. And of course the privilege to talk with you. I, I, uh, like I

00:25:07.980 said, I watched the video about a year ago and man, just, just pretty incredible. Again, I always,

00:25:13.120 the thing that always stood out as somebody who just has a lot of presence and you kept your calm

00:25:18.440 and composure and coolness. And I thought that was pretty incredible considering the circumstance.

00:25:22.540 Thank you. Yeah. Just, I think spending your life in the woods, being around that kind of a

00:25:25.740 situation and thinking about it and just knowing, hoping it doesn't happen, knowing it could

00:25:29.980 and being prepared both mentally and physically for it. And when it happens, you just have to deal

00:25:35.180 with it and you got to move forward and you don't need, everybody's going to be different. You never

00:25:38.900 know how you're going to be in that situation. But luckily I did the right thing, I believe. And I'm

00:25:43.420 here to tell the stories. Well, and man, that's, that's proof that you did the right thing,

00:25:46.460 right? Cause any, I mean, you, that's the thing. You change any variable and you have these guys

00:25:50.780 who should have done this and should have done that. You change any variable and it kind of could

00:25:54.240 have gone drastically different. Absolutely. Yeah. I think I did the right thing and I survived it

00:26:00.520 and I've learned some things too. So it's, uh, it was an experience, something I don't ever want to

00:26:05.200 do again, but, uh, I think it, it, uh, was for the better, better for me. Yeah. I'm curious about,

00:26:10.360 you know, we didn't talk about this very much or at all, but, uh, I don't, I don't know if

00:26:14.700 you're a religious person or if you felt like there was some sort of divine guidance or protection,

00:26:18.700 or if it's just your training, I'd be really curious about your thoughts with that.

00:26:21.840 Well, I think there's always something over, you know, someone overlooking there and just,

00:26:25.740 you know, looking over you and making sure that, uh, keeping you safe at times. So I definitely

00:26:29.380 not going to roll that out. And I think it's a combination of that and, and being prepared

00:26:33.900 is a big part of it too. And a lot of luck or unlucky. I get unlucky to attack twice,

00:26:39.120 but lucky to survive on both. Sure. Very cool. Well, Todd, I appreciate you. I appreciate

00:26:42.800 taking your time and honored that we could have the chance to talk. And, uh, we'll be sharing this,

00:26:46.720 of course, with the guys. And, uh, I appreciate you sharing your message. Thank you very much.

00:26:50.180 Thanks, man. Bye-bye. Gentlemen, there it is. My conversation with Todd Orr at the Spartan

00:26:56.220 World Championships in Tahoe. I posted the video that he referenced. If you haven't seen it,

00:27:00.920 or you want to see it again on the show notes for this episode, which can be found at orderofman.com

00:27:05.980 slash FFN as in Friday field notes. So it's FFN 077. Uh, if you'd like to see that. And if you want

00:27:14.300 to connect with Todd, you can do that at the Todd, T O D D or O R R. So it's the Todd or.com. And last

00:27:23.060 thing, guys, make sure that you subscribe to this show. Like I mentioned earlier, uh, leave us if you

00:27:27.040 would an iTunes rating and review, and then check out our closed Facebook group at facebook.com

00:27:32.940 slash groups slash order of man until next week, gentlemen, take action and become the man you

00:27:38.880 are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take charge

00:27:44.020 of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order at order of

00:27:49.220 man.com.

Order of Man - October 13, 2017

FFN 077： How to Fight a Grizzly Bear

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