Great Bear Adventures: True Tales from the Wild

L.J. Rouse was a freelance writer in Toronto.

Bears have always fascinated mankind — hunters, naturalists, and storytellers alike and stories of bears seem to be more numerous and popular now than ever. Outdoorsman, writer, and storyteller, Andy Russell has assembled 30 tales of adventures involving bears, set in bear country all over the world, to make up this very readable thematic collection.

Many of the stories are hunting yarns, dating from as long ago as 1894, when all that mattered was collecting the biggest head or the fiercest skull for mounting. Others are tales of a more conservationist-minded era, in which some of the most intrepid hunters go armed only with a camera, leaving the wild none the poorer for their presence. Some of the accounts of man-meets-bear are terrifying in their violence; grizzlies in particular are among the most dangerous and unpredictable animals on earth. Some of the stories are funny, one or two are extremely touching. In most cases the hunters are human, but occasionally it is the bear who takes the initiative — and the outcome is never certain. Most of the stories here have previously appeared in biographies, histories and periodicals.