Joe Nava, CMP Alaska State Junior Director  The Bear Necessities  I will relate a story told to me by a lady I will call Melanie. Melanie says: I was doing my work for a State Agency in remote Alaska. I had taken a Bear Safety Course from Joe Nava. After that course, I decided to buy a .44 Magnum revolver and practice with it (like Joe said). I carried the gun in a holster on my right hip. I practiced drawing and firing the gun as fast as I could. I learned to just point and shoot as if I did not have time to aim the gun precisely. I practiced a lot with an empty gun. I am glad I did. One day, while working, I was walking through a relatively brushy area. I was not making any noise as I walked along. Most often I do talk or sing as I walk along in brushy country, but at this time I was silent. I carried my notebook in my hand for taking notes related to my work. All of a sudden I heard and saw a commotion at the edge of the brush and a big Grizzly Bear came running out of the brush toward me. I dropped my notebook and started backing up while drawing my gun. I only had time to draw the gun and point and fire it once, and the bear fell dead almost at my feet. It actually fell between my notebook and me. After my knees stopped shaking, I went and got some of my working partners and we skinned the bear and turned the head and hide over to the Fish & Game Department. That's the law in Alaska. I believe taking that Bear Safety Course saved my life. I still work in the brush in Alaska, but I make a lot more noise than I used to. That is one of the success stories I have heard from my students. I have been teaching a self-designed class called Bear Safety for about 40 years in Alaska. I try to teach about bear behavior and human behavior so that the killing of either can be avoided. I teach the use of a gun as a last ditch choice. Most of my students who encounter bears act correctly so that neither person nor bear gets hurt. Rarely, the bear gets killed. But I have never had a former student tell me they were killed and eaten by a bear. So what I teach must be right. This is an example of teaching marksmanship skills and safety for self-protection purposes. I teach the use of the shotgun or the handgun for personal protection against the furry beasts. We use the classroom and the range to become very familiar with these guns. I have taught over 6,000 students, and I hope I have saved many lives (both bears and humans). I know I have passed on a lot of marksmanship and gun safety knowledge and skill. I am now doing this training for many federal and state agencies that do not want the liability of sending their employees into the Alaskan "Bush" without adequate protection against a known danger. By the way, Melanie's .44 Magnum bullet went right through the skull of the Grizzly Bear, making it a certainty that the bear never heard the shot that dropped it in its tracks. I was a lot happier for Melanie than I was sorry for the bear. Joe Nava