In the list of incredibly Canadian things, a man punching a bear directly in the face is up there with Tim Hortons, Gordon Lightfoot albums, and former Prime Minister Stephen Harper trying to tell Canadians to show more patriotism during the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. That’s what happened this Saturday, though, with 61-year-old Rick Nelson of Sudbury, Ontario the man in question. He described what happened to him to CBC News:
“I sat down on a log and the bear cub poked its head out of the shrub nearby. It was so close I could touch it. It let out a yelp, because I scared the heck out of it,” Nelson said.
“I knew right away I was in trouble,” he said. “It’s calling for mommy.”
Nelson, a former bear hunter, knew he was in some trouble. He also had taken boxing classes, which came in handy as he couldn’t get any rocks or sticks to help himself out. His knowledge of bears was useful, though:
“I knew it would swing first with its left but it would really come with its right, because most bears are right-handed,” Nelson said.
With his first swing, he hit the bear in the teeth. With his second swing, well, we’ll let him describe what happened:
“I had the perfect shot to take. I did an underhand and hit it right in the snout.”
After the bear was socked in the face, it decided to follow its cub and go back into the woods though its face was bloodied, instead of trying to duel with Nelson further. He said he hit it hard.
“Believe me, when you’ve got adrenaline pumping, you can hit. Even at 61 with grey hair, you can still hit hard.”
This didn’t happen on Canada Day, which would have made this story the most Canadian story of all time. Alas, we’ll just have to admire the gall of a man who stood up and beat a black bear in a fistfight. What a sentence, one worthy of a Stompin’ Tom song.
[CBC News]
