By Boots Leyva

My string of mules, horses and I were coming down the last 1/2 mile of the Deer Creek Pass Trail just outside of Cody, WY. My stock all jumped back snorting, so I turned to calm them. When I turned back around a grizzly was charging me head on. I pulled up my firearm in defense, but I was hoping he’d stop. As he gained ground quickly, and I shot two warning rounds into the ground right in front of his face at 15 yards. He turned and ran up just above the trail 30 feet then posted up while looking down on us. He dropped off the rock and started down towards us again, so I fired a shot below him, he stopped again while looking at us! My animals were snorting intensely while looking on, the grizzly paralleled away from us, then hid behind some bushes just above the trail. I knew this wasn’t over.

Usually, grizzly bears run the other way as soon as they see people or when a warning shot is fired. But he wanted something and wasn’t afraid. He popped out of the bushes and dropped back on the trail coming towards us, so I fired another warning shot hitting the rocks in front of him. I hoped the rocks would splatter against his face. It worked! It scared him. While that was happening, the stock had enough and bailed over the edge breaking their piggins and scattering until they hit the bottom of the mountain. At that point, I ran down the side of the mountain hoping to beat them to the bottom so I could round them up before they took off down the road towards Cody. None of the stock or bear were hurt. The grizzly had harassed numerous other groups after our incident that day.