Tyler Johnson and his father were exploring a new hunting area and had no idea they were about to survive a bear mauling — and one of them was going to get shot in the process. They’d just broken out of tall scrub and had stepped into a grassy clearing. Tyler heard his dad scream, “Bear!” first — then he heard the growl, and his blood ran cold.
The way Tyler describes what happened next in this extended interview with In Depth Alaska, everything that followed seemed like slow motion, even though it happened in the blink of an eye. It’s something that a lot of bear-mauling survivors recall. Time slows down, but it all still seems like a blur.
Long story short: The bear attacked both of them, and Tyler killed the bear. But he ended up shooting himself as he fought it off.
GearJunkie reported on this incident shortly after the story broke. Now, you can listen to Tyler tell it in full in this video interview.