Inside
◆ Open house on Milligan P. 8 ◆ Did you know Fowler? P. 7
◆ Return from London P. 16 ◆ Spaghetti for soup P. 9
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WEDNESDAY, October 3, 2012
NEWS BRIEFS
VOL. 35 NO. 31 $1.34 inc. GST
Smokey setting
ER open 9 days Increased locum coverage will allow the Stuart Lake Hospital emergency room to open for nine days in October. The emergency room will be open: • Oct. 10 (evening) to Oct.11 • Oct. 13-14 • Oct. 16 • Oct. 18-Oct. 19 (morning) • Oct. 29-30 Due to challenges securing further locum coverage, the emergency room coverage will experience temporary closures for the dates not listed above. Northern Health will be posting updates should this change. Patients who aren’t sure whether their condition would warrant an emergency room visit, or who need health advice can call HealthLink BC (8-1-1), or visit www. HealthLinkBC.ca for non-emergency health information from nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
Highway 16 upgrades Guardrails are going to be installed on the Cluculz Lake Hill on Highway 16. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of September and will cost an estimated $158,000. The goal is to prevent vehicles from going off the road on the hill to improve safety for drivers and other road users such as walkers and cyclists.
Beautiful weather last week also included a smokey sunset before rain cleared the air. Caledonia Courier Photo
Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier Warning: This story contains some graphic description of a bear encounter, as told by the survivor. Please do not read the story if you may be offended by the violent nature of the event. Resilient. This word must be used to describe a man like Conrad Boyes. While there are some people who would let fear keep them from ever experiencing the true wilderness, even after a near-death encounter with one of the wilderness’ most intimidating residents, a sow grizzly bear, Boyes can’t wait to get back out there. As soon as he gets his gun back from the game wardens, who have had the firearm since the incident, “I’m ready to go again,” said Boyes. Boyes is currently recovering well after a vicious encounter with a female grizzly bear in a remote wilderness
Vanderhoof man survives bear attack area in the Northern Rocky Mountains Provincial Park, 90 miles outside of Fort Nelson. Boyes said his life has been in the bush, and he will never stop going back, perhaps not surprising for someone who was raised in northern Ontario on a trap line. It was likely the skills and experience Boyes has been gaining over his nearly 60 years of life which saved him, keeping his wits about him in a moment when most of us would likely have frozen. The trip began as it had every year for the past 16, with Boyes and other close family all meeting up outside of Fort Nelson, where his older brother would meet them with his four-seater airplane and fly the group into a remote area where they made camp, this year near Kluachesi Lake. The group walked up the valley, away from the lake where the plane was, about one and a half hours, to where they set up a camp.
This year, Boyes was there with his two brothers, his sister, and his niece, all from different parts of central B.C., including Kamloops, Quesnel, Prince George and Vanderhoof. The group were experienced hunters and outdoorspeople, but one had made the mistake of dropping a sleeping bag between the plane and the camp. After two days of hunting, both Boyes and his brother had shot an elk each, which the group had packed the same afternoon they had shot them. Because he had his meat, Boyes decided to go for a hike back to check on the plane and grab some more supplies, as well as take a look for the missing sleeping bag on his way back. It was on the walk from the plane when Boyes heard some noise in an opening, and suddenly, 15 or 20 feet in front of him, a big female grizzly stood up on her hind legs.
“She let’s one big roar out, eh … and all of a sudden she’s down on her fours, coming at me,” said Boyes. “That split second, I knew she was coming, I pulled my gun off my shoulder, flipped it down took the safety off and I managed to get two shots - bang bang -… and she was on top of me.” The bear got him by his thighs first, tearing two large holes “the size of twoonies” and about an inch and a half deep. Bleeding from his wound, he sat up, and the bear was “boxing him about his ears” so he attempted to get his hands up to protect his face and eyes. The bear chewed on his arms, then got her mouth on his bottom jaw and crunched down on it. “I can still hear my jaw going snap, crack, snap, bang, bang.” said Boyes. He was on his back with the bear on top of him, and he managed to position his hands to try and pull open
the bear’s jaw enough to get his hands and face out of them, but not before she had chewed his one thumb nearly off and torn the ligaments of the other. He then put his feet on her chest and kicked as hard as he could. Meanwhile, the bear was slowly succumbing to the injuries from the two shots Boyes had managed to get off, and he could hear her chest gurgle and wheeze as she breathed, one shot having hit her lungs and the other her heart. The bear rolled over, got up onto her four feet and took off into the bush, where he could hear her still nearby. “I knew then she was dying,” said Boyes. Boyes then got himself to his feet, found his gun and while at first he couldn’t operate it with his damaged thumbs, he managed to reload, and then he grabbed his coat and hat and began to make his way back to camp. Continued on Page 3