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Bear Attack Footage And Seven More Tales of Near-Death Experience in the Outdoors
Bear Attack Footage And Seven More Tales of Near-Death Experience in the Outdoors
Three and a half miles off Juno Beach, Fla., Rich Jarrach and his friends Jason Hearst, Sean Moller, and David Vega were chasing kingfish when a leak in the live-well intake line shorted all the electronics on board, then sank the boat in 30-knot winds. Jarrach tells the story:
We’d been fishing for an hour when the sardines in the live well started to die. It sounded like there was a problem with the pump, so we decided to head in. But then the motor stalled. I opened the hatch to the battery compartment and there was about 10 inches of water in there. Then I checked the center console and the water was waist-high. The bilge wasn’t working. No VHF radio. Nothing. I called my brother on my cell, and then I lost service. We were dead on the water.
We drifted east, and the seas went from 3- to 5-foot whitecaps to 7- to 9-foot pounders. We couldn’t bail quickly enough. After an hour, we were leaning heavily to one side when a big wave came and boom—the boat flipped. I climbed onto the motor, and Jay was clinging to the bow like Spiderman. Dave’s life preserver had blown overboard earlier, so he grabbed a bumper. Sean was hanging on to the hull, but he kept sliding off. For about an hour and a half, we got crushed by waves, and we puked a lot of seawater. My hands were bleeding from the prop, but I couldn’t even worry about sharks. Finally, between the troughs, I saw a tuna tower and a man waving. By then, we’d drifted 7 miles offshore into 300 feet of water. If that captain hadn’t spotted us, we would’ve just kept going. It’s funny—his boat was called the Shamrock.
—As told to Catherine DiBenedetto
Photo by Field & Stream Online Editors
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Photo Gallery Comments (1)
First off I'll start with pointing out that I come from a family of hunters; I've seen and eaten and enjoyed my fair share of bear, among other game.
Now I'd like to ask what happened to the cub?
Did you allow it run off and die a slow miserable cold terrifying death.
If so... thats not nature thats cruelty.
The men and women in my family who hunt are respectful and compassionate, we hunt to eat not for sport.
No I do not think that anyone should have allowed the sow to maul and kill the sportsmen but like I said "what about the cub?"
If the cub was chased off to die then EVERY one of you who were there should be ashamed of your lack of respect for the animals.
If you hadn't been there then that cub would have had chance at survival, to live as a bear should.
But since you were there the sow did what sows do and you, as a person in fear for their life did what I would have done but would have done differently.
Post a Comment
First off I'll start with pointing out that I come from a family of hunters; I've seen and eaten and enjoyed my fair share of bear, among other game.
Now I'd like to ask what happened to the cub?
Did you allow it run off and die a slow miserable cold terrifying death.
If so... thats not nature thats cruelty.
The men and women in my family who hunt are respectful and compassionate, we hunt to eat not for sport.
No I do not think that anyone should have allowed the sow to maul and kill the sportsmen but like I said "what about the cub?"
If the cub was chased off to die then EVERY one of you who were there should be ashamed of your lack of respect for the animals.
If you hadn't been there then that cub would have had chance at survival, to live as a bear should.
But since you were there the sow did what sows do and you, as a person in fear for their life did what I would have done but would have done differently.
Post a Comment