Daryl Ratajczak: hey everybody and welcome to the Wildlife for You podcast. ⁓ I am host, Daryl Radajak, and I'm joined here by my great and brilliant co-host, Stephanie Payne. Now let me start off by saying today's podcast is gonna be a little bit different than our normal podcast. ⁓ Yes, it is. ⁓

Stephanne: It is. Wait, what? ⁓ don't you think it would have been a good idea to fill your brilliant co host in before we started the show?

Daryl Ratajczak: ⁓ well, I would have thunk that my brilliant co host would have figured that out all on her own.

Stephanne: ⁓ yeah, okay, how? Like am I supposed to just cosmically know these things?

Daryl Ratajczak: Well yeah, for starters, how did our interview go this week with old man Johnson and hashtag Hazel?

Stephanne: Ugh, it went horrible. Because they sty like they totally they stiffed us, right? Like they they stood us up, they left us hanging. Apparently old man Johnson decided that he was gonna take Hazel on some field trip or something to show her all the old homestead sites up in Rattlesnake Hollow. And we didn't even get a chance to talk to them.

Daryl Ratajczak: And why is that? Exactly. And hence why we're gonna do a few things different on this episode stuff. So I figured since our last podcast on Bear Spray went over so well and I absolutely love that podcast, I thought we'd revisit a portion of last week's podcast and explain a few things and help help our listeners understand that situation a little bit better.

Stephanne: explain things. I mean I I thought we did a pretty great job of breaking down the difference when it came to using bear spray versus trying to use a gun to fend off a bear attack.

Daryl Ratajczak: ⁓ I I think we did too. But I think most rational folks listening to that podcast, they do understand or would understand that Bear Spray probably is likely the much, much better choice for the average Joe and Jane that are recreating in Bear Country. What I think we need to explain better, however, is The parts where we were kind of cracking up behind the scenes, laughing at each other, because what we did is we had this personal experience with this bear spray topic or bear encounter topic. And it's pretty much how I saved your life on that fateful bear encounter day that we had.

Stephanne: You no no no no no you did not just go there.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah, I went there last week too, so

Stephanne: Th okay, then then yes, by all means, sir. Let us please, please break this down for our listeners so that they have an exact understanding of what actually happened during our fateful encounter.

Daryl Ratajczak: Do you do you have a Bible on hand right now? Like 'cause I need I need you to swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Stephanne: I I I have my phone and my phone has a Bible somewhere in the interwebs. So I will put my hand on this phone and I will swear to it. All right.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah, and I do too. A as best as I can recall, and as best as ⁓ Stephanie can recall, we're gonna recount an experience we had with a bear encounter ⁓ we were referring to last week when we were discussing the pros and cons of bear spray versus ⁓ a firearm or a gun with you to help you out during an unfortunate bear incident. So Before we get started, Steph, I don't think we could stress this enough. I think it's it's really good to tell our listeners every once in a while, usually once every couple of months, we get like one or two more listeners. So it's probably good that we we rehash our background because we're always talking about wildlife topics and we get into detail and e even the bear spray topic. It's like, why in the world am I listening to these two characters? So I think it'd be good to give a little background about who each of us are. So you you want to start?

Stephanne: Fair. Yeah, I think we can do that. So, wildlife biology education. ⁓ my main stint in wildlife outside of doing a whole lot of ⁓ volunteer work with the TWR, Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency, was primarily in the wildlife human attack response training realm. ⁓ I was very big into that for ⁓ gosh, over a decade. love wildlife, spent my entire life outside with my a lot of times it was with my my mom thinks the nature is the walk between the car and the mall. Like that parking lot is the nature. ⁓ so my my passion for wildlife actually probably comes from my dad because we were always out in the woods, camping up in, you know, Canada and in Wisconsin and Minnesota and hunting and fishing and we were just we were always outside. So lover of wildlife my whole life.

Daryl Ratajczak: The nature. My my mom used to be the same way, like the nature was this place that you can talk about and visit every once in a while, but you don't want to stay there.

Stephanne: Correct, correct. That is my mom as well.

Daryl Ratajczak: Well, good good background. And I'm sure most folks who have followed wildlife for you know that I am unlike Stephanie, I am a career wildlife biologist. ⁓ Stephanie realized there is no money to be made in wildlife. So she chose she chose a path for her career that actually earns money. Whereas I stuck it out and just followed my passions and scraped by. Thankfully, I was able to support a family. ⁓ anyway, I I got my degree in wildlife biology way back nineteen ninety two, but

Stephanne: Hey, quick question, was that was that diploma, was that carved on a stone tablet? Tizzled. ⁓

Daryl Ratajczak: Chiseled, chiseled, not carved, chiseled stone. Yeah, it's it's yeah, you can carve wood, you gotta chisel stone. Anyway, ⁓ like Stephanie, my my dad took me hunting, camping, fishing. So I was out in the woods. I always wanted to live my dad's vacation. he worked hard in a factory, ⁓ I wanted to live the vacations that we had together. So fortunately I made career. ⁓

Stephanne: Thank you.

Daryl Ratajczak: ⁓ out of wildlife biology, and I was fortunate enough to fall into this world of large carnivore biology. So started my career working with black bears and the smokies. Then I moved up to working for the State Wildlife Agency, doing big game stuff. So deer, elk, bear, wild hogs, just all all the big charismatic animals. And so Here I am 30 some years later, and I'm still doing it. And I do this wildlife education. We don't make any money. Yeah, yeah, actually we lose money doing this, but it's fun. I love educating people about the do's and don'ts with wildlife because I'm passionate about them and I want to do whatever I can to keep them safe and occasionally keep people safe too. So anyway,

Stephanne: No, we do not. We pay money.

Daryl Ratajczak: Another thing that might be pertinent here, Steph, do you wanna how did we meet?

Stephanne: okay. So so I'm I'm an Apex Predator Human Dynamics specialization. So ⁓ I have I have a passion for for cougars and and like Daryl for all of the megafauna, but cougars are really my jam for North America. ⁓ and I had sent an email to a guy at T well I had sent it to the T WRA and a guy responded back to me and ⁓ he was kind of a jerk. He kind of blew me off. ⁓ and then I

Daryl Ratajczak: It wasn't this guy. It wasn't this guy.

Stephanne: Wait, hold please. We'll get there. We'll get there. Hold that horse, sir. So, ⁓ and then I see the same guy like ⁓ totally being kind of a an arrogant jerk again to somebody on the news. It was like on some news channel ⁓ episode that I had seen. So there was a a meeting of the Wildlife Society that was happening ⁓ on the other side of the state. So at the time Daryl lived in Tennessee as well, but I live in Tennessee. So Tennessee is shaped kind of like a ⁓

Daryl Ratajczak: Yes, ma'am.

Stephanne: Like a like a big long rectangle, but with the the little angles. Yeah, so I was going from the very I I literally drove to because I I heard this guy was gonna be at the Wildlife Society meeting and I was gonna have some words with this guy and give him 'cause I'm not some, you know, fly by the seat of your pants person you can just talk to that way. So I drove from the very southeastern corner of Tennessee all the way across the state to the very

Daryl Ratajczak: East to west, it's a long way.

Stephanne: northwestern part of of the state. So I drove six hours to give somebody a piece of my mind. So I show up and I'm doing my ⁓ my lurker routine. You know, I'm ⁓ there's a ton of other wildlife students there. And at the time I was still in college. I am well just call me not the traditional wildlife student. ⁓ number one, I was a geezer compared to everybody else. ⁓ you know, most of them had not yet gone through puberty. but in addition to that, I just don't really I don't think I fit the mold. Maybe that's The right way of saying it.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah, because I believe I I had no idea like other than an email, I had no idea who you were. And when you walked into the wildlife society meeting, I was like, I think somebody's lost. And and lo and behold, as soon as you said who you were and what was going on, it clicked that you were about to have throw down with ⁓ one the guys I worked with. ⁓ So

Stephanne: Exactly. Yeah. Well, not as it's worked with, but so like I tell Daryl why I'm there. Like literally, I tell him I am here to chew out so and so. ⁓ because this was inap in a inappropriate. You know, you've got to be these these people, all of us people, we are the customers. We we you know, essentially pay the bills. and Daryl's like, ⁓ he's not here, but I'm his boss and I'm like, Well, let me borrow your ear So then I guess

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. The rest is history. ⁓ needless to say, folks, I saved ⁓ probably pulling someone out of the bottom of the Tennessee River that day because I talked Stephanie off the ledge. But ⁓ come to find out, she's ⁓ a pretty brilliant wildlife biologist. ⁓ she had not received her degree yet.

Stephanne: History, yeah. Someone.

Daryl Ratajczak: But ⁓ having talked with her, she she wanted to get involved, really w passionate about it. And we we started ⁓ doing some volunteer work together. And so I will say I think one of the strengths what one of my passions, I I mentioned how much I love talking to people and educating people, but I'm not really good on the communication side of things. As far as

Stephanne: Mm-hmm. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. That's not fair. Maybe you weren't in the past, but you are now. Just to clarify. Carry on.

Daryl Ratajczak: so I leaned heavily on Stephanie to develop some media tools for me, like graphics and just redesign things because talking to the public, government agencies are horrible. And she had a background that was far away from wildlife. She loved wildlife, but she was just so skilled with these other ⁓ proficiencies and she helped me create some just crazy cool media stuff that we then used at the agency. So besides that, I I remember asking, didn't you you helped us in the very, very early stages with barewise and trying to get some messaging for that? ⁓ but Also, but besides that in the field, ⁓ she had volunteered to help with some bear bait stations. I know we did some, we were trying to record some bear videos for educational purposes. And then ⁓ where you I probably learned more from you than you learned from me is doing cougar investigations. So explain a little bit about cougar investigations that we did.

Stephanne: ⁓ gosh, what which ones didn't we do? Like, you know, we've done a lot of them start with a picture usually because if there's not at least like photographic evidence, there's not a whole lot that you can have there. But it would usually start with a picture. ⁓ and then there's a lot of at the time, this is a little bit before you could do ⁓ really easy like Google Lens types of things. But at the at the time I would do a lot of reverse lookups, a lot of looking at the metadata on the back of the and not the physical back of the image, but behind the image, what's embedded in it. ⁓ and then you and I would w one of my favorite things that we did, besides the Bear Bait stations, don't get me wrong, those were super fun. But when we would actually go out into the field, you know, and like the we did with the do you remember the the melanistic ⁓ coyote?

Daryl Ratajczak: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. The Black Panther The Black Panther story.

Stephanne: Yeah, like that one we actually went there. Yeah, that that was a it that was a really good one on till we saw some of the other pictures. ⁓ that were just yeah. But anyway, yeah, so and sizing things like you just use th people don't understand how bad perspective gets whenever you're looking at either a two D image or even your eyes can't be trusted with anything greater than about twenty yards away. Things just start to get skewed. ⁓ so a lot of that was just that kind of work. It was fun.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ yeah, I I I miss it. The the field work like I enjoy not having to do it, but I miss doing it on occasion. So that that was always great stuff. So needless to say, ⁓ Stephanie and I kinda struck up a friendship while she was

Stephanne: Mm, you

Daryl Ratajczak: in school to become a wildlife biologist and she ended up graduating and getting her degree in human wildlife dynamics. And one of the things that I was asked to do, I was chief of wildlife at the time, and I was often invited various parts of the state to participate in different events, different hunts, ⁓ different things on ⁓ all over. And one the ⁓ invitations I received was to go on a hunt in Cherokee National Forest. This is far east Tennessee, rugged rugged mountains. And so I had gone out there and ⁓ Stephanie was invited to the same hunt and lo and behold we kind of got teamed up together. And so before we knew it, we were we were out in the woods and I will let Stephanie the story. How about this? Because I know you're gonna think I get things wrong, even though I don't. I'm gonna think. ⁓ So ⁓ line, we started the hike up. to the top of this mountain, and we started it we started about four in the morning? Like stupid early because it was a couple of hours before

Stephanne: It was stupid early. Yeah, it was stupid early.

Daryl Ratajczak: And we were given a point on a map to get to. And neither of us knew like where we were even gonna be going on this trip. And lo and behold, we had probably three or four stream crossings. And I had only brought boots that were kind of like ankle high and I don't even know what kind of what kind of boots you had. But a couple of the stream crossings we had were probably above our kneecaps. So

Stephanne: Yeah. Same. Same.

Daryl Ratajczak: Completely soaking wet. Boot boots were absolutely chock full of water. And I was just gonna ask you d the temperature. It was it was just above freezing.

Stephanne: And it's like thirty two degrees. Okay, fine, thirty three.

Daryl Ratajczak: Okay, there you go. It was on the verge where if precipitation fell, it would be debating on how it would come down as rain or snow. So bottom line, it was really, really cold. And ⁓ it took us a couple hours to get to the top of the mountain, and we got up there to the point we were supposed to go at. We were just sitting there and I'm gonna go ahead.

Stephanne: Well, I mean we weren't we weren't just sitting there. 'Cause remember my feet were frozen.

Daryl Ratajczak: ⁓ yeah. It I I was just gonna say I was trying to hide how cold I was and I looked over because like I was shivering and I looked over and I think I saw you shivering too. And I and I asked ⁓ would it be okay if I started a fire and you you you like threw me a lighter before I even finished the sentence.

Stephanne: That was probably blue from like top to bottom. I couldn't yeah, 'cause I don't even think I could twitch the lighter. Like yeah.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. And so we we gathered up ⁓ some kindlin there and just started a fire on top of this this hill. Don't worry, we're safe. It wasn't gonna be a a big fire, but we we had to dry our boots out. We were soaking wet. And so we fired it up. It was folks, if you've never been like bitter cold, like where you think you're gonna get hypothermia and then you're by a fire, it is the greatest thing. It's like eating eating that Ritz cracker when you haven't eaten for four days. It's like this is the best spritz I ever had.

Stephanne: Well, and I like remember I I took my my cause it wasn't just my boots. I took my socks off and I had ⁓ on sticks and like I'm like singing, you know, like wool socks roasting on an open fire. It was great.

Daryl Ratajczak: The ste and they're steamers. Yeah, so anyway, it it was a couple hours on top of the mountain. And next thing you know, we're sitting there and I I think we got everything dried off, the the boots and the socks. So we're feeling a little bit better. And then off in the distance, it it was is a surreal, really quiet morning. Didn't hear much wildlife, not many birds. What month was it? Do you recall?

Stephanne: December.

Daryl Ratajczak: Was it December? So it was ⁓ yeah. So it was yeah, and ⁓ understand December in the mountains, not many leaves on the trees. It's cool. It's it's barren, it's pretty much empty in those mountains. And we were sitting there and then off in the distance, what did we hear? Yeah, we we we hear these dogs.

Stephanne: I think it was December. Mm-hmm. Dogs. I was like, Darryl, do you hear that? He's like, Yeah, I do.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. Yeah, and we're sitting there listening and ⁓ you just hear ⁓ going like crazy up on a ridge. It was far away. Is it it was on it wasn't on our ridge, it was on a different ridge. And yeah.

Stephanne: Yeah, yeah. We even had a conversation about that. Like where the ⁓ they're over there. Okay. So they're not they're not near us. It's fine.

Daryl Ratajczak: It exactly. And so then then they quieted down for a little bit. And we're just sitting there twiddling our thumbs, and then we hear these dogs again. And Armara, you turn like, sounds like it they're on our ridge. And we listen a little bit more. And it's like, I think they are on our ridge. And ⁓ I remember Yeah. And ⁓ Armara

Stephanne: That was about the time we got up, right? And safely put out our fire.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah, and we're trying to figure out like where the dogs were going or like what was going on. And I remember we walked up the hill maybe about thirty, forty yards, just so we can see better like where we're hearing these animals.

Stephanne: Cause yeah, 'cause I mean you need to probably explain that we're on a finger ridge.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. Yeah. So multiple multiple ridges up in this section. We're on we're on one ⁓ top of the ridge and then there's like a little little dip in front of us and then there's another ridge about how far away? Probably sixty, seventy yards.

Stephanne: ⁓ if well I mean depends, right? 'Cause they were up up to our right they were getting closer together as they neared the top, but down more the bottom they but for where we were, I don't even I don't even know if it was that far. I would I would say fifty to sixty. But

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah, so needless to say, we walked up we walked up the ridge that we were on just so we could get a better view and we're like, what the heck's going on? 'Cause we hear these dogs going crazy. And we're looking and I remember like you were standing in front of me and ⁓ we we were both carrying at the time. I had ⁓ I a shotgun and you had a ⁓ rifle, a out six big rifle. And ⁓ we're sitting there

Stephanne: Thirty out six. Yep. ⁓ With the clo with a glass scope. That's important. Mm-hmm. This is very important for the story.

Daryl Ratajczak: With a scope. That's very important. Yeah, and and we ex we kind of explained a little bit of this with the whole firearm ⁓ discussion last week. And so

Stephanne: Yes. Bear spray, yep. 'Cause I was like I remember 'cause I was like, Daryl they sound like they're coming straight at us.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah, and these these dogs were barking like crazy. And we're kind of like, ⁓ my gosh, what the heck's going on? And lo and behold, we're kind of staring at this ridge in front of us. And what comes up over this ridge? ⁓ wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Before I say that, when we walked up the ridge to kind of get a better vantage point to see what what all the commotion was.

Stephanne: This black. Well Okay.

Daryl Ratajczak: One of the things we did, we found a game trail that kind of things were wide open. You could see and it was it was a fairly worn path that animals use all the time. So we kind of walked up that game trail and we got to a point where there's a good vantage point where we can see the other ridge. And now you can say what happened.

Stephanne: Very well used. So lo and behold, on that that ridge that we're looking at, a black bear comes barreling over the top of that ridge on our game trail. And Daryl's like, full on, full on run. Yeah. So Daryl's like, ⁓ God, shoot the bear stuff. Because it's coming straight at us. And I've got, keep in mind, y'all, I have got a a glassed 30 out six. So I'm trying to look through.

Daryl Ratajczak: Full full yes.

Stephanne: My and I've got mine is scoped out for far away. So I'm trying to look through my glass to see a moving object coming at me at a very fast rate of speed. And then and I'm like, can't find it. And Daryl's like, shoot the bear stuff. And I drop to a knee and I'm like, can't see it. And now you take over, sir.

Daryl Ratajczak: shoot yeah so this thing I I wish I I wish you could imagine in your head you you've probably seen like bears kind of lope away kind of half-heartedly run this was nothing like this this was picture picture that greyhound that's chasing the rabbit around the track where they're going full bore this bear was going full bore coming right at us And when we s initially saw it, it was probably fifty, sixty yards away. I tell you what, folks, bears can cover ground so incredibly fast. So although it's kind of slow motion in my mind, I'm probably sure it's slow motion in your mind, this bear was closing the distance in a matter of seconds. And I I told Steph, gotta shoot the bear, and it's coming right at us. It was literally on the path, gonna run us right over. And

Stephanne: Well, and I don't want people to think that with us having that dialogue back and forth that that was a long period of time. You know, that was it was literally here comes the bear, shoot the bear stuff, can't see it. Shoot the bear stuff, can't see it. Yeah.

Daryl Ratajczak: Shoot the damn bear. And then all of a sudden I hear Steph say, I can't find it, you take it. This whole time I put all my faith in the world in Stephanie protecting us.

Stephanne: With the glass rifle meant for a long range shot.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yes. So lo and behold, she ⁓ and understandably, I d I don't blame her whatsoever because it's near impossible to pick something up in a scope that is moving that fast. But it kind of surprised me. And folks, I was standing there in awe, and like I never even took the gun off my shoulder. It was still on my shoulder when she said that. And I was like, holy crap. So it was like one fluid motion where I kinda grab the gun off my shoulder because I'm like, ⁓ I'm the last line of defense and all I have is this this firearm on me. And if you don't know anything about guns, ⁓ you can preload the ammunition and the gun I was carrying carried three rounds in it, the shotgun. And the first thing I did is when I was lifting the gun up, you were gonna say something.

Stephanne: Well I was gonna say you probably should ex exchange you know, it's a pump. ⁓

Daryl Ratajczak: Yes. ⁓ the gun I was using called it was an eight seventy pump shotgun. It was a Remington. And the way it works is you can load the rounds into ⁓ into the cham not not the chamber where it fires, but into the what's it called?

Stephanne: The animal cartridge chamber. Yeah.

Daryl Ratajczak: No, there's a name for it. And I I feel like an idiot because I I taught Hunter Ed for so long. Anyway, you could you could preload it and then you would have to rack one of the shells or like pump the shotgun to it to load one of the shells into the chamber so it's ready to fire. I had already done that, like to start the day, just to be at the ready. And so the first thing I did when Steph said she can't find it, you take it. The first thing I did is I went and I repumped the shotgun and what that does, if there's one already loaded, it ejects the shell. So she tells me, You take it. So I go cli click and the first round goes flying three feet away from us.

Stephanne: The first live round. So so the magazine chamber has one less thing in it.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yes. So now we're down to two. Yeah, we started with three, now we're down to two, and I haven't even like brought the gun to my shoulder. And so at this point, ⁓ again, it's slow motion in our minds. Folks, you cannot understand the high pressure intensity of it. And so trying to not get run over by this bear coming full speed, the very first one I actually fired, I don't even remember putting the gun up. Don't even know it didn't even come close 'cause I didn't even bring the gun to my shoulder. Go ahead.

Stephanne: the but it was very cause I was still kind of in front of I was I was ⁓ more to the side of you, but I was still in front of you. So like your barrel came down over my shoulder essentially.

Daryl Ratajczak: You were Yep. It was yeah, I I was safe. ⁓ Stephanie was clear in the safe, but the gun was close to her because she was in front of me and down off to the side. And so the first time I shot towards the bear, it was less than 20 yards. And so that kinda like suddenly the bear was aware that we were there. It had no

Stephanne: Thing. Yeah.

Daryl Ratajczak: It was not coming at us to kill us. We kind of knew that, but it didn't matter. It was coming right at us. And so the second round I fired was probably less than five yards away. Missed completely both times. I'd like to think subliminally I missed on purpose because I didn't want to really kill that bear, because but but This idea that, ⁓ when I go out and if a if there's a bear charging at me, I'm gonna be John Wayne and shoot it between the eyes, is absolute horse hockey. Because your brain goes one direction, your body goes in another direction, unless you train to get them synced up. Boy, it is intense. Needless to say, folks, the second shot, like The bear's eyes kind of bulged like, ⁓ my gosh. And the bear realized there were two people standing right in front of him. And it veered ever so slightly and it ran by full speed how far away from us?

Stephanne: Right in front of it at that point. Yeah. ⁓ my God. But a couple f a couple of feet maybe. Like maybe maybe only a foot. It it was close enough where I it I almost got pushed, you know, like if it was any closer it would have hit me on the leg.

Daryl Ratajczak: Couple of feet. Yeah, it it was like So imagine a full on bear running barreling at you and just missing you by a foot or two. That's exactly

Stephanne: And for to be completely clear, like Daryl was saying, the bear until he fired those two shots, the bear I don't think was even because yeah, I don't think the bear was even aware of us. It's kinda like that T Rex on Jurassic Park, you know, where if you're not moving enough, the thing doesn't recognize you or whatever. that's it it was going to I I really do believe in my heart of hearts it would have just plowed us over. I like you, it wasn't coming at us to do us damage, but yeah.

Daryl Ratajczak: Aware of us. Yeah. ⁓ it would have apologized. Yeah, and I kind of felt bad because it ended up that Bear was running away from those dogs, and we were just in his way. We like, I don't know, it everything unfolded within a matter of seconds. It's just crazy how quickly these things happen. And Yeah, you you relive it in your mind and you can recall all these crazy little tiny details. But but if w we could have we could have showed the video of this thing twenty five times already because it just happened so quickly.

Stephanne: Super quack, yeah. The funny thing is is after the bear ran by, you're like, Where did it go? And I'm like, What? 'Cause I couldn't hear 'cause of the gunshot going off by my head.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. Yeah, it's not a good idea to fire a shotgun at close range when someone is like right next to you ⁓ with the like only a foot or two away from the ⁓ the top their head. ⁓ So ⁓ ⁓ safety taken, but the safety part was let's get this bear to not ⁓ run us And ⁓ I can with the heart of hearts that ⁓ I saved stuff. ⁓

Stephanne: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mark ⁓ okay, you defin okay. I'm just I no, I'm not even gonna give you a response on that one. I love you though, if it makes you feel any better. ⁓

Daryl Ratajczak: No, I think ⁓ truthfully that that's why we've worked together for so long now. It's one those things where ⁓ it it wasn't our first time meeting, but like ⁓ that's a heck of a story that ⁓ so so so few people ever will to experience it. ⁓ And it's like, well, at least we had in common. ⁓ So ⁓ A a near death situation of almost getting run over by a bear.

Stephanne: Checking that. You know, in a near death situation definitely has a way of bringing people together.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. So anyway, when you hear us snickering and laughing about that event, it was like we realized that again, so few people would ever experience anything like that. And it turned out great. It it was fantastic. The bear lived. I saved Stephanie. it yeah, it couldn't have turned out any better because ⁓ I couldn't have asked for a better wildlife partner out of that whole ordeal.

Stephanne: You're lucky you ended that that way.

Daryl Ratajczak: I had to make up for it, but yeah, so that's that's what we were referring to in the last episode when we were talking about the benefits of firearms versus bear spray. Now I again both of us are very experienced with firearms. We we grew up with a dad that would take us hunting and fishing and shooting, and so we're pretty adept at using these things. But in a surprise encounter with a bear, you don't have time to think. And unless you train for this, you have no idea how you're gonna react. And so it was it was definitely that's why I will always, always, always be a huge proponent for bear spray as your first line of defense, especially if you don't have much experience with firearms or you don't practice. And I'll admit, we we don't practice for those surprise. encounters like that.

Stephanne: Correct. I would agree with that statement.

Daryl Ratajczak: So do you think we clarified our situation? People will understand better. I still think we need to talk to the public and tell them ⁓ a little bit more detail about how we first met at the Wildlife Society, but we'll we'll save that for an for another episode.

Stephanne: We'll we'll save that for another day when when we get stood up by OMJ and hashtag Hazel.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. So we will be back with them in a couple of weeks. I know, ⁓ it or not, folks, I'm going out of town ⁓ next week, so ⁓ recording this one a little bit earlier, but I will drop it at the usual time. And ⁓ do you think we're gonna end this today and time we wrap up this episode? ⁓

Stephanne: I do, I do. But I'm I must say this definitely was fun because it it it felt good to get my side my side of the the story, which is the truth, ⁓ out there. And you know

Daryl Ratajczak: Y you know I was just gonna say, you know, it'd be so funny. I w I wish we could do it. We probably could do it if we're more skilled. But I'd love for you to make a video and recreate the whole scene exactly how you see it in your mind's eye. And then I would do the same in my mind's eye just to see how the two compare.

Stephanne: I bet you know what I have so much faith in you, I bet that they would actually be pretty darn similar.

Daryl Ratajczak: It it it would it would be close, but yeah, it's yeah. It wa it was it was a neat event. And I don't really yeah, I prefer it doesn't happen again, but if it does, so be it.

Stephanne: It was. If it does, I will let you be my savior again. and and fire throw out your first live round and then fire twice and miss the bear.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yeah. Well that that's the thing. Like if if we were in different positions and I was in front and you were in back, you would probably have a bear hanging on your wall. So anyway. Yeah.

Stephanne: Whatever. Whatever.

Daryl Ratajczak: All right, Steph. So is there anything else you wanna add for today's episode? ⁓

Stephanne: ⁓ actually there is. are you as excited as I am to visit with old man Johnson and hashtag Hazel to hear about their field trip, how that went?

Daryl Ratajczak: ⁓ my gosh, I so am. ⁓ mostly right now I'm just praying like both of ⁓ are still alive. can you picture the two of them together riding in like an old pickup truck up and down those hollowers?

Stephanne: I I'm so I I number one, like I am sure that like hashtag Hazel is probably tough like she's probably spraying the whole thing with Lysol and she probably has fourteen things of like hand sanitizer. And I'm wondering I'm wondering if ⁓ I mean, don't get me wrong, at the end of the day ⁓ my bet is on old Johnson, but on the flip side I bet she's got ⁓ wired up with the GoPro.

Daryl Ratajczak: So she has evidence. Yeah, I th I think I would I would I would bet on old man Johnson too. I think he's got some ghosts in his closet that he's hoping to take to the grave with him. So anyway, I'm sure we're gonna have some pretty good banter to share with you next time we hear from them. So you're in my debt because of this bear encounter, Steph.

Stephanne: Probably.

Daryl Ratajczak: I'll let you wrap things up today.

Stephanne: Once again, folks, I, the truth one of the the two of us, ⁓ obviously love talking to you about wildlife and Daryl does too. and we do love trying to clear things up with with some of that misinformation that you hear about out there. And in addition to us liking to do that, we also love listening to you. So if you have any topics that you'd like for us to explore, reach out to us. You can always ⁓ either reach us through our wildlife ⁓ Facebook Messenger or you can email us at WFYQons at gmail dot com.

Daryl Ratajczak: Yes, folks, and we would absolutely love to hear from you with whatever topic ideas you may have, any compliments. Heck, you could even throw in a couple criticism if you like. but we do thank you for listening. And remember, when it comes to wildlife, your knowledge often means their existence. Thank you and be well.