When the night finally went silent again, at about 2 a.m., and the bloodied bear had disappeared into the darkness, Brandon Johnson lay unmoving. This was in eastern Pine County, near Duxbury, and Johnson's left arm was mangled and broken. His right arm and hand — the one that held the knife he had shoved into the bear's mouth — was also broken. Leg. Midsection. Face. Head. Johnson bled from each.
The evening had begun quietly enough. Johnson, 44, and a few friends, including Craig Lindstrom, 54, and Trevor Nowack, 24, had gathered at Johnson's hunting camp. The surrounding acreage is frequented by deer and other wildlife. But in September, the men, all from the north metro area, pursue black bear, targeting the animals selectively with their bows.
Late the previous afternoon, Nowack drew back on a big bruin. An experienced hunter, Nowack believed he had a good bead on the animal when he loosed an arrow, which he later found covered in blood. Still, to be sure, he didn't follow it immediately, thinking it better to allow the bear to amble away unhurried, and die a short distance away.
"It was a little after midnight when we went into the woods to track the bear," Lindstrom said. "It had been 82 degrees that day, and we didn't want the meat to spoil."
Headlamps and powerful spotlights illuminating their way, Johnson, Lindstrom and Nowack picked up the bear's trail in the darkness. Of the three, only Lindstrom carried a sidearm, a Glock .45.
"We followed the bear into a swampy, boggy area," Lindstrom said. "We were up to our knees in water."
Which is when the men came to a river.
"Trevor waded in, and was quickly up to his armpits," Lindstrom said. "Brandon crossed, too. I didn't. But shortly thereafter, when they were maybe 170 yards ahead of me, I heard them yell that they had kicked up the bear, and that it might be coming my way."
