Flathead Lake Lodge

The large Bronze by the Lodge fireplace with several horses in a packstring being attacked by a Grizzly bear depicts an episode where Les Averill was horseback, leading a long pack string of horses at night loaded  with quarters of elk meat from hunting camp, when attacked by a large Grizzley Bear .

Les operated a profession hunting camp deep in the Bob Marshal Wilderness and was one of the first 6 outfitters to have commercial camps in the nation’s largest wilderness outside of Alaska.  The hunting territory was rugged mountains, along the south fork river with heavy timber and rock slides. It was a popular area for herds of elk wintering and also known for a high population of Grizzley Bears. At the time in the 1950’s, Grizzlys were not a protected species and considered a prize trophy. The bears were smart and realized it best to skedaddle around people or you might get shot. Years later when the bears became protected it only took a few years for them to understand they could prey on people and camps. That is still an issue today. A bear can easily outrun a horse. It is a special treat to see a bear in the wild. From a distance they are generally not aggressive.

The night of the attack, Les was alone riding the lead horse. There were over a dozen horses on the high mountain trail, laden with two quarters of elk on each horse. Les would guide his hunters during the day and when the meat rack was full, would pack up the butchered elk and ride 19 miles at night from the wilderness camp to the trailhead. Upon arrival at the trailhead, it was a big job to unpack all the horses alone in the dark. With a few hours’ sleep in the cab of the truck in the cold and snow, he would haul the elk quarters to town in the morning to the butcher shop, then return to the trailhead at the base of the Swan Mountains, load up his pack string  of horses with packs of groceries and ride19 miles back to camp that evening. A massive effort is required to load a packstring. Your dealing with several horses, putting on packsaddles, mattying up the supplies in equal weight packs of about 100lbs+ then securing them on each side of the horse.  Les never liked carrying a handgun as it was always in the way when packing, but following the attack he carried his powerful Smith & Weston 357. With that pistol he later killed an attacking Grizzley at close range while the bear was terrorizing the hunting camp. The gun became a valuable collectors piece, after his uncle, who was on the scene, spent 3 years engraving the gun and adding  silver and gold plating. Elwood Averill was a famous silversmith engraver living in New York. The Smith and Weston pistol remains in the Averill family collection today.

Les and his packstring of horses was attacked about 2 miles down the trial after leaving the tent camp and hunters sitting around the fire. The Grizzley, with no warning sprang uphill side of the trail in the dark and grabbed the quarter of elk meat on the horse directly behind Les. His saddle horse spun around in a panic. At the same moment, Les swung off his horse grabbing his rifle out of the scabbard as he dismounted. All the horses panicked, reared, jumped and kicked in all directions, breaking the light lead strings that tied them together. A light string was used in event a horse rolled off the trail or disrupted the line of packhorses. The string would break, often tied to the horses tail in front. This prevent one horse going down and pulling other with it. All the pack horses and Les’s saddle horse took off at a run the two miles back to camp leaving Les on foot with the bear. Gripping rifle in hand, which at night he always taped a flashlight to the barrel. He kept looked for the bear to get a shot but only heard it crashing in the brush. He could hear it breathing and clicking its teeth, which bears are known to do when in aggressive mode. He couldn’t see the bear with the dim flashlight, so started a brisk walk down the trial 2 miles back to camp. The quarters of elk all fell off their pack saddles as the horses were running. Les could hear the bear coming out on the trail grabbing elk meat. He never knew if the bear was in front or behind him as it kept paralleling the trail. Whenever he told this story he always commented on how that was a long two mile walk at night knowing he was being stalked by a Grizzley. Upon approaching camp in the dark, Les cut loose with his noted shrill whistle to alert the hunters not to shoot thinking it was the bear coming down the trial. The hunter feared for the worst seeing all the horses running back into camp, saddles and ropes dragging. They were preparing a rescue party but were still collecting the horses running around the camp when Les arrived. Les thought his adventure was over as he came into Camp. As he went over to tie up the horse that was attacked and had serious open wounds bleeding from claw marks. As Les approached the horse, it’s eyes and nostrels widened, then snorted and attacked him with front feet and head swinging. A horse can be extremely dangerous when it feels cornered. Les ran for the nearest tree as the horse circled around the tree chasing him. As luck had it, the pack saddle was still on the horse and the ropes to tie the elk quarters were dragging on the ground. The tie ropes are secured on one end to the pack saddle and are quite long. As the horse circled the tree the pack ropes wrapped the tree and pulled the horse tight to the tree until other hunters could arrive to assist. Les was never one to allow drinking in camp, but this episode may have called for a double shot. Everyone slept light knowing the meat scattered for two miles down the trial would lead Grizzley directly to the camp.

This Grizzley attacking a pack string of hoses was the first record of such an incident in recent history. The story went on to be published in multiple national wildlife magazines and Les doing a TV show in Chicago. Les a WWII bomber pilot didn’t frighten easily, but this one he said got his heart rate up!!