The Wild World of Buck Bray: The Missing Grizzly Cubs
lay around the bend His heart beating fast with antici pation he sneaked behind a bushy willow and peeked through the leafy branches It wasn’t a bear but Buck wasn’t too disappointed In the pond was a moose calf It stuck its head in the water and came back up with strings of grasses slopping from its mouth Buck smiled It looks like it’s slurping green spaghetti he thought Buck pulled his camera from his pocket and took some pictures Then he stood perfectly still watching the young moose eat bite after bite Suddenly there was the sharp crack of a stick breaking behind him Buck turned and immediately froze Standing only forty feet away was the calf’s mother She was enormous Busy eating leaves she hadn’t noticed Buck Slowly Buck raised the camera Although it was bright over the pond it was dark in the forest and the camera’s flash went off automatically The mother moose’s head shot up She looked straight at Buck Then she looked at her calf It was still in the pond Buck was between the cow and her calf Uh-oh not a good place to be Buck thought The moose snorted and stomped glaring at Buck Buck t 2t
talked quietly to her trying to calm her with his voice You’re okay Big Mama he said softly Don’t you worry about little ol me I’m not going to hurt you or your baby You just go back to eating your breakfast Again the moose cuffed the ground with her hoof As he spoke Buck slowly backed up but hit a wall of willow bushes too thick to even crawl through Little by little he inched to the side trying to put some distance between him and the agitated moose The moose stepped toward him easily covering ten feet in only two steps Buck knew he shouldn’t move but fear took over He darted behind the trunk of a spruce Ears back the moose lowered her head and charged The spruce wasn’t very big and it didn’t offer much protection from the thirteen-hundred-pound wall of muscle that came straight at him Suddenly the sound of their camper’s door slamming echoed through the forest The noise startled the moose As her head turned slightly toward the sound her shoul der rammed into Buck and slammed him violently into a tree trunk Buck fell to the ground as the moose easily stomped past him crashing through the thick wall of t 3t
willows and into the pond Splashing through the water her calf followed her to the far side When they stepped into the dense forest the huge creatures instantly disap peared from sight Buck where are you Dad’s voice came loudly through the trees I’m right here Buck called back hoping his voice didn’t sound as shaky as he felt Buck got up and rotated his arm and shoulder around Nothing was broken but both were sore and he could feel where big bruises were already developing Buck took several deep breaths and strode casually up the trail toward the small remote camp ground where the Green Beast was parked Dad was walking down the trail toward him I told you not to go wandering off on your own Dad scolded him It’s not safe to be by yourself in grizzly country I had no idea where you were I didn’t go very far But look what I saw Buck pulled the camera from his pocket and showed Dad the pictures He didn’t mention the encounter with the cow moose Dad looked at the camera Those are great shots but a t 4t
moose can be just as dangerous as a grizzly Especially a mother wanting to protect her calf She could have killed you Buck knew the moose could have easily stomped him to death He also knew if he told Dad about the moose’s charge Dad might have second thoughts about their venture x Six years before Buck’s mom had died in a car crash From then on Buck had lived in Indiana with his grandparents while his dad roamed the far corners of the world filming documentaries Having a famous dad sounded exciting to all his friends but to Buck it meant weeks and sometimes months without seeing his father So when Dad showed up after shooting the last episode of a series on Ancient Egypt Buck was ready with an idea The producers loved the proposal Dad told Buck They said having a kid as the star of a wilderness show was just what they were looking for They want the first t 5t
