Justin Lee doesn’t usually carry his 10mm Glock around his 160-acre property near Choteau, Montana. There’s not much need, the 53-year-old retired lawyers says. The only time he makes sure to bring it is when he’s going to the brushy cottonwood creek that runs through the property. That’s where he usually sees grizzly bears, though they usually run away.
But on May 21, a 300-pound grizzly didn’t run off. The younger sow wasn’t in great condition and she had her cub with her — a young bear, born that winter. And when she noticed Lee and his brother-in-law, John Long, in the cottonwoods, she got down on all fours and started trotting closer.
“I thought to myself, ‘Well, she’s gonna talk herself into a charge. When she’s gonna get close to us, then she’s gonna think she should charge,’” Lee says “That’s my thought process and that is exactly what happened. She got to 40, 30 yards away and then she charged us. And we start shooting.”
The encounter with the grizzly itself lasted a matter of seconds, and there was no time to be nervous. But Lee managed to keep his cool and react appropriately. To listen to Lee’s perspective on life-or-death decision making, the aftermath, and the federal investigation afterward, go to Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.