This was the third week in September 1972, and silver salmon were running in the Situk River about eight miles east of Yakutat, Alaska ... what looked like a dusty black bear lamming into the brush.

Holding my 48-pound-pull bow at full draw until my arms shake, I wait until at last he steps clear of the brush.

The glacier bear’s habitat extends along coastal areas of Southeast Alaska, from Cross Sound to Cape St. Elias, and into parts of British Columbia and the Yukon. It is mainly found in Glacier Bay ...