Here is a story about me and a black bear.

     I work for Boise Fire Department and about 17 years ago I was sitting in my lounge chair watching TV, waiting for the big alarm to come in when the bells rang. I was the tiller-man on our Truck 1 and we were called to assist BPD and the Idaho Fish and Game. That by itself is a strange way to start a call.  Well, as it turned out they had a small black bear treed in a back yard. When we arrived on scene, we were asked what we could do. I said,  "why don't we just send someone up to get it?" Well they liked the idea and my captain volunteered me for the job. We set up the truck, and I climbed into the bucket. The Game officer handed me the wild animal noose and ran. I started toward the bear with the bucket and he became increasingly agitated. As I got closer,  I could see he was a little more than a cub. He actually weighed 99 lbs. I decided the noose was not going to work and decided the best to grab him was with a Bear Hug. When I first reached for him he basically told me in his own way that he did not agree. I asked the game officer if he could tag him with a tranquilizer? He said he could, and he did. After just a couple more minutes, I swung the bucket in and gave him a big Bear Hug and pulled him from the tree. He was too loose to pull into the bucket so I held him till we got to the ground and then he was taken back into the hills outside of Boise and released. This was my only National claim to fame as my picture made National news.