Trying my luck

I guess I’ve just been lucky.

For nearly half a century I’ve wandered the backcountry of Yellowstone Park without ever being mauled by a bear or gored by a bison.

I seldom followed the stay-75-feet-away-from-wild-animals rule, often wandering too close to critters that could hurt me. Especially bison. My close encounters were usually the result of laziness: I simply didn’t want to leave the trail and walk farther than planned.

In my misspent youth I actually sought out confrontations with bison. A friend and I would shoot them with a U.S. Divers fish spear after unscrewing the barbed...