Grizzly Bear: Bite: Leg

The jaws close over your thigh and the femur cracks like green hickory, you hear it before you feel it. The bear drags you a dozen yards through the deadfall before gunfire drives it off, and hot blood pools under the leg where a tooth found the big vessel.

• The leg lies wrong below the hip; you cannot stand, only be carried
• White-lipped and shaking from blood loss, keep a belt cinched high on the thigh until a doctor takes over
• Strapped into a traction rig once the doctor sets it: flat on your back for 7 days
• /me lies grey and still, trouser soaked black, the thigh swollen tight against the seam

Recovery 7 days in traction under a doctor's eye before crutches are even spoken of; untreated the bone knits crooked, if it knits at all·Doctor, urgently

The bite clamps and something in the thigh gives with a wet click, not broke clean through, but cracked. Every step after is a knife driven fresh, and the punctures around it weep steady until the doctor packs them with carbolic lint.

• No weight on the leg for 7 days, a crutch or a friendly shoulder everywhere you go
• Four deep punctures ringing the thigh, wicked open daily to drain
• Splinted hip to knee; sitting a horse is out until the splint comes off

Recovery 7 days splinted with a doctor watching the crack, then careful days on a cane; toughing it out risks the crack going clean through·Doctor, urgently

The teeth meet through the meat of your calf and the shake tears the muscle half off the bone. When it drops you, the leg folds, there is a hole on each side big enough for a thumb, and both of them are pumping.

• Calf sewn in two layers with silk; leg stays propped and still for 4 days
• Walk only with a stick, and not far, the stitches pull at every stride for 7 days
• Twin puncture scars, inside and out of the calf, that you will show in bars for years

Recovery 4 days off the leg with a doctor's stitching, 7 hobbling if you tough it out·Doctor required

It takes you below the knee and drags, your body one way, the joint another. Something inside the knee tears with a sound like wet rope parting, and the punctures above the boot are the least of your troubles.

• Knee swells to twice its size by nightfall; splinted straight for 5 days
• Punctures around the joint washed with whiskey and left open to weep
• No mounting from the left, no kneeling, no running for 7 days

Recovery 5 days splinted and propped with a doctor's care, a full week and a bad limp if you walk on it·Doctor required

Four teeth sink to the thighbone and stop, no crack, but the punctures are deep as a finger and close over dirty. The doctor runs carbolic-soaked lint down each hole and you learn some new words while he does it.

• Punctures kept open with lint wicks, dressed twice a day for 4 days
• Thigh too stiff to sit a trot; walk the horse or take the wagon for 3 days
• Fever watch each evening, hot, angry skin around the holes means ride for the doctor

Recovery 4 days of daily dressing under a doctor, 7 of fever-watching if you do your own nursing·Doctor required

The teeth punch through the calf muscle clean and the shake opens the holes wide. You do not know how bad until you pull the boot and it pours, the doctor counts five punctures and stitches the two worst by lamplight.

• Calf bandaged tight; boot goes on loose-laced or not at all for 3 days
• A limp that everyone in town notices for 4 days
• /me pours a thin red stream from the upturned boot and goes a shade paler

Recovery 3 days rest with sutures and carbolic, 6 if the holes are left to close on their own·Doctor required

The bite itself seemed a small enough price, until the second morning, when the holes in your calf turn hot, tight and shiny, weeping something that is not blood. The doctor lances them open again and packs them with carbolic gauze, muttering about bears' mouths.

• Wound fever: sweats, no appetite, and a red flush creeping from the punctures for 2 days
• Leg propped and dressed twice daily for 4 days; whiskey is medicine now, not pleasure
• Every itch near the wound sets you checking for the red streaks that mean gangrene

Recovery 4 days once the doctor reopens and drains it; untreated, a week of fever and a gamble no sane man takes·Doctor required

The teeth barely hold but the drag is the thing, thirty feet on your back through rock and greasewood before your trouser leg tears free of its jaws. The punctures are shallow; the scouring from hip to ankle is not.

• Left leg skinned raw in patches; picking gravel and thorn out takes an evening
• Shallow punctures washed with carbolic and bandaged for 3 days
• Sleeping on one side only for 3 days; the raw patches stick to everything

Recovery 3 days of clean dressings, 5 of oozing and sticking to your bedroll without them·Doctor required

The jaws close but the angle is wrong for the bear and right for you, deep crush-bruising through the thigh, two shallow punctures, and a leg that argues about carrying you. A stick cut from the nearest cottonwood becomes your third leg.

• Cane or stick for 3 days; stairs and stirrups negotiated slowly
• A bruise from knee to hip that goes through every color in the paintbox
• /me leans on a fresh-cut stick, favoring the leg with every second step

Recovery 3 days with liniment and rest, 5 of limping if you insist on working·Doctor advised

It mouths your thigh and lets go, a neat curved row of shallow punctures top and bottom, like a brand made of holes. They bleed honest, wash clean with whiskey, and hurt precisely as much as they look like they should.

• An arc of puncture marks that will scar into a story you can show
• Thigh stiff for 3 days; no crouching or hauling at a run
• Dressings changed daily for 3 days, bear mouths are filthy, so watch for heat

Recovery 3 days bandaged with a doctor's look-over, 5 careful ones without·Doctor advised

The bite grazes but the twist as you tear loose does the damage, by supper the knee is a hot melon that does not want to bend. Cold creek water and a tight wrap are the whole of the medicine.

• Knee wrapped and stiff for 3 days; mounting a horse is a two-man comedy
• Faint tooth scrapes above the knee, scabbing thin
• No kneeling or squatting for 4 days

Recovery 3 days wrapped and creek-soaked, 5 if you keep climbing in and out of the saddle·Doctor advised

The jaws squeeze more than they cut, you keep the skin mostly whole and lose the argument underneath. By morning the calf is one purple-black bruise from knee to ankle, hard to the touch and mean about it.

• Calf bruised solid; boot laced loose for 3 days
• Walking fine, running out of the question for 3 days
• /me rolls the trouser cuff to show off a calf gone the color of storm clouds

Recovery 3 days of liniment and easy walking, 5 if you run on it·Doctor advised

The teeth get trouser and a mouthful of boot-top, but the yank rolls your ankle under you as you are pulled off your feet. The scrapes are nothing; the ankle swells enough to make the boot a project.

• Ankle wrapped snug for 3 days; flat ground only, no scree or ladders
• Shallow scrapes along the shin, scabbed by morning
• A hitch in your walk at the end of long days, for 3 days

Recovery 2 days wrapped and propped, 4 if you keep long hours on it·Doctor advised

Trouser wool and quick reflexes take most of it, four shallow punctures in the meat of the calf, none deeper than a fingernail. Whiskey on the holes hurts worse than the bear did.

• Small scabbed punctures, tender inside the boot for 2 days
• Keep them washed daily for 2 days; bear spit is nothing to trust

Recovery 2 days of clean bandages, 3 without·No doctor needed

It nips, you kick, it decides you are more trouble than a marmot. A bruised calf and a scrape carry you back to camp at half speed, cursing the whole way and grateful for the privilege.

• A noticeable limp until tomorrow evening
• A palm-sized bruise and one shallow scrape on the calf

Recovery A day or two of stiffness; nothing a night's rest and liniment won't square·No doctor needed

A single tooth catches the calf above the boot-top as you wrench free, one puncture, honest but shallow, already clotting by the time your heart slows down.

• One small puncture, washed with whiskey and bandaged for 2 days
• A stiff calf first thing in the mornings for 2 days

Recovery 2 days with a clean bandage, 3 if you neglect it·No doctor needed

The jaws bruise more than break, you walk away with tooth-shaped welts and a leg that seizes up overnight. The first ten steps each morning are the worst thing about it.

• A ring of tooth-shaped welts, no broken skin worth the name
• Leg stiff each morning for 2 days, working loose by noon

Recovery 2 days of walking it loose; nothing to treat but pride·No doctor needed

The jaws close on boot leather and stay there, you feel the squeeze, hear the stitching pop, and pull your foot free of a boot the bear seems happy to keep. Your foot shows tooth-shaped bruises and not one drop of blood.

• A bruised foot, tender in the stirrup until tomorrow
• One boot dead on the field, the mismatched pair tells the story
• /me stamps around camp in one boot, describing the bear a foot bigger each telling

Recovery A day of tender walking, then only the bootmaker's bill·No doctor needed

Teeth clash shut a half-inch short, the bear comes away with a mouthful of trouser wool and a boot heel, and you come away with a scratch you find only when you undress. Closest shave you never felt.

• One thin scratch on the calf, scabbed by morning
• Trousers ruined below the knee, the tailor will hear the whole tale

Recovery The scratch is gone in a day; the trousers are past all medicine·No doctor needed

The jaws clamp the boot and you do the only smart thing left, pull. Your stockinged foot slides free as the bear sets to killing your footwear, and you go up the rockslide barefoot and flying while it worries the leather like a dog with a ham bone. Not a mark on you, and the story is already growing.

• Not a scratch, though your sock has seen the end of days
• Barefoot on one side until you reach your spares
• /me holds up the surviving boot like a trophy and begins the tale again from the top

Recovery Nothing to heal; buy boots, buy a round, tell it twice·No doctor needed