Wild Bill's Bear Beast

The team firing at the Bear Beast

**Wild Bill's Bear Beast** is the eigth episode of Mountain Monsters and the fourteenth episode overall.

The team investigates reports of a huge canine like bear creature decimating the black Bear population in Raleigh county. Wild Bill's reckless determination to stop the creature only makes things worse on what may be their most dangerous hunt yet.

## Summary

The episode begins with Trapper driving his truck to Raleigh County West Virginia, accompanied by Jeff, Huckleberry, and Wild Bill. Trapper announces their quarry this time is, the Bear Beast, to which Wild Bill gives a cheer of excitement. The Bear Beast, is allegedly 1500 pounds, and has the body of a Grizzly bear, and a canine head. The Bear Beast is very personal to Wild Bill, who is a passionate bear hunter, and is furious at the creature for mutilating bears for no reason. Jeff, always the historian, says Raleigh County was established in 1850, and was named after famous explorer, Sir Walter Raleigh.

    He also mentions the Bear Beast was first sighted by loggers and seetlers. To everyone's surprise, Wild Bill says he has done some research on the Bear Beast himself, at a library no less. Wild Bill also says he's wanted to hunt the creature when he first heard of it in the eighties, when he was younger, had all his teeth, and slicked back hair. This prompts Huckleberry to ask Bill to do his Elvis impression, which he does to everyone's amusement.

The quartet meets with 3 evewitnesses at once, all who have encountered the Bear Beast. Shockingly, the witnesses say they have found 19 killed bears, which only reinforces the team's determination to catch it, because Trapper believes it may have eliminated the bear in a 3 square mile area.

    The first witness, Badger, says he had his encounter a quarter mile away when he was hunting a bear with his dogs. Suddenly, his dogs went quiet, and ran off. When he went to where he thought the dogs were, he found a mutilated black bear carcass. The second eyewitness, Pee Wee, had his sighting while Squirrel hunting with his dog, which started barking wildly. Forty yards away he saw a huge creature with the body of a bear, but with a canine head. Wild Bill says the creature Pee Wee is describing sounds like a Grizzly Bear, but that can't be as there are none in West Virginia, and because of the canine head. The last witness, Joe, says his dog ran off on him one day, and he followed it down to a creek behind his house, where he found blood and black bear fur. He finds this especially terrifying as his young boy plays down in that creek. Wild Bill and the team promise to get to the bottom of it, and stop the Bear Beast.

For the first night hunt, the team decides to search the area of Badger's sighting, which was the most recent kill. Before the investigation, Trapper briefs the team on the Bear Beast, and reminds Bill(This being his first time on a night investigation) that they are only here to investigate, not hunt. Huckleberry says they must be especially careful of the terrain, due to the roughness of the land. Soon into the night, Jeff sees a hot spot at the bottom of a tree. As the team goes to check it out, they hear the brush break in the distance. Jeff picks up a heat signature not far away, and they slowly come towards, as the storm rumbles in the sky. After getting a glimpse of the Bear Beast, Wild Bill takes off up the hill alone, determined to shoot the monster, and Huckleberry is forced to go after him. When Huckleberry catches up to Bill, the Bear Beast has vanished. Trapper is furious when Bill comes back, because not only did Bill disobey his orders not to pursue the creature, but they had a sighting and a perfect spot for the trap and now Bill has run him out of the area. They are also upset because if the Bear Beast had turned and killed Huckleberry and Bill, Trapper and Jeff would have been nearly defenseless. Bill defends his determination to shoot the Bear Beast, and Trapper tells him he might get his chance if he doesn't kick him off the team. Trapper decides to sleep on whether or not to remove Bill from the team.

The next day, Trapper drives to meet Bill in a junkyard, to discuss his future on the team. The pair talk, and Trapper tells him that he thought long and hard, and he has decided to put Bill on probation for the night hunt;he can stay on the team as long as he can control himself. Trapper knows the team needs Bill, and he is very happy to remain a member. Trapper then leaves to go talk to another witness, while Bill goes to help Willy on the trap.

Wild Bill and Willy search a salvage yard for trap material. Willy's idea is a cauldron trap, which is a long cylinder with one end boxed off, and the other with a trap door. They find enough metal for bars, and come across an old oil tank, but it is too large. Luckily, there is a smaller one in the yard so they take it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team, including Buck, meet with a hunter named Jake who found a mutilated bear carcass. Jake says he was in the woods with his dog when he came upon a mutilated black bear, which was so torn up he knew it couldn't be done by a man. Trapper asks him how big he thought the bear was, and he says it must have been around 300 to 400 hundred pounds. Buck asks if a bigger bear could have done it, but Trapper says the bear Jake described would have been too big for that to have been the case. Shockingly, Jake says he's heard of at least 20 bears being killed, and now hardly anybody walks down in the woods anymore as a result. He takes the team to where he found the body, and describes the condition in which he found it. Buck is especially surprised at this, due to his absence on the first day. Jake also says that after finding the dead bear, he put up a trailcam, and got a picture of the Bear Beast, which he shows to the team.

Now knowing the area in which the Bear Beast is roaming, Trapper decides they will put the trap on the beast's travel route, which goes right through Jake's property.

Later, Willy uses his tractor to bring the trap cylinder to the trail near Jake's sighting, where he begins to construct the trap. Wild Bill on the other hand has gone to meet the last eyewitness. Before meeting with the witness, Wild Bill, Trapper, Huckleberry,Jeff, and Buck, watch a video he caught of the Bear Beast. After seeing the video of a massive creature, slinking off behind the trees, the team meets with the man who shot, a deer hunter named Mac. Mac was out setting up cameras when he caught the video, and he says the Bear Beast is much bigger than they expect, because after he got the video, he went up to where the monster was, and found a track, which he took a picture of.

After seeing the video and the picture of the footprint, the team realizes the Bear Beast is much bigger than they thought, and start having second thoughts about going after it, but are confident the trap will work, especially Wild Bill, who is still determined to catch the monster.

Wild Bill then returns to the trap, which Willy has just finished, and tests it out. The rest of the team arrives, and Willy explains the trap for them. Trapper, has apparently brought the perfect bait; a friend of his brought him some organs from one of the massacred bears, including a bladder, full of bear urine which will attract the Bear Beast once it catches the wind. As usual, the job of baiting the trap is left to Buck, but he is happy to shake everyone's hands afterwards.

On the final night hunt, Trapper reminds the team that the first priority is to get everybody out alive, the second being to catch the Bear Beast. Trapper takes Huckleberry and Bill while Buck takes Jeff and Willy, and both teams will push the Bear Beast towards the trap. Wild Bill says in an interview it's going to take everything he has not to run off after the Bear Beast after what it's done to the bears. Shortly into the hunt, Buck's team discovers the roughness of the county's terrain, while moving through a briar patch. Trapper's team discovers sliding marks on the ground, and soon realize they're standing in the middle of a battle ground. Bill finds a set of tiny claws from a bear cub, apparently the most recent victim of the Bear Beast. Now even more determined to settle the score with the monster, the group keeps moving. Meanwhile, Buck's team comes across a tree stand which Mac may have been using, and sends Willy up top to take a look around. They then hear a noise from the forest and Willy spots movement at the top of a hill, which Jeff sees on his camera. At the top of the hill, they find a trail which they follow, intent on pushing the Bear Beast, when all of a sudden, Willy falls straight down underground, and is soon followed by Jeff. Buck radios Trapper to come help, as Jeff is now bleeding. Inside the hole Willy and Jeff find the floor is littered with animal carcasses leading them to believe what they just fell into is the Bear Beast's den. When the rest of the team arrives Willy and Jeff explain what happened, and say there are at least ten deer down there, as well as a lower hall. But Jeff, even though hurt, wants to continue the hunt, so they rush to the side-by-sides to follow the Bear Beast to the stream, where the trap is. While driving to the trap, Jeff catches the creature crossing the stream on the thermal, so they continue the hunt on foot. Trapper however, is worried they might not make it across the stream which is now swelling due to the rain. Willy and Bill cross first,

     but Willy slips and begins to be swept away by the river, when Bill comes to his rescue and drags him out. Once Willy is okay, the rest of the team take the side-by-side right through the river. With the whole team on the other side of the river, the hunt continues until they here what they think is the trap shutting. Rushing to the trap, they find it still open. Jeff scans the area and picks up the Bear Beast, which apparently doubled back and crossed the river. With the river too high to cross again, and the rain having wiped out the urine scent, it looks as if the hunt is over when they hear growls coming from the river, and Jeff sees something big coming towards them. With no alternative and the team in danger, they are forced to open fire on the creature. Certain they hit it, they move forward, and find tracks, and blood, in the direction of the river. After searching some more, they find marks on the ground where the Bear Beast fell, and more blood including some with bubbles in it, which is lung blood, meaning the monster will soon be dead, and the team doubts it even made it across the river. The team is quite happy at the Bear Beast's demise, Jeff even saying he hopes the black bears eat it's carcass. Though they didn't catch the Bear Beast, with the evidence they found, they can say he definetly existed in Raleigh County. Declaring this investigation "One for the record books" the team leaves, content with their success.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode where Wild Bill takes part in a night investigation.

* This is only episode to feature a monster that has been apparently killed by the A.I.M.S. Team.