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Larry Yepez; Marine Vietnam vet fights off bear with his bare hands

by Jonn Lilyea••37

Larry Yepez

CNN reports that Vietnam Veteran, Larry Yepez, was attacked by a bear, despite the fact that he told the bear to leave.

Larry Yepez, 66, is now speaking out about the terrifying ordeal fighting off a bear outside his Mariposa County home.

“I could feel his strength. I felt like a little rag doll underneath him,” Yepez said. “I could hear the crunching like ‘crr’–like that when he bit down on it. See, and that’s why I was trying to hit him again to try and get him off me.”

Yepez was in shock when he came face-to-face with the 250-pound bear. But when he realized it was fight or die, adrenaline kicked in.

Yeah, 250-pounds sounds a little light for a bear this time of year, but I’m sure Larry didn’t take the time to weigh him properly.

Larry says that he kicked the bear off of him and his dog distracted the animal long enough for both of them to escape to the safety of his house. Then Larry drove himself to the hospital drenched in his own blood.

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37 thoughts on “Larry Yepez; Marine Vietnam vet fights off bear with his bare hands”

  1. Are you sure he didn’t bring a knife to a sword fight?

    Now awaiting the story about he is too young to be in Vietnam, wears medals to honor someone and is a dancing fool.

    I am too cynical these days.

    1. Clams, age isn’t an issue with this one.

      If he’s 66 today he was born in either 1948 or 1949 (depending on precisely which day of the year he was born). Being born either year makes him old enough to have been in Vietnam in 1968 – for Tet.

      Kudos to the man for managing to survive.

        1. Yeah, me too. Why do you think I back-figured the dates to see if his serving in Vietnam was feasible? (smile)

          1. I echo you on the cynicism clams and Hondo. I can’t elaborate on details as it’s late and I’m exhausted, but an example of my own neurotic and eager to proof behavior, when I ever mention my current military service, I immediately bust out the bi-fold wallet in my back pocket and do a 80’s Cop movie esque flash of the badge to display my CAC card. Never mind, as I like to say, “the buzz cut and the digital watch” (not to mention the vast array of extremely-complimenting-to-my physique tan t-shirts), APEL eye pro (the sunglasses, at least) and usually rotating an assortment of tan, suede boots I’m always wearing.

            It’s just that reading this site has done so much to contribute to a sort of, “lemme see some proof” of any claims I hear regarding someone else’s military service.

      2. I hope he turns out to be a real Vietnam Vet, I’ve gotten very jaded from posers as well.

        1. He was with the 2d BN, 9th Marines in VN in 1967. PFC. May have been wounded. He is listed among the members of that unit’s Hotel Co. He is 100% legit from everything I saw. I suspected as much from his quite credible account of his bear account. No brave bullshit. Got the hell away thanks to a distraction.

  2. If the bear had been of the 400 lb – 1000 lb variety, you’d be reading Yepez’ obituary. You still might have; a bear that weighed 157 lbs (hanging weight, he was caught) killed a woman a few years ago. You have to remember that wild predators have teeth and claws — as well as an appetite. Weight alone means nothing.

  4. Well, I can only say that he’s lucky to be alive because this time of year, bears are looking to bulk up their fat pantries.

    I don’t think the wildfires are helping at all, taking food away from the bears. I hope his dog is okay.

    1. Why did you have to put this up?!?!? I am sitting at my desk laughing like an idiot. People around here already think I’m nuts!

      But thanks, that was funny.

    3. OMG… I just picked myself up off the floor! That video has made my day. Thanks for the ROTFL humor!

      1. Funniest ad I can recall seeing. “Oh look! An eagle.” Whomp. Right in the bear’s nuts.

  6. Well, sure, but I think the important question is: is he only three? Otherwise he will never become king of the wild frontier.

    (No seriously mad respect to him. Also I think that the presence of the dog helped a lot-bears do not like dogs)

  7. No matter what branch he served in, thank God for his will to live. The third video must have been a primer for MMA moving toward NWA entertainment. Stupid bear fell for the old “Look over there” trick, then gets kicked in the jewels. The WWA crowd would have been drooling over that episode, begging for the guy’s autograph. Surprise me the PITA group did not have a hissy fit over such violence toward bears. Put a cape on the former Marine, have him fight fake bears on WWA television and he can turn this painful time into a real money maker. I can just see it now: Indian Larry VS. Smokey the Bear in a WWA champeenship bout! Ring side tickets on sale today. Winner takes all, no rules. Parasite promoters would line up for this bout.

  8. It looks like he got off lightly. A couple of years ago we had an old boy who was jumped by a Couger. He killed the big cat with a pocket knife, but he looked like he ad tried to follow a fart thru a nail keg.

    1. “looked like he tried to follow a fart through a nail keg”

      I don’t even really know what the hell that means but I am damned sure stealing it.

    2. I’m stealing that, too, Roger. That’s as funny as watching a horse bite a live electric fence wire.

  9. IIRC a while back there was some guy who looked to be a real poser claiming he punched a bear in the nose to save his puppy.
    This guy seems to have been scared shitless, so hes a bot more believable.

    1. Yep, that was “ex-first recon Marine” Carl Moore.

      His story was posted here on 29 April.

  10. Somebody needs to explain this to those of us on the short bus:

    “Wildlife officials say they are trying to locate the bear. When it’s found, it will be euthanized. They’ve collected DNA samples from the victim to be able to identify the bear when found.”

    So… Ranger Bob and his pals are going to go around the neighborhood and ask all the bears for swabs until they find the one who got in a fight with Yepez?

    What likely happened is that the bear was trying to turn his life around by going through Yepez’s garbage and freaked out when Yepez came out the door with his dog to see what was going on. Fight or flight, it’s common for a big carnivore to get in somebody’s face if threatened when a deer would just run. Raccoons, on the other hand, seem to have their own category which is to waddle off casually while giving you the finger.

    1. Wildlife officials? If they catch the bear, will they read him his rights?

      This is the time of year they really start getting hungry and there’s still plenty of food around, UNLESS there’s a fire that destroys it. Bears are omnivores. They eat a lot of grass and flowering plants, but they will raid your trash and steal the bird right out from under the birds in the feeder. So many people leave their trash out for pickup around here, I’m surprised we haven’t seen the black bears yet… but we will, because like leopards in South Africa, they will eat your dogs, cats and edible garbage.

      Anyway, good for Mr. Yepez. Glad he survived this encounter.

  11. Kinda wondered if anyone else might see it this way. Charming how Ranger Bob intends to track down the culprit. Sure, we all know bears don’t lie. All he has to do is ask in the bear community and find one bear snitch. Even Smokey has been known to tell a whopper. If I were part of that bear clan, I’d blame it on a rabid wolf. You know bears are like politicians, always lying. This bear’s name could be Hillary for all we know.
    I’m happy the guy beat the shit out of the bear. Guess if it was a black bear, it will be calling the guy a racist. The NAACB will get involved next. Then comes Smokey Sharpton and his goons. Then the whole damned woods will be set afire and robbed of tree stands and any tents set up in the vicinity. Finally, Smokey will say the guy beat him up when he was simply trying to get a bite to eat for survival. Big financial mess for the Forrest Service facing law suits. And yes, OBOZO will say if he had a son, it would look like Smokey.

    1. If he isn’t smarter than the average bear, it is because the intelligence test for bears is culturely biased against black bears.

      1. Am I reading in between your lines that the test scores should be lowered for all bears in general to make it fair? What’s next; marching in protest to complain about the black bears growing up without a Pappa Bear around? Keep this up and the black bears will start demanding Pell Grants. You know there’s a lot of learnin’ to experience in the forest. Finally, the greatest cut of all, they start demanding reparations because all the black bears were shipped into this country and forced to set up social circles within the forest. Poor things, they had to live in Section 8 forest housing among the trees and branches. Their biggest activity is crawling down the trees on the first of the month and wandering into the Post Office for their monthly checks.

      1. Remember Smokey on television speaking of none other than Goldilocks? “I told you before, I might have wrestled with that girl a time or two, but I NEVER had sexual relations with that girl!” Wasn’t long after that the damned bear insisted someone explain what the word “is” is.

    3. Next we’ll hear (c)rappers bawling about how “whitey be keepin’ da’ bears down”!

      1. Right! It will go, “WT done keep all de good jobs for him. Now the Mexican bears get the rest. We gonna march and destroy along the way until we ain’t got to be dissed. Wait til som of de visitors drive thru the forest and we gonna jump up & down on theys cars like a bunch of jungle chimps from Africa. Give me some matches, we gonna burn dis place down! We’s tired of being bear slaves.”

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