When 12-year-old Justin Schutter, a Seward Middle School student, headed off to school before dawn on Tuesday, everything seemed normal. But it turned into a morning he won’t soon forget.

“I walked down to the bus stop and I remember hearing twigs crunch as I was walking by.

“It was dark, really dark.

“I was closer to the bus stop than my house when I got a sense something was wrong. Then I heard her — not really growling but huffing. I sort of had the idea what it was.”

He was right. The noise came from a grizzly sow that weighed an estimated 300-400 pounds and was picking berries out of a neighbor’s mountain ash tree. Schutter had surprised the bear, who had two cubs nearby.

“I was scared. She charged me. I ran a little bit. It scratched me on my butt, though she was probably aiming a little higher.

“I was wearing my backpack, which helped. I fell down and was there for a little while. When I got up, she charged me again and tried to bite, but her tooth got stuck on the backpack, so she dragged me a foot or two.

“At first, I was really scared — probably because I didn’t know what to do. It was like a trial-and-error thing. Then I remembered to play dead, and that worked.

“They pretty powerful animals, but I swear she looked almost as scared as I was. When she first charged, the cubs ran off into the forest. And when I stayed still, she ran back into woods. I waited and waited and waited.

“Then I took a cell phone and called home and told my dad that I got attacked by a bear. He immediately hung up and came.”

Justin was only 300 feet from his home.

“I’ve never actually seen a bear attack or anything. I’ve seen a bear before, usually every year or so. A couple of years ago, a momma and two cubs would come through the yard every day to get to the river (Bear Creek).

“I feel really lucky.”

— Mike Campbell