This last Christmas I stopped at a tree farm in Olympia to buy a tree and I asked the owner if he had much deer or bear damage. He mentioned how he "gave" a tree or two to the deer but never had a bear on his farm.
I mentioned how much damage they could do and he says to me, "Ya know, Flowers wrote the definitive book on bears and tree damage".
I about fell over. I told him I was very aware of Ralph Flowers, his books and his contributions to the study of bears.
I happened to mention that I also wished I had been able to meet Bill Hulet (another paid bear hunter). He tells me how his wife would not let Hulet in the house because he always smelled like bear and how Hulet used to come into the sporting goods store and mention loudly (and joking) how he had just "visited" the store owners wife. lol
