Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/118157
ultimately, into the head of its northern arm and the Mitchell. "Now, if a bear approaches the boat, don't panic," warns Zorn, his tone gruff. "Do as I say, and don't wave your arms around and yell." Stocky, with thick silver hair and a closecropped goatee, Zorn is nimble for a 66-yearold. He is also thoughtful and attentive – if plain-spoken – as a guide, and as tough as moosehide. Like any good Ontario-born boy, he has a shrine to the Toronto Maple Leafs back in Likely at the Pyna-tee-ah Lodge, base of operations for the Ecotours-BC guiding company he runs with wife Peggy. He also displays a larger-than-life persona, as captivating as the Cariboo Chilcotin landscape (grizzly) Dave Hutchison p18-23_Profile.indd 21 across which he has raised cattle, wrangled horses, managed guest lodges and toiled as a fly-fishing guide since starting out as a biggame outfitter in the 1980s. But eventually, he grew tired of folks who "just wanted to kill something and had no time to smell the roses." So he hung up the rifle, obtained one of the first wildlife-viewing licences issued for a provincial park and helped pioneer a tourism trend: away from hunting and fishing to wildlife viewing. And though more than 15 outfitters now guide grizzly tours in B.C., Zorn remains one of just three operating exclusively on non-coastal rivers such as the Mitchell. These days it's nothing but the click of camera shutters; he wouldn't have it any other way. Thanks to his deadpan delivery, Zorn is also a master of the tall tale, a talent seemingly bred in the bone amongst the supersized characters of the Cariboo. In 2008, Billy Connolly, the Scottish comedian and Hollywood film star host of the globe-trotting series Billy Connolly's Journey to the Edge of the World, came looking for the B.C. legend known as the "bear whisperer." (As the backstory goes, one fall while floating the Mitchell with a group of Texans, an ornery grizzly sow got too close for comfort. "She charged the boat and was 20 feet away, spittin' and gruntin'," says Zorn. "So I told everyone to sit quiet and just talked her down." By next morning, his exhilarated clients had dubbed him the "bear whisperer.") And when Connolly and his two-person camera and sound crew arrived, Zorn knew he was dealing with *Bundled pricing listed WESTWORLD >> S U M M E R 2 0 1 2 21 4/26/12 11:25:25 AM