Moose Droppings

When the Hunted Turns the Tables Originally posted 4/06

May 27, 2006 @ 10:25 pm by Moose

A friend of mine daughter AMY with the Maine Bear she took in 2003 45cal Lyman Plains Rifle 350 grain Parker Hydra-Con Mastc/longhunter book bear Photo not part of this story but a cool photo

Lately there seems to be a lot of animals attacking human and the big question is why? At this point in time there has not been any definitive determination on causes of the fatal bear mauling in Tennessee a few weeks ago. Another attack that has made some press was the hunter in Washington State that was mauled by a bear over the weekend. The information now coming out on this incident is that the hunter was hunting the bear that got him.
[quote] A man injured by a black bear had been chasing the animal on private timberland when the bear turned the tables on its pursuers, the investigating officer said Sunday. [/quote]
[quote] It appeared the hunters had been pursuing the bear for some time, said Fish and Wildlife Officer Brian Fairbanks.
“It’s like, you have the fight-or-flight response. It ran for so long, and then decided, ‘We’re not going to run any more,’” Fairbanks said.
At that point, the hunter and the bear were in heavy brush, the officer said. “He didn’t realize the bear was there, and when he got close enough the bear jumped out and grabbed him.”
[/quote]
That is a risk we take when we pursue game especially animals bigger and stronger then us.
[quote] A second hunter shot and killed the bear before summoning help.
The injured man underwent surgery Sunday on a broken arm, Fairbanks said.
“The bear had grabbed his arm and dragged him down an embankment,” he said. “It required some surgery to put him together.”
The man, whose name was not released, also suffered a broken wrist and two bite wounds on the upper thigh.
It was a legal hunt, Fairbanks said, with no violation of conditions of the permit.
[/quote]

Another report on the events…
[quote] Anton Cebe was following the hunting dogs through thick alder and fir trees when he heard a commotion and a shout — more of a growling yelp than a scream.
Seconds later, he saw the bear and fired. The animal dropped.
“I knew something had happened,” said Cebe, 24, of Cle Elum, Kittitas County. “I just didn’t know what.”
Cebe and three other hunters had spent Saturday on private land just outside Olympic National Park, trying to track a hungry black bear that had been stripping bark from valuable Douglas fir trees to reach the sugary sap on the trunk.
Now it was almost dusk. The bear was dead, and Cebe was racing back, shouting to his partner, Dave Johnson.
“I called to Dave and he just said, ‘It got me, it got me,’ ” Cebe said. “When I finally reached him, I could tell it wasn’t that bad. There wasn’t much blood. But it was startling. What do you do when your friend has bite marks on him? It was weird, man.”
The precise circumstances of the mauling Saturday evening by a 300-pound black bear were still unclear Monday. Johnson, who suffered a broken arm and wrist and bite wounds on his leg, was the only witness, and he remained hospitalized at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
[/quote]

He is certainly lucky he wasn’t more seriously hurt. I guess this will be a story that those involved will share around some camp fires in the future. I wonder if next time he’ll rush into the brush or wait to see if the dogs can tree the bear before he moves in.

My fascination with these stories I have been surfing the web looking for other resources on the subject and stumbled across Southeastern Outdoors a site that compiles records of fatal wild animal attacks in the US. Check it out some great info

http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/wildlife/fatal-wildlife-attacks.html

News Story Links

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Bear_Attack.html?source=mypi

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002951452_bear25m.html