Bear Attack in Washington

[Washington Hunter]

Not sure what these guys were hunting, as the only hunting season going on now is for turkeys. Maybe coyotes? Or they were indians hunting elk. The article doesn't give much information.


Hunter Injured in Washington Bear Attack
FORKS, Wash. (AP) - A black bear attacked and seriously injured a hunter on a road just outside Olympic National Park late Saturday, authorities said.

A second hunter shot and killed the bear before summoning help, said Larry Evans, a shift supervisor for the Washington State Patrol's office in Bremerton.

The injured hunter, whose name wasn't released, was rushed to Forks Hospital with a compound fracture to the arm, a broken hand and several bite marks, Evans said. The victim lost a significant amount of blood, but was expected to survive, Evans said.

The bear had apparently dragged the man away from the site of the attack before it was shot, Evans said.

Troopers said they receive occasional reports of cougar attacks in the area, but bear attacks are relatively rare.

Forks is a small town near the northwest edge of Olympic National Park, one of Washington state's most popular attractions for hunters, anglers and other nature lovers.


04/23/06 02:58 © Copyright The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The

 

[sreekers]

Talk about a crappy day in the woods. Funny thing is that I am trying to kill a bear this spring.

 

[Ultrahunter]

I hunted bears all weekend and never saw one. This lucky guy had one find him!!

 

[AzSlim]

UH, did you try waterproofing your boots with bacon grease?....

 

[Whiskers]

ugh, bears one...hunters????

 

[Washington Hunter]

Saw on the news on tv last night that the hunters were professional hound hunters working for a private timber company. They didn't give any details on the attack but I'm wondering if the bear had already been wounded when that attack occured.

 

[Washington Hunter]

Another article:

FORKS, Wash. -- 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.
Bear season doesn't open until later in the year, but the man was hunting the animal under a special permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to Rainier Timber, which owns the land where the hunt was proceeding Saturday, about 6 miles east of the Olympic National Park boundary.

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."

It was not a surprise attack, he said. "They knew it was there - they'd been chasing it. ... The guy got bit but he was the one who put himself in position to get bit."


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.

Fairbanks is based in Forks, an Olympic Peninsula community on the southwest edge of Olympic National Park.

 

[carbonarcher]

Yeah, I gotta think this bear was wounded prior to the attack.

 

[Hunterman]

Unless it was like the Wildlife Officer said,,the bear just got tired of being pushed and laid the smack down on them...

9 times out of 10 a blackbear will run from humans,,,sounds like this was number 10

Hunterman(Tony)

 

[Washington Hunter]

Update:

Bear hunter recalls moment when prey became predator
By Craig Welch

Seattle Times staff reporter

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.

But authorities and fellow hunters suspect the hunting dogs just drove the bear back through dense brush toward Johnson, catching both man and bear by surprise.

"I think they kind of spooked each other," Cebe said. "I don't know if Dave tried to run or maneuver or just didn't have the opportunity. Nine times out of 10, if you see a bear, and he sees you, he's gonna go the other way. But the dogs were behind him [the bear]."

Cebe, Johnson and two others, all experienced hunters, had been hired by Rayonier Timber under a special animal-control permit to track and shoot a bear that had been damaging the company's trees.




"What usually happens is the bear quickly gets tired and climbs up a tree, and the hunter shoots it," said Georg Ziegltrum, supervisor of animal damage-control for the Washington Forest Protection Association, a timber group. "The hunters' bad luck was they encountered a fat 300-pound bear who didn't feel like climbing."

The hunters tracked the bear until about 8 p.m., with Cebe and Johnson following the dogs down logging roads in one truck, and hunter Ken Hester and his partner in another. As dark approached, Cebe set out on foot with his gun over a hill to end the chase.

Johnson stayed not far from the truck near an overgrown logging road, holding a radio but no gun.

Cebe heard rustling and Johnson's screech, but the bear already had attacked before Cebe saw and shot it. By the time Cebe reached his wounded friend, Johnson had radioed Hester for help.

"We had no idea how bad it was," said Hester, who was a quarter-mile away. "We just knew we had to get to him. He just said, 'Get me to the hospital. Get me to the hospital.' "

They helped Johnson walk to the truck and raced down the logging road toward help.

"I was trying to go fast, but I remember he kept saying, 'Don't hit the bumps, don't hit the bumps,' " Cebe said.

The men seemed shaken but not surprised by their ordeal. Johnson was groggy but recovering, they said.

"There was never a lot of fear, just respect," Hester said. "When you're hunting big game, you know there can be danger."