In the battle of hunter vs grizzly bear, the bear often wins. However, one hunter managed to beat the odds and survive his encounter with an angry grizzly.
According to MeatEater, the hunter was with his father in British Columbia. The duo were in the woods hunting black bears on May 16th. That's when the hunter came across a different kind of bear. The incident happened near the Alberta border. He was "attacked suddenly by an adult grizzly bear."
The grizzly tore into the hunter, who suffered both broken bones and lacerations during the harrowing brawl. However, despite his disadvantage, the hunter managed to fight off the animal. He ended up shooting it with a firearm causing it to flee. However, the hunter was seriously injured. His father called emergency responders, requiring a rescue helicopter, and a long trip to Calgary Foothills Hospital. Currently, I don't know how he's doing, but officials said he was stable.
Hunter Kills Grizzly
"Elk Valley Regional RCMP wish to express their appreciation for the hard-working people and volunteers who responded and worked together to bring the injured man down the mountain," the RCMP said in a press release. After the attack, B.C. Conservation Officers searched the area trying to locate the bear. Eventually, they came across the bear's corpse after searching. It turns out the hunter managed to kill the grizzly with his firearm.
"Officers are confident that they located the bear involved in the attack. The bear succumbed to its wounds," they said. Besides that, officials haven't revealed the exact details of the attack. For instance, what caliber did the hunter use? More importantly, what prompted the grizzly to attack him? These are all unanswered questions.
It's possible the presence of dogs may have spooked the creature. The hunters were using dogs, which is legal, to hunt black bears. They also appeared to be properly licensed. Currently, it is illegal to hunt grizzlies for non-First Nations hunters. However some want that changed. "Before licensed and regulated hunting of grizzly bears was closed across B.C. in 2017, it is possible that it was a threat to grizzly bears in some areas," the framework reported. "But given the conservative rates of harvest, that risk was very low."
