Posted on 10/08/2008 5:49:01 AM PDT by kanawa
Walking softly in bear territory may not be a good idea, but carrying a big stick certainly is -- when you're as brave as Jim West, that is.
West was out walking alone with his dogs in the forest behind the gymkhana grounds near Green Lake early Saturday afternoon when he was attacked by a black bear.
"I was looking for moose signs because my stepson has a limited entry tag," he said in an interview shortly after the incident.
As they strolled along facing into the wind, West was calling out to his black labs, Shadow and Chopper, who were happily flushing grouse and wagging their tails.
"All of a sudden I heard a kind of a huff and a growl off to my right, and when I turned around there was a bear six feet away. I had no opportunity to hit the ground like I should, so I just started to kick it in the face. It jumped up and took a snap at my face, split my upper lip, and then I hit the ground, and it jumped on top of me, tore my scalp and bit my left arm."
At this point the dogs came back and managed to distract the bear, so it proceeded to go after them. As soon as West moved, the bear attacked him again, putting him back on the ground a second time, and cutting his right arm. Then the dogs intervened again and West heard one of them yelp.
"I just jumped up and grabbed a stick, and the bear turned around and came running right at me and I hit it once; it started to shake its head, and I just kept swinging like it was a sledgehammer and I ended up crushing it's skull."
Once the conservation officer who attended the scene had confirmed the bear was indeed dead from blows to the head, he told West that he believed no one had ever done this before.
"I don't know why, it was the easiest thing in the world to do -- when you have a choice of either living or dying. I felt that I'd been on the ground twice and, if I went down a third time, I wouldn't get up. I wasn't gonna go down, so I just starting swinging."
Once West observed blood running from the bear's nose, he knew the job was done and the bear was dead or dying, so he dropped the stick and told his dogs it was time to go. After walking at least a kilometre back to his truck with his shirt wrapped around his head to stem the bleeding, West then drove himself and his dogs to nearby Little Horse Lodge, arriving at around 2 p.m.
"Jim came in and said 'I just got attacked by a bear, so call 9-1-1,'" said Ellie Scott of Little Horse Lodge. "I helped with First Aid, and to patch him up and calm him down -- he was in shock."
Luckily, although his home is in the area, West remained rational enough to stop at the lodge, in case emergency personnel had trouble finding his place.
The conservation officers attending the scene went out immediately to search for the bear and subsequently found two cubs as well, which were put down. The conservation officers' Predator Attack Team will be investigating the incident, including a necropsy (animal autopsy) to be performed on the sow within the next couple of weeks.
Ambulance and First Responders arrived approximately half hour after the 9-1-1 call and transported West to hospital, where he received 60 stitches to his scalp, face, left arm (in three places), right arm and lip.
"I haven't been able to find any injuries on my dogs. I think one of them may have been cuffed with a paw, so I'm going to check them out again later -- right now they are pretty excited to see me," said West on Sunday, just shortly after returning home from picking up his large Labs, who were looked after by Scott and her family at the lodge while he was in hospital.
The conservation officer told him he was very lucky to have survived such an attack.
"In that sort of situation, you only one choice -- it's live or die." said West. "Most people are too scared to think about living."
West doesn't think of himself as overly tough, however, and maintains the belief that for anyone placed in that situation, "it's just a matter of whether you want to live or not."
It also doesn't hurt, though, to have strength, courage -- and carry a big stick.
"..you're not gonna kill my dog....in effect I said 'Lets go bitch'....as soon as I heard my dog yelp that was it....people should always be prepared when they go out"
Woof
Wow, I used to live 45 minutes from 100 Mile House and when I amd my family arrived to establish our homestead, there were plenty of bears who were used to walking the game trails through our property. On one occasion I was on a hike and spotted a black bear on one side of the trail and two cubs on the other. I think I was very lucky to avoid an incident. Bears + cubs = one dangerous scenario.
What’s his screen name?
Whoa! This guy makes Daniel Boone seem metro. Adrenaline can work miracles sometimes.
I’m sorry, he should not go out unarmed. A knife at least. West sounds like he caught more of a lucky break rather than an impressive encounter like you had Kanawa.
Ok enough of lecture. Great job West!
Well, if there wasn’t any fresh fruit available...
Towards the end of the video he admits the mistakes he made...walking into the wind (she couldn’t smell him or hear him) and not being prepared for an encounter.
This guy outdid Daniel Boone. He needs to carve a tree in the area:
“Jim West kilt a bar.”
“With a stick.”
Not a good way to learn a lesson; but thankfully he did.
Still, bump West!
Swing away Jim. Swing away.
Sounds like your typical freeper. I wonder what his freeper name is?
Exactly what I was thinking of. Good post, finding a graphic of the old Wild West series.
Real men hunt bear with axe handles!
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