UPDATE...The Hunter tells his story.
GRANDE PRAIRIE — A hunter who fought off and mortally wounded a charging grizzly bear last week said he had no chance to run and was forced to defend himself.
Chris McLellan, 32, was scouting locations for bow-hunting in a farmer’s oat field 12 km south of Grovedale around 9:30 p.m. Aug. 15 when he ran into the mother grizzly with three cubs.
McLellan said the bear had been partially concealed by a knoll in the field and he didn’t see her until she stood up in front of him 60 yards away.
“I started to shake, man,” McLellan told Sun Media, as he continues to recover from his injuries at an Edmonton hospital.
“I had a camouflage mask on so I took that off so that she could see that I was a human, thinking that would scare her away. I started waving my arms and screaming and it never fazed her. She just dropped down to all fours and charged.”
There was no room for choice, said McLellan, as the distance was too short and the bear would have run him down.
“She never slowed down,” he said. “She never made a turn. She was attacking. There was no bluffing. She just stared into my eyes the whole time and you could just hear her coming, huffing and puffing across that field.”
McLellan had driven out to the field down Secondary Highway 666 before turning onto Range Road 73 and driving about four kilometres.
He had only a digital camera and a hunting knife with 12-inch blade when he encountered the bear.
McLellan switched on the camera to nightshot and hoped its flash would be enough to deter her. When the flash wouldn’t go off, he pulled out his knife.
“I put my knife above my head and waited for her to hit me,” he said. “She just mowed into me like a football check.”
The grizzly rammed into his stomach and then grabbed his left arm with her jaws. As the two went down, McLellan plunged the knife into her back between the shoulder and neck.
“I sunk it right to the end and instantly I could still see the blood spraying,” he said. “I must have hit an artery because I was covered head to toe with warmth instantly.”
The bear then bit him on his torso and his right arm but McLellan managed to stab her again twice in the neck.
The grizzly then turned and walked way, allowing McLellan to get up even though his left arm was now broken.
“I didn’t even look at her at all,” he said. “I didn’t even know I had killed it until the following day.”
McLellan then met a farmer who called 911. Grovedale Fire and Rescue transported him to hospital.
The bones in McLellan’s left forearm were broken between the wrist and elbow, and a nerve located in his elbow was nearly severed by the bear’s teeth. Although his injuries required surgery, McLellan considers himself lucky.
“I ran different scenarios over of not only how I could have ended up but what I could have done differently, that maybe would have turned out better,” he said. “I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Formerly from Parsporo, N.S., McLellan moved to the Grande Prairie area with his wife and young son Aug. 12.
McLellan, a welder by trade, was looking forward to hunting here.
“I never in my life have been able to go out prior to hunting season and scout out my area,” he said.
And he’s determined to bow hunt again, bringing his right arm back to full strength after surgeons in Edmonton operate on it.
Still, the emotional effects of the attack are just starting to sink in.
“It wasn’t like a dream because I wasn’t scared when it happened. I was just calm. It hit me maybe a couple of days later just how lucky I was and that it shouldn’t have happened that way.”
Wow! Thanks for the ping back!
kanawa,
Thanks for the ping. You said you came past some black bears in that area recently. Just curious, after your experience with the bear how do you react when seeing one in the woods now? Adreneline get to pumping? What about your dog’s reaction?
Did Buck Knives ever get back to you about your experience?
How is your dog doing? He was mauled pretty bad at the time.
Something tells me that he WILL learn to shoot that bow again.
Tough dude!
Thanks for the ping.
>>>>I had a camouflage mask on so I took that off so that she could see that I was a human, thinking that would scare her away. I started waving my arms and screaming and it never fazed her. She just dropped down to all fours and charged.” <<<<<
I wonder if he would have been better off to stay silent and attempt to back away slowly. The commotion of waving an screaming may have been more threatening. I would imagine the female grizzly who was mostly concerned with protecting her cubs.
On the other hand, not being the one staring up at a irritated grizzly, it’s easy to second guess while sitting at my computer.
wow.
#29 large juevos ping
Fortunately, he had enough good luck to allow him to limp away from a knife-fight with a griz.