By Katie Mercer, Vancouver ProvinceOctober 16, 2009
VANCOUVER — It’s every hunter’s worst nightmare.
You’ve nestled into your tent for the night when you’re awakened by the sound of a bear charging.
Within seconds it’s on you, teeth sinking into flesh as you fight for your life.
“I went into survival mode as she batted me around, biting me,” Ken Scown, 36, said Saturday. “I was kind of waiting for the bite to the head and neck and it would all be over.”
Scown and his pal Jeff Herbert were three days into an 11-day hunting trip near Canal Flats in the East Kootenays region of B.C. when a grizzly attacked them Wednesday night.
The bear — believed to be a sow — charged the tent as the experienced hunters from Nelson, B.C., scrambled to sit up.
Within seconds it was on top of Scown as Herbert struggled to get a round into his rifle.
The grizzly was “thrashing wildly” as Herbert tried to shove it off his pal to clear a shot. He pulled the trigger only to hear a click — the shell wasn’t properly in the chamber.
“I was screaming so hard and yelling at Jeff to shoot the bear, shoot it,” Scown recalled. “I couldn’t hear much else other than my heartbeat pounding through my chest.”
The bear tore through the tent before Hebert managed to get free and chase it away.
The men were able to untangle themselves from the shredded tent, staining the snow-strewn ground red as blood dripped from their wounds.
As Scown, still disoriented and in shock, stood guard, Herbert built a campfire and packed up what little was left of their belongings.
The men hiked nearly five kilometres back to their trucks, where they could see bear tracks that indicated two animals had been following them that day.
“It was totally a predatory attack and not a defensive attack because there was no threat,” Herbert said. “Unfortunately we were on the menu that night.”
Herbert said the attack is especially odd because of an inversion wind that day, which would have sent their scents in the opposite direction of the bears.
“It wasn’t like we were rolling around in bacon grease. There were no food odours,” he added.
The men were treated in Cranbrook hospital for wounds to their forearms and a nasty bite to Scown’s leg.
Both men said the attack will have them thinking twice before going on overnight hunts alone.
“It’s very rare to get attacked by a grizzly bear in your tent,” Herbert said.
“It was my worst nightmare come true . . . From now on I’ll be sleeping with the gun loaded in the tent.”
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Grizzly+mauls+hunters+asleep+tent/2116061/story.html
(Submitted by Kelly McGillis)
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Definitely good news.
ReplyDeleteOne can well believe that there were karmic influences at work here. Two bad people who had caused harm to innocent creatures in the past and were planning to cause more harm to other innocent creatures in the future got their comeuppance and paid at least part of their karmic debt.
Serves him right! Shame the bear didn't finish him off. He should think of how scared and how much pain he felt and then he might realise how the poor bears he has hunted and killed felt. I'm shocked that he is going to continue to hunt. Maybe next time he won't be so lucky. One can only hope....
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