An unidentified couple bear hunting in Colorado had a frightening moment last week when a black bear that had been shot by the woman wound up biting the man.
The man and woman were hunting near Pagosa Springs in the southern part of the state east of Durango when the incident occurred, The Durango Herald reported Thursday.
The woman shot the bear, prompting it to run off. After more than an hour, the hunters began to follow the bear’s trail marked by downed trees and blood.
“The man stepped over a log, and the bear was laying there, still alive, and lunged and latched onto his hand,” Matt Thorpe, wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, told The Durango Herald. “As he was trying to get away from the bear, it then bit his leg.”
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The woman, trailing behind, shot and killed the bear upon arriving on the scene.
The couple drove to a hospital in Pagosa Springs where the man was treated for his injuries and released. They then reported the incident to the authorities.
“All hunters want a clean, one-shot kill, but sometimes they don’t hit as well as they want,” Thorpe told The Durango Herald. “It was an ethical, legal hunting situation that didn’t go the way they planned. But everything they did subsequently was everything we would have asked for.”
The bear, a male about 3 years old and 125 pounds, tested negative for any diseases. It was then returned to the hunters.
Generic photo of black bear courtesy of the National Park Service.
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