BOISE, Idaho _ Lifelong Idaho hunter Marvin Jennings has bagged his share of black bears over the years.
The 43-year-old grew up in Boise but has lived in the mountains of Boise County for the past 20 years. He hunts big-game animals and waterfowl for food.
"I'm not a trophy hunter in any way," he said recently from the front porch of a house that he built.
A 300-pound black bear that he killed a couple of years ago helped feed his family for a year, said his wife, Jamie Jennings.
The bear that upended Marvin's life on May 28 _ creating national headlines and reigniting the debate about the use of bait in hunting _ wasn't one that he hunted for his wife and two teenage daughters. Marvin was helping Jon Pendergraft, an uncle from Washington state, kill his first bear.
"We'd been planning the trip for a year," Marvin said. "It's an experience he'd never had." And it's not one that Pendergraft will soon forget after watching a wounded bear chew on his nephew and try to shake the life out of him.
"You don't see something like this every day," said Pendergraft, a 66-year-old taxi driver from Lynnwood, north of Seattle.
Doctors harvested an artery from Marvin's right leg to save his left arm, which has significant nerve damage but is still functioning. A tooth from the bear lodged in his artery and helped stem the bleeding, possibly saving his life, he said. A nurse visits him at home each day to clean and treat the deep bite wounds on his left side and back; another nurse is doing weekly checks to make sure he's healing.
Marvin works as a general contractor. He has no idea when he'll be healed enough to get back to work, and he said he's having trouble sleeping due to nightmares. Though covered by health insurance, the medical bills are piling up. A GoFundMe account set up by fellow firefighters at the Clear Creek Volunteer Fire Department has raised $1,250.
"It's a huge tragedy to my family," said Marvin, who has received both tremendous support and scorn. During his five-day hospitalization, he got a card from someone who wrote they wished the bear had killed him.
