Bear hunter severely mauled by grizzly
Reuters ^ | May 17, 2011 | Reporting by Yereth Rosen, Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Greg McCune

Posted on Tuesday, May 17, 2011 9:12:04 PM by decimon

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – An Alaska bear hunter who was severely mauled by a grizzly over the weekend has been flown to Seattle in critical condition, authorities said on Monday.

Nome resident Wes Perkins, 54, was listed in critical condition and in intensive care at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, a spokeswoman for the hospital said.

It was Alaska's first bear attack of 2011, officials with the state Department of Fish and Game said.

"As far as I know, this is the first significant incident of the year," said Gordy Williams, special assistant with the department.

Perkins, a former Nome fire chief, was attacked on Sunday by a large bear that he and two companions were tracking by snowmobile in a hilly area outside of Nome, the Alaska State Troopers said.

Perkins was riding in front of his companion when the bear charged him, trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters said.

The other men in the hunting party shot and killed the bear and called for help by radio, she said.

As soon as I started to read this thread I wondered if the area was out on the Seward Peninsula. Before I went up in '08 to hunt Grizzly, north of Nome, I called the local biologist to discuss his grizzlies in the area. This is what he had to say.

"I have blue collar bears! My bears are not fat and sassy salmon fed bears. My bears hunt for a living and thusly are very aggressive! They take down caribou, muskox and full grown moose for a living. Sure, they'll eat berries, veggies and the occasional fish. But their protein is red meat."

Alan

Sometimes you're the hunter . . . and sometimes you're the hunted!

quote:

Originally posted by MuskegMan:
Sometimes you're the hunter . . . and sometimes you're the hunted!

That is what keeps it Interesting!!!