Chase ends when bear mauls pursuing hunter

FORKS, Wash. – A man injured by a black bear had been chasing the animal on private timberland when the bear turned the tables on its pursuers, the investigating officer said Sunday.

Bear season doesn’t open until later in the year, but the man was hunting the animal under a special permit issued by the state Fish and Wildlife Department to Rayonier Inc., which owns the land where the hunt was proceeding Saturday, about six miles west of the Olympic National Park boundary.

It appeared the hunters had been pursuing the bear for some time, said Fish and Wildlife Officer Brian Fairbanks.

“It’s like, you have the fight-or-flight response. It ran for so long, and then decided, ‘We’re not going to run any more,’ ” Fairbanks said.

At that point, the hunter and the bear were in heavy brush, the officer said. “He didn’t realize the bear was there, and when he got close enough the bear jumped out and grabbed him.”

It was not a surprise attack, he said. “They knew it was there – they’d been chasing it. … The guy got bit, but he was the one who put himself in position to get bit.”

A second hunter shot and killed the bear before summoning help.

The injured man underwent surgery Sunday on a broken arm, Fairbanks said.

“The bear had grabbed his arm and dragged him down an embankment,” he said. The man, whose name was not released, also suffered a broken wrist and two bite wounds on the upper thigh.

It was a legal hunt, Fairbanks said, with no violation of conditions of the permit.