Alaska Man Monday - Auroras, Bear Attacks, and Undersize Moose
redstate.com
Holy cow bear attack! This happened in SE Alaska, on Admiralty Island, home to one of the Great Land’s populations of black-tailed deer.
An Alaska woman is counting her blessings after surviving a terrifying bear attack while on a hunting trip last month in Southeast Alaska.
Forty-four-year-old Amanda Compton was hunting deer in late September with her friend, Nicholas Orr, on Admiralty Island, one of the most bear-dense areas in North America.
Admiralty Island is on my bucket list of places to visit; a friend of mine heads down that way every fall to hunt blacktails, as Amanda Compton was doing, and yes, he will affirm that this is a bear-rich environment.
The routine trip took a frightening turn when they suddenly found themselves face-to-face with a mother brown bear protecting her cub. Compton recalled the split-second moment when the bear charged from the brush, catching her completely off guard.
“From where I was, to me, it was just at 12 o’clock. A large bruin erupted from the brush and came straight at me, and there was no time to draw a gun,” Compton said.
She dropped to the ground and covered her head but the bear’s jaws clamped down on her skull. Miraculously, the attack lasted only a few seconds before the bear ran off, leaving Compton badly injured, but alive.
“It was so fast that I had to react immediately. I do remember it being on me and chewing on my head a little bit,” she said.
That’s scary. Bears are not to be trifled with, and a brownie with a cub should be given a wide berth – but sometimes things happen, no matter how careful someone is; Amanda Compton’s case sure reminds us of that. As of this writing, though, the one thing we don't yet know is how fat the bear was.
No score on this one. We can all just be glad that Amanda Compton is going to be OK.
A photo of the two hunters on Admiralty Island in late September to go deer hunting.(Nicholas Orr)
Amanda suffered a deep gash on her head and puncture wound to her hand.(Amanda Compton)
Moments after Amanda was attacked by a mama bear on Admiralty Island in late September.(Amanda Compton) |
