Family tells story of bear mauling; area reopens to public

With his ears ringing, thoughts blurring and blood dripping from where a grizzly bear had slashed open his scalp, a Whitefish man on Oct. 16 harnessed the mental tenacity to draw a canister of bear spray from his pocket and save his life.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks reported the attack near the Haskill Basin area, about 3.5 miles northeast of Whitefish. The man, his grown daughter and their dogs reportedly surprised a female adult grizzly and her two cubs feeding on a deer carcass about 35 yards off the forest access road.

The man is home with his family now and slowly recovering from the encounter. His wife spoke with the Daily Inter Lake about the event on behalf of her husband, but wished to remain anonymous to avoid a mass of attention as he continues to heal with injuries to the wrist, shoulder and about 50 stitches in his head.

“He’s got quite a number of stitches reattaching his scalp,” she said. “He had puncture wounds on his back shoulder and he also had some kind of bite damage to his wrist. He also had claw scratches on his legs, but they weren’t anything more severe than if he brushed his leg by a rose bush.”

The man and his daughter believe the incident lasted about one minute, but details of the attack remain blurred. Both said that fear never crept into their minds.

“Your perception of time in that kind of situation is really crazy,” the man’s wife said. “Everything happened just so incredibly fast. But neither of them has any memory of feeling fear. They were both concerned with what had to be done.”

The area where the bear attacked is dense with brush. The man and his daughter apparently couldn’t see the three bears tearing into a deer carcass less than 50 yards away, and didn’t hear anything until the animal erupted from the thicket.

The man’s wife said the initial report released by wildlife officials deviated some from her family’s recollection. She said the bear burst from the brush and immediately knocked her daughter to the ground. The FWP report said the bear ran past the daughter straight to the man.

“This is like a jack-in-the-box kind of event,” she said. “You’re walking along and you’re perfectly happy and then bam, all hell breaks loose.”

The man was a few feet behind his daughter, and reacting by instinct, he knew he had to deter the attack.

“They always tell you to lay down and play dead,” she said. “But his thought was ‘I have bear spray, that’s what this is for.’”

One sharp memory both her husband and daughter recalled from the event was that the daughter wasn’t able to reach her spray in its holster. The man’s spray, however, wasn’t holstered but tucked in his pants pocket where he was able to grab it immediately.

“The three of us wouldn’t use bear spray in a holster again,” she said. “We really can’t stress enough how you need to grab that spray in a second.”

She said her husband’s first shot with the spray didn’t land directly on the bear’s face, causing the animal to turn its attention toward him. This is when she said her husband’s memory becomes less distinct, while the daughter simply remembers the bear wasn’t on top of her anymore.

The man believes his injuries all happened in one flurry. The bear backed off momentarily before it struck again, when he nailed the bear’s face with spray from about a foot away causing the griz to retreat back into the woods.

The man’s wife said her husband held his composure throughout the incident and immediately began collecting his thoughts to make the 1-mile walk home.

“They didn’t even know how to explain to a rescue person where they were,” the wife said. “I know my daughter was concerned about him passing out.”

Bloody and battered, the man walked with his daughter and their dogs back to their home north of Whitefish and called for help. The man’s wife called a neighbor, Ed Meek, for help while they waited for emergency responders.

“He was fully conscious,” Meek told the Inter Lake. “He wasn’t in shock in any way; he was lucid and conscious. We had a conversation while he was holding what appeared to be his pocket handkerchief on top of his head… He was in remarkably good shape for what he had been through.”

Meek said there was nothing he could do for the man until the ambulance arrived.

Meek made note that other neighborhood residents also carry bear spray when walking their dogs around the area.

“You’re asking for it otherwise,” Meek said. “Without bear spray, there’s a pretty good chance he wouldn’t be here today.”

When the ambulance arrived, Meek said he stuck his head inside and wished his friend well before they drove to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Having had some time to reflect on the terrifying event, the victim’s wife said that despite how people may feel about potential bear attacks, the reality is that few people will react how they expect. She said her husband is adamant that having a firearm during the attack could have produced more damage than the bear alone, possibly landing a bullet in his daughter or one of their dogs. Bear spray will continue to be their defense of choice, she said.

“I think they both want some sort of 50-gallon [bear spray] to pack in the future,” she said half-jokingly.

“I don’t think you can be prepared for something like this or have any expectations of how you will react,” she said. “We’re all losing sleep every night about it. It will take a while for us to kind of process the whole thing. I think we’re all pretty shaken and really want time to have to ourselves to figure it out.”

The area that was closed has since reopened.

There were no images on the FWP cameras placed at the scene the morning following the attack, but the cameras did capture images of a family group of three grizzly bears at the site two days after the attack. These bears are believed to be a different family group than the one involved in the attack. The bears involved in the attack are believed to be a sow with cubs of the year. The bears on the camera are believed to be a sow with yearlings.

FWP plans no further action concerning the bears, but notes people should take caution while hiking in the area and should carry bear spray.