An elk hunter who headed into the B.C. wilderness with his teenage sons over the weekend was forced to fight for his life after a mother grizzly bear attacked.
Jake Blackmore says he was in an area near Fernie on Saturday with his sons when, out of nowhere, the bear charged.
“She football-tackled into the side of me and carried me forward about 30 feet,” Blackmore told CTV Vancouver. “I was like a rag doll.”
The sudden attack left Blackmore stunned. The bear sank its teeth into Blackmore’s leg and just barely missed an artery.
“I could see my blood on her teeth,” he said.
The bear dragged Blackmore away from his children, but eventually released him and turned back to where her cub was standing.
That’s when Blackmore decided to fight back.
“I tried to shoot into her open mouth and I grazed the side of her face, which then spun her sideways,” he recalled.
Chris Doyle, deputy chief of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said the mother’s proximity to her cub likely prompted the violent response.
“Investigating officers determined that attack to be defensive in nature in that the sow was protecting a food source and a cub,” Doyle said.
Attacks by grizzly bears are considered rare in B.C., as bears generally avoid contact with people. However, when a bear is too familiar with people or feels threatened, they have been known to lash out. Grizzly bears have sharp claws and are capable of sprints at 55 kilometres per hour.
Blackmore and his boys were able to make their escape after the bear turned around. His 16-year-old son, Jeron, called for help, and Blackmore was treated in hospital.
Twenty-eight stitches later, Blackmore says he has a new appreciation for the strength of grizzlies.
“I just have a whole new respect and appreciation for their speed, their stealth, their power,” he said.
With files from CTV Vancouver
