Hunter recalls run-in with grizzly bear in Idaho

A hunter who was bitten by a grizzly bear after surprising the animal in eastern Idaho says the attack happened in seconds. Gary Detwiler, a 67-year-old archer from Midland, Mich., told the Post Register he was helping his hunting partner retrieve a bull elk carcass Friday when they encountered the bear, which may have already claimed the carcass. James Kindy had shot the six-point elk the previous evening, and decided to track the animal the next day because it was getting dark, Detwiler said. The men located a blood trail on Friday and started following it, walking into a grove of small pine trees no more than 300 yards away. "We basically heard branches breaking," Detwiler said. "I thought it was the elk ... but then a bear jumped out." Detwiler said the bear was 10 to 12 feet away when it broke from cover, bit him on the bicep and then returned to the trees. The animal didn't give him time to react, he said. "It wouldn't have mattered if I had pepper spray, a pistol or a shotgun," Detwiler said. "There was nothing I could have done in the second it took for the bear to bite me. Absolutely nothing."...more