Brian Jones
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- Joined
- Jan 17, 1999
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This was posted by 357wheelgunner in Practical tactical:
18 year old fights bear and lives
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This is amazing, I guess it goes to show that you just have to keep fighting , no matter how bad (you think that) the odds are against you.
http://www.adn.com/front/story/484087.html
Devon Rees could have played dead. Or run. Instead, he chose to fight the bear that lunged out of the woods near his home in Eagle River on Monday morning.
And, though he ended up with a harvest of cuts and bruises, he survived.
"I definitely earned my bragging rights boxing a bear," said Rees, 18. "It got me a couple of times, and I got her a good couple of times. I wasn't going to give the bear an easy target."
Rees was walking home from a friend's house along VFW Road -- a frontage road that parallels the Glenn Highway -- at about 2 a.m. When he left the paved street for a dirt road that crosses Meadow Creek, he was less than 50 yards from his home at the edge of Chugach State Park. Midway across, he heard a splash down the embankment at the water's edge, perhaps 10 feet away. Probably just some salmon jumping, he thought.
The creek, not far from the heart of Eagle River, is a popular king salmon fishery -- for bears, said Jessy Coltrane, assistant Anchorage-area wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The culvert under the road acts as a bottleneck for the migrating fish, making for easy pickings, she said.
This late in summer, darkness envelops the woods in the early morning hours. Rees couldn't see a thing. As he continued on, a quick rustle was followed by a brief glint of hair. When the bear barrelled out and tore into him, he tore back.
"I was doing the best I could to stay up on my toes and move all around it," Rees said. "I figured my best chance was to fight the best I could, fight the hardest I could to get away."
The bear bit into his arms. Scratched his side. Dug into his thighs. Swatted his head. Rees was pumped with adrenaline, masking the pain of teeth and nails sinking into his flesh. He started yelling furiously. He threw elbows and punches into the bruin's head, kicked when he could.
As suddenly as the attack began, the bear released him. He didn't wait around. Rees began staggering up the road, shoeless and with pants shredded, calling 911 on his cell phone as he headed toward a nearby fire station. Police arriving on the scene found Rees near the Equipment Direct Rental store, but by that time, the bear was gone, police Lt. Paul Honeman said.
"I don't think the bear's any worse for it, but it was probably surprised someone was fighting back," said Honeman, who tallied the brawl as a "tie."
Medical personnel gave Rees some morphine for the pain and took him to Providence Alaska Medical Center, where he was treated for cuts, gashes and scrapes to his head, left arm and side, both thighs and waist.
He was released at about 6 a.m. Monday with his wounds still open because doctors were afraid of infection.
"I'm glad he didn't just lay there and let it eat him," said Rees' mother, Denise Jones. "I'm just glad he's OK. Just glad it's not worse than it is."
Fish and Game got on the scene at about 2:45 a.m. but was unable to find the bear, Coltrane said. The type of bear is unknown, but she suspected it was a grizzly based on its actions and because a police officer who lives nearby reported seeing a brown bear sow and cub in the area shortly before the attack.
The bear appeared to be acting defensively -- the way one would expect of a sow surprised in the dark, near a salmon stream and possibly with a cub in tow, she said.
"It's the same kind of situation that we had earlier this summer with Petra, in the sense that it's dark, a salmon creek, and it's essentially a dark trail," Coltrane said. "The same variables were there."
In late June, 15-year-old Petra Davis was severely mauled by a brown bear in Far North Bicentennial Park as she competed in a 24-hour bike race near Campbell Creek.
The attack on Rees took place near the route of a proposed trail to connect Eagle River High School with Chugach State Park. Fish and Game has opposed the trail system as planned, saying there would be few worse places to build it in the municipality, and this attack reinforces that, Coltrane said.
Recently people have reported seeing bears in the area most every night, said Rees' uncle, R.J. Jones, who lives nearby. A neighbor's chicken coup has been raided, and on Friday, Rees had another brush with bruins, when he was charged while riding his bike. He was not injured in that encounter.
"Nobody's ever gotten hurt down here before," Jones said. "We're just lucky it wasn't a little kid. We've got a lot of 5- and 7-year-old kids that live around here and somebody could have got really hurt."
There are a number of bears in the area, Coltrane said, and officials weren't sure which was responsible. They have no plans to hunt it down because it appeared to be behaving normally, she said.
Monday afternoon, police were urging residents to be alert for wildlife. Fish and Game was doing likewise, with an added recommendation against fighting grizzly bears.
"Typically if it's a defensive attack, which is in most cases with a brown bear, you've invaded their space. We recommend people to hold still because they want you to no longer be a threat," Coltrane said. "(Rees) did get off pretty lucky. The bear could have done a lot worse."
18 year old fights bear and lives
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is amazing, I guess it goes to show that you just have to keep fighting , no matter how bad (you think that) the odds are against you.
http://www.adn.com/front/story/484087.html
Devon Rees could have played dead. Or run. Instead, he chose to fight the bear that lunged out of the woods near his home in Eagle River on Monday morning.
And, though he ended up with a harvest of cuts and bruises, he survived.
"I definitely earned my bragging rights boxing a bear," said Rees, 18. "It got me a couple of times, and I got her a good couple of times. I wasn't going to give the bear an easy target."
Rees was walking home from a friend's house along VFW Road -- a frontage road that parallels the Glenn Highway -- at about 2 a.m. When he left the paved street for a dirt road that crosses Meadow Creek, he was less than 50 yards from his home at the edge of Chugach State Park. Midway across, he heard a splash down the embankment at the water's edge, perhaps 10 feet away. Probably just some salmon jumping, he thought.
The creek, not far from the heart of Eagle River, is a popular king salmon fishery -- for bears, said Jessy Coltrane, assistant Anchorage-area wildlife biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The culvert under the road acts as a bottleneck for the migrating fish, making for easy pickings, she said.
This late in summer, darkness envelops the woods in the early morning hours. Rees couldn't see a thing. As he continued on, a quick rustle was followed by a brief glint of hair. When the bear barrelled out and tore into him, he tore back.
"I was doing the best I could to stay up on my toes and move all around it," Rees said. "I figured my best chance was to fight the best I could, fight the hardest I could to get away."
The bear bit into his arms. Scratched his side. Dug into his thighs. Swatted his head. Rees was pumped with adrenaline, masking the pain of teeth and nails sinking into his flesh. He started yelling furiously. He threw elbows and punches into the bruin's head, kicked when he could.
As suddenly as the attack began, the bear released him. He didn't wait around. Rees began staggering up the road, shoeless and with pants shredded, calling 911 on his cell phone as he headed toward a nearby fire station. Police arriving on the scene found Rees near the Equipment Direct Rental store, but by that time, the bear was gone, police Lt. Paul Honeman said.
"I don't think the bear's any worse for it, but it was probably surprised someone was fighting back," said Honeman, who tallied the brawl as a "tie."
Medical personnel gave Rees some morphine for the pain and took him to Providence Alaska Medical Center, where he was treated for cuts, gashes and scrapes to his head, left arm and side, both thighs and waist.
He was released at about 6 a.m. Monday with his wounds still open because doctors were afraid of infection.
"I'm glad he didn't just lay there and let it eat him," said Rees' mother, Denise Jones. "I'm just glad he's OK. Just glad it's not worse than it is."
Fish and Game got on the scene at about 2:45 a.m. but was unable to find the bear, Coltrane said. The type of bear is unknown, but she suspected it was a grizzly based on its actions and because a police officer who lives nearby reported seeing a brown bear sow and cub in the area shortly before the attack.
The bear appeared to be acting defensively -- the way one would expect of a sow surprised in the dark, near a salmon stream and possibly with a cub in tow, she said.
"It's the same kind of situation that we had earlier this summer with Petra, in the sense that it's dark, a salmon creek, and it's essentially a dark trail," Coltrane said. "The same variables were there."
In late June, 15-year-old Petra Davis was severely mauled by a brown bear in Far North Bicentennial Park as she competed in a 24-hour bike race near Campbell Creek.
The attack on Rees took place near the route of a proposed trail to connect Eagle River High School with Chugach State Park. Fish and Game has opposed the trail system as planned, saying there would be few worse places to build it in the municipality, and this attack reinforces that, Coltrane said.
Recently people have reported seeing bears in the area most every night, said Rees' uncle, R.J. Jones, who lives nearby. A neighbor's chicken coup has been raided, and on Friday, Rees had another brush with bruins, when he was charged while riding his bike. He was not injured in that encounter.
"Nobody's ever gotten hurt down here before," Jones said. "We're just lucky it wasn't a little kid. We've got a lot of 5- and 7-year-old kids that live around here and somebody could have got really hurt."
There are a number of bears in the area, Coltrane said, and officials weren't sure which was responsible. They have no plans to hunt it down because it appeared to be behaving normally, she said.
Monday afternoon, police were urging residents to be alert for wildlife. Fish and Game was doing likewise, with an added recommendation against fighting grizzly bears.
"Typically if it's a defensive attack, which is in most cases with a brown bear, you've invaded their space. We recommend people to hold still because they want you to no longer be a threat," Coltrane said. "(Rees) did get off pretty lucky. The bear could have done a lot worse."
Damn. Thats hardcore..............Good story Brian:thumbup:
right on... good for him... that is probably the only reason why he lived..
