I still do not get the thrill of big game hunters, but a case in North Carolina shows that even the most one-sided hunts can take a bizarre twist.
Two hunters used dogs to force a black bear into a tree so they could stand below and shoot it. The bear tumbled out of the tree but was still alive and chased one hunter off a small cliff in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The hunter suffered bites and other injuries.
The hunter also was treated for a fractured pelvis.
Capt. Andrew Helton of the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission insisted that hunter injuries remain “a very rare occurrence.” That is not surprising when you use dogs to tree a bear and then shoot it with a high-powered rifle.
I readily admit to an aversion to this type of hunting as an avid hiker who loves to see these animals in the wild.
This 350 pound bear made it to a nearby creek where it died.