Animal Attacks

Video, Interview: Mountain Biker Clobbered by Charging Antelope

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 12:31:20 -0400

by Dave Maccar

Charging wildlife isn’t the first thing on a mountain biker’s mind in the heat of a race, but the animals don’t know that.

Evan van der Spuy was racing in the 38 km Time Freight MTB Express mountain bike race at Albert Falls Dam, 20km outside the city of Pietermaritzburg in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa for Team Jeep South Africa over the weekend.

His teammate, Travis Walker, was in third place with a GoPro camera mounted on his bike, and captured this amazing footage below of Evan, who was in second place until this red hartebeest (a member of the antelope family) had something to say about it.

Yes, the hit was as hard as it looks. Evan was stabilized with a neck brace and taken to the hospital for overnight observation. He sustained a minor concussion, whiplash and some bruising on his head where his helmet imploded on impact.

F&S spoke to Evan today to get his take on the events behind this video, which is rapidly going viral.

Evan said he is recovering well, and feels extremely lucky.

“Luckily I walked away with just a bit of whiplash and a concussion, considering what happened,” he says. “I saw the animal moving to cross the road in front of me, but when I saw how close it really was, I was shocked. Then, from the moment it hit me I was unconscious. I actually don’t know what happened from then.”

The 50 Best Field & Stream Reader Photos of September 2011

Online Editors — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:23:37 -0400

Each month, Field & Stream editors review the hundreds of photos submitted by readers to our Trophy Room. If your photo is chosen to be printed in the Game Faces section of the magazine, you’ll win a Rapala Fish ‘N Fillet knife!

Submit your photos here!

Here are the monthly Best Reader Photo Galleries of 2011:

Canadian Moose Hunter Fends Off Charging Black Bear With Bow

Sarah Smith — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 10:36:32 -0400

--Chad Love

A Canadian moose hunter is out of the hospital after fending off (and ultimately killing) a charging black bear.

From this story on lotwenterprise.com:

A Kenora area hunter is lucky to be alive after fighting off a bear attack, Sept. 26. The 48-year-old man was treated for puncture wounds to his arm, shoulder and neck at Lake of the Woods district hospital and released later the same afternoon. The bear was mortally wounded during the encounter and did not survive. A Ministry of Natural Resources official credits the man for taking action to save his life.

"It was a dangerous situation," affirmed MNR Lake of the Woods supervisor Leo Heyens. "He did all the right things. If he hadn't fired an arrow or fought back, yelling and making himself look big, it could have been more serious."

Video: Brit Attacked by Great White off Cape Town Coast

Dave_Maccar — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:27:21 -0400

--Dave Maccar

A 42-year-old British expat reportedly lost most of his right leg and part of his left foot after being repeatedly bitten by a great white shark off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa today. A YouTube video (below) taken moments after the attack shows a huge shark lurking in the water.

From this story on the UK Telegraph:

Several beaches along the city's False Bay coastline this afternoon remained closed after officials warned it was likely the deadly beast remained in the area.

Craig Lambinon, a spokesman for the National Sea Rescue Institute, said the victim was this afternoon in a serious condition in a private hospital in the city.

"This man was swimming around 50 metres from the beach when the shark attacked him at around 12.20pm," he said.

"It repeatedly bit at both of his legs and caused serious wounds on both the right and left side.

Officials: MT Hunter Killed by Bullet, Not Bear

Dave_Maccar — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:30:44 -0400

--Dave Maccar

A tragic update from Montana: the Lincoln County Sherriff’s office says a hunter attacked by a bear last Friday after shooting it on the north Idaho-Montana border died of a gunshot wound, not from injuries inflicted by the 400-pound grizzly.

According to this story on IdahoStatesman.com, when Steve Stevenson of Nevada was attacked by the grizzly in the Buckhorn Mountain area, his hunting partner, Ty Bell, shot the bear several times in an effort to save Stevenson.

It is likely one of those shots passed through the bear and hit Stevenson in the chest, killing him, according to the Lincoln County Coroner, Steve Schnackenberg.

Steve Stevenson, 39, of Winnemucca, Nev., was attacked by the bear in the Buckhorn Mountain area of the North Idaho-Montana border last Friday.

Results from a Montana State Crime Lab autopsy released Friday showed Stevenson suffered one gunshot to his chest, officials from the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office said. Lincoln County Coroner Steve Schnackenberg, who viewed Stevenson's body before it was autopsied, told The Idaho Statesman he saw clear signs of the hunter having been attacked by the bear, including bites and scratch marks.

"We're pretty sure the bullet passed through the bear before it got to him," Schnackenberg said, declining to say why. "We're pretty sure of that."

Montana Outfitter on Horseback Saves Boy From Grizzly Charge

Dave_Maccar — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 15:00:41 -0400

--Hal Herring

Amid all the grizz stories coming out of the Rockies these days, this one stands tall. If you ever find yourself about to be keelhauled by 600 pounds of furious airborn grizzly, you can only hope that 25-year-old Erin Bolster is riding nearby on the mighty 18 hands tall horse, Tonk.

Check out this wild tale written by F&S Rut Reporter Rich Landers in The Spokesman-Review via Missoulian.com:

A young woman on a big horse charged out of the pack of grizzly bear stories this summer near Glacier National Park. In a cloud of dust, the 25-year-old wrangler likely saved a boy's life while demonstrating that skill, quick-thinking and guts sometimes are the best weapons against a head-on charging bear.

On July 30, Erin Bolster of Swan Mountain Outfitters was guiding eight clients on a horse ride on the Flathead National Forest between West Glacier and Hungry Horse.

Hunter Mistakenly Shoots Grizzly, Killed by Wounded Bear

Dave_Maccar — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 12:33:07 -0400

--Dave Maccar

Two hunters going after black bears along the Idaho-Montana border mistakenly shot a grizzly and one of the men paid with his life. Steve Stevenson, 39, of Nevada yelled to draw the wounded, 400-pound grizzly away from his hunting partner when it charged them and was mauled to death.

From this story on Missoulan.com:
"They both shot it and it kept coming," Steve Stevenson's mom, Janet Price, said on Saturday. "Steve yelled at it to try and distract it, and it swung around and took him down. It's what my son would have done automatically, for anybody."

The Lincoln County Sheriff's Office in Montana said Stevenson, of Winnemucca, Nev., died Friday after 20-year-old Ty Bell wounded what he thought was a black bear and the two men tracked it into thick cover along the Idaho-Montana border where it attacked at about 10 a.m. Friday.

What's Your Ideal Trail Gun?

Sarah Smith — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 09:10:59 -0400

by Phil Bourjaily

This week on The Gun Nuts, Eddie Nickens talks about trail guns, using my two .22 handguns as examples. As Eddie points out, .22's are fun and inexpensive to shoot and can be loaded with a wide range of ammo. Nevertheless, they may not fit the bill as everyone’s trail gun.

When Would You Kill a Venomous Snake?

Sarah Smith — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:54:42 -0400

--Chad Love

Early one chilly fall morning some 16 years ago, on the scout day for a weekend bonus deer archery hunt I had been drawn out on, I was stumbling my way along a game trail in far eastern Oklahoma when I stepped over--literally stepped over, with my family jewels open to immediate and easily-accessible fanged attack--a cold, curled-up timber rattler trying to warm itself up right in the middle of the trail. This brings up an interesting twist on an age-old philosophical question: If a grown man screams like a wee girl in the middle of the forest, and there's no one around to hear him, does he make a sound?

I'll let you be the judge of that, but when I saw this cool video of a large timber rattler swimming across a Kentucky lake, those nightsweats I thought I'd finally gotten over suddenly started up again...

Family of Man Killed by Mountain Goat Sues Olympic National Park

Online Editors — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 10:36:11 -0400

--Chad Love

The family of a man who was gored to death last October by a mountain goat in Olympic National Park has filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit.

From this story in the Seattle Times:
The incident took place on Oct. 16 when Bob Boardman, 63, was hiking at Klahhane Ridge in the park, along with his wife, Susan Chadd and a friend, Pat Willis. According to an incident report filed by Colin Smith, the park's chief ranger, "the goat approached Boardman's party while they were sitting and having lunch. They did not approach the goat; instead when it came up to them they attempted to leave the area.