http://www.centredaily.com/news/state/story/997522.html

Pa. officials say hunter not wrong in bear attack

CLEARFIELD, Pa. — The Pennsylvania State Game Commission says a hunter did nothing wrong to provoke an attack by two bears in central Pennsylvania last month.
The 39-year-old hunter, whose name is not being released, is recovering from puncture wounds, bites and gashes in the Nov. 25 attack near Clearfield, about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. The injuries are not life-threatening.
Game officials say the hunter was attacked when he wound up between two bears as he was following fresh tracks in the snow. It's possible one bear was a cub and the other it's mother. Game officials say that could provoke an attack.
Officials say they investigated to learn more about what causes the attacks and to make sure the hunter did nothing illegal.

http://www.thecourierexpress.com/site/news...72984&rfi=6

Game Commission probes bear attack


Following an investigation into an incident in which a hunter was injured by a bear in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officer David Carlini has concluded that no illegal actions took place and was simply a matter of the hunter being in the "wrong place at the wrong time."
On Nov. 25, in Lawrence Township, a hunter was following fresh bear tracks in the snow that went into the cornfield. The Game Commission report did not identify the hunter.
While he was in the middle of the cornfield he heard and then saw a bear run away from him from about five or six cornrows away and then it turned and ran back toward him. As this bear ran by him at about 3 feet away, the hunter sensed something to his rear and, as he was turning around to look, was hit by a second bear.
The victim suffered puncture wounds, bites and gashes, but nothing life threatening. As the two bears ran off, the hunter walked to a dirt road and was taken for medical treatment. To search the cornfield, Carlini enlisted the assistance of Onyx, a female Labrador retriever specially trained by the Game Commission to locate evidence related to wildlife-related crimes and to retrieve hidden evidence, and Lancaster/York Counties Land Management Group Supervisor Linda Swank, Onyx's exclusive handler since her recruitment into the agency's canine division in 2001.
"We found no evidence of a wounded bear or bears, no blood trails and no den sites," Carlini said. "It simply appears to be a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time: in between two bears. Why these two bears were together is unknown."

It was probably a mother and cub. Glad it all worked out.

It would have worked even better if no one had got hurt, though.

Wouldn't have been as big a story then, I suspect.

i'm glad in this case they didn't hunt the bears down and kill them .

Grace ,,, the bears might have known they were being trailed and seen it as aggression

Then they must be smarter than the average bear.

God I'm hanging around Iowa too much.

I thought you lived in Florida?

Come on; you all knew that was coming....