EMSDALE – A week after the fact, Paul Steer still trembles when he thinks about the manner in which a black bear tossed him and around and dragged him off like a rag doll.
He says he survived the May 8 attack with luck, fast thinking and a few punches to the nose of the bear as its jaws clamped down on his arm.
“It was dragging me and flinging me around. I was on my back. I was on my front. I was on my side. It really shook me up good,” said Steer.
The attack happened in the very early hours of Friday, May 8, after Steer’s dog woke him up.
“I thought he wanted out, so I opened up the back door, but he just backed away and wouldn’t go out. I didn’t think anything of it, but I should have,” said Steer.
While up, Steer noticed that the light in the garage was on and went out to turn it off. The quick trip took an unexpected turn just a few steps from the garage door.
“Something just grabbed me by the arm and yanked me right off my feet and dragged me off to the south side of the shop towards the woods,” said Steer.
It was then that he says he felt like a rag doll getting pulled along by the big bruin.
“She, I’m guessing it was a sow but I don’t know, got me to the edge of bush and I felt a tree and I hooked my leg around the tree and I started wailing on it. I hit it a good three or four times in the beak,” said Steer.
He says the blows were enough to scare the bear off, with it immediately letting go of his right arm and running off into the bush.
“It booked it out of there. I could here it crashing trees,” said Steer.
After feeling the power of the animal, Steer counts himself lucky that he escape the brush with the bruin with only one puncture mark on his arm and extensive bruising on his arms, legs and back.
“I think if it really wanted to do some damage it probably could have,” said Steer.
The attack, as far as he knows, was unprovoked and he can’t recall hearing any warning sounds to let him know that danger was lurking in the shadows of his backyard.
“I didn’t know what had me to start with and then I though ‘Jeepers!’ and I starting yelling, ‘Let me go you SOB!’ ”
Steer says in his 15 years on the property just south of Emsdale on Old Hwy. 11 he has never had any trouble with bears before this, with only an incident from a few years ago when a bear made off with one of his bird feeders.
Steer says he’s told some of his neighbours about the attack, but that he hasn’t seen any sign of the bear since that night.
“The first thing I did Friday morning was put the Louisville Slugger right by the door.”
http://www.muskoka-news.com/article/136520
I perfer the 30-30 right by the door, even though it is less challenging and a lot easier.
He says he survived the May 8 attack with luck, fast thinking and a few punches to the nose of the bear as its jaws clamped down on his arm.
“It was dragging me and flinging me around. I was on my back. I was on my front. I was on my side. It really shook me up good,” said Steer.
The attack happened in the very early hours of Friday, May 8, after Steer’s dog woke him up.
“I thought he wanted out, so I opened up the back door, but he just backed away and wouldn’t go out. I didn’t think anything of it, but I should have,” said Steer.
While up, Steer noticed that the light in the garage was on and went out to turn it off. The quick trip took an unexpected turn just a few steps from the garage door.
“Something just grabbed me by the arm and yanked me right off my feet and dragged me off to the south side of the shop towards the woods,” said Steer.
It was then that he says he felt like a rag doll getting pulled along by the big bruin.
“She, I’m guessing it was a sow but I don’t know, got me to the edge of bush and I felt a tree and I hooked my leg around the tree and I started wailing on it. I hit it a good three or four times in the beak,” said Steer.
He says the blows were enough to scare the bear off, with it immediately letting go of his right arm and running off into the bush.
“It booked it out of there. I could here it crashing trees,” said Steer.
After feeling the power of the animal, Steer counts himself lucky that he escape the brush with the bruin with only one puncture mark on his arm and extensive bruising on his arms, legs and back.
“I think if it really wanted to do some damage it probably could have,” said Steer.
The attack, as far as he knows, was unprovoked and he can’t recall hearing any warning sounds to let him know that danger was lurking in the shadows of his backyard.
“I didn’t know what had me to start with and then I though ‘Jeepers!’ and I starting yelling, ‘Let me go you SOB!’ ”
Steer says in his 15 years on the property just south of Emsdale on Old Hwy. 11 he has never had any trouble with bears before this, with only an incident from a few years ago when a bear made off with one of his bird feeders.
Steer says he’s told some of his neighbours about the attack, but that he hasn’t seen any sign of the bear since that night.
“The first thing I did Friday morning was put the Louisville Slugger right by the door.”
http://www.muskoka-news.com/article/136520
I perfer the 30-30 right by the door, even though it is less challenging and a lot easier.
