Montana Hunter Mauled By Bears.....Anyone we know???

[guppie9]

Bears maul Montana hunter on Kodiak Island

The Associated Press
Originally published Wednesday, October 29, 2008 at 7:17 a.m.



ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A 31-year-old Montana deer hunter was mauled by sow grizzly bear and two cubs, then spent two days in a remote cabin before he could be airlifted to a hospital.
Matthew Sutton, of Great Falls, and a friend were hunting Sunday in Viekoda Bay, about 260 miles south of Anchorage, when Sutton was attacked.
Alaska Department of Fish and Game wildlife biologist Larry Van Daele said Sutton was by himself when he shot a deer and began dragging it to his hunting camp.
The bears attacked while Sutton, 31, was hauling the carcass to the beach along Viekoda Bay near the Rolling Point cabin, Alaska State Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said.
Sutton made it back to the camp and his partner, Bill Bush, helped him to a nearby public cabin.
"Originally, it was a cub that knocked him over and then he stood up and I believe he yelled something at the bears, and then all three of the bears attacked him," Peters told The Anchorage Daily News.
Family friend Wanda Merja said Sutton arrived in Alaska for the hunt last week.
Sutton was bitten and clawed on an arm, leg and the back of his neck during the attack, she said. Troopers characterized the injuries as non-life threatening.
On Tuesday, the two men were able to contact a passing Andrew Airways float plane by radio. Sutton was picked up by a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter and flown to Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center.
His family planned to meet him once he is transferred to an Anchorage hospital, Merja said.
Sutton's family spoke to him briefly, but he was medicated and didn't have the full details of what happened, she said.
"He just got cornered by a bear, dragging a deer out, and the bears attacked him," Merja said. "At the moment, he was alone and he got away and he made it back to the cabin."
Dean Andrew owns Kodiak-based charter Andrew Airways, which flew the men to the area for the weeklong hunt.
Bush told Andrew that Sutton was hauling the deer when the three bears "ambushed" him at the bottom of a hill, near the water's edge.
"The bears just wanted the meat and so they just started going after him. They just bit him up really good and then they went for the deer," he said. "We have a lot of bears, but for as many bears as we have on the island, and as much human-bear interaction, we have very few of these."
Once the men reached a cabin, they had no immediate help available, no transportation or satellite phone. They used a marine radio to reach the Andrew pilot flying nearby on other business.
"He happened to be going over pretty close and he heard a weak mayday, so he swooped in there and saw the situation. The guy was in too much pain to even be able to move him at all," Andrew said. "We usually check on our guys about halfway through but we had just put them in there a couple days ago."

 

[thecrittergitter]

Jeez, he didn't have to go clear to Alaska for that.............Hell, he could have just headed a few hrs south of great falls to the Gardiner area and had about the same luck Ask the guy who got attacked by Jardine last weekend..............All joking aside, i hope that guy is ok.

Anyone else seeing any severly increased activity from the ol Griz this year??

We had some close run ins this year, saw 5 bears in 8 days in the areas just south of Bozeman. One huge boar in fact that ate almost two full cans of pepper spray at less than 3 feet!! If you ever want to know just how tight the "pucker factor" can get, lets just say you couldn't get a bb in with a sledge hammer.

Nothing like walking into a huge boar sleeping on an elk carcass at 7 yards! Barely enough time to get the spray out by the time he attacked.......Must say though that although i usually feel better about a pistol than i do about spray, i now am a believer............that bear stopped less than 2 feet from from the cans like a train hit him..............

Stupid fuggin bears anyway! Hope they catch a severe disease.........maybe lead poisoning

 

[Ovis]

guppie

I used to work with a guy from Eielson named Matt Sutton. The age is about right too. I'm betting that is him. He is probably stationed at Malmstrom now.

We had a juvenile bear come in and try to take our goat meat while on Kodiak. I was packing a cardboard cutout of Chuck Norris, so needless to say he didn't want much to do with us at that point.

 

[guppie9]

Ovis,

On the comment boards for the news-miner, someone mentioned that he was military and still was a citizen of AK. Its gotta be the same guy. On the same note, I teach on Eielson and I had a little girl in my class 4-5 years ago with that same last name. I wonder if this is her dad. I can't remember what his name was. I'm gonna have to see if I can look that up when I get to work tomorrow. That would be pretty weird....such a small world.

 

[Ovis]

guppie

It is him. He had live 4 or 5 children. I made a similar comment on AOD, and somebody confirmed it was him. He is a good dude. He and I would swap stories at work. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

 

[ELKCHSR]

Thats to bad for this guy...

I sure hope he gets better...