Deer Hunter Bitten By Black Bear

[Lawdog]

This was sent to me and I thought I would pass it along.

MOBILE, Ala. -- A deer hunter was bitten on the knee by a black bear in Mobile County woods near Turnerville.

Kenneth Scoggin of Chunchula underwent surgery Friday night at Springhill Medical Center in Mobile.

"I just knew I was a goner," Scoggin told the Mobile Register for a story Sunday.

Scoggin said he was near the end of a deer hunt near the Bush Coon Hunting Club when he heard a grunt.

"By the time I saw her and she saw me, up the tree she came," he said.

Scoggin, who said he was at least 30 feet up a pine tree in a climbing tree stand, hung onto the seat of the stand, his safety harness unhooked.

The bear climbed up the tree, bit him on the right knee, he said, and wouldn't let go.

"She was hanging onto the meat, and I was hanging onto the seat," Scoggin said. "When that meat gave way, she fell to the ground, and I got my pistol around."

Scoggin said the bear started to climb the tree again when Scoggin shot it four or five times with a .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol. The bear fell to the ground a second time, and Scoggin said he fired a fatal shot with his deer rifle.

He used a cell phone to call a neighbor for help.

Daniel Powell, coordinator for the Alabama Black Bear Alliance, said the bear that bit Scoggin was a female with two cubs, though the cubs had not been recovered.

"If any bear is going to be aggressive, it will be a mother with cubs," Powell said, "But even a mother black bear with cubs is not normally going to attack humans - maybe one in 100,000 times."

The bear's body was taken for testing by the Game and Fish division of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Personally when that sow started up the tree, if it had been me, she would have gotten shot by my deer rifle and not any .22 pistol.  Lawdog
 

[Siskiyou]

For some reason I have never thought of Alabama as a "bear" State.  

My mother who was raised up on Pine Mountain never spoke of Alabama bears.  Are bears on the come back in Alabama?  Sounds like this generation can be rather agressive.  I am sure that post WWI bears knew better because they would have ended up in the stew pot.

[Redhawk1]

Lawdog, I would of shot it also with my deer rifle first.  :eek:

[RollTide]

I lived for a while in the most densely populated county in AL.  I knew one guy who found a bear cub road kill on a dirt road where a new subdivision was being built.  In another area of the county there was a black bear spotted in right in the suburbs.  One was in a little scope of woods along a river between subdivisions.  I actually saw a game cam pic of that one.  Bears are in AL, but they will put you under the jail for shooting one.  That may soon change.  I still think I would have used the deer rifle if one came up the tree after me.

Roll Tide

[victorcharlie]

Seems the deer stand was a self climber that was small and scary........the kind that you can't look down from very well.......and maybe to shoot the deer rifle he would have had to shoot one handed and not from the shoulder......he might not have been able to see the bear very well......and was more afraid of falling out of the tree than being mauled by a bear.....or maybe he was afraid of winding up in the county jail for shooting the bear.....after all, who would believe him when he told the judge the bear came up a tree after him........yea....right........bail set at $20000!

Maybe he just didn't want to kill the bear if he didn't have to!  Who knows?  Only the fellow up the tree......

[Redhawk1]

My 4 inch 500 mag would of taken care of that problem.  :-D

[Lawdog]

My 4 inch 500 mag would of taken care of that problem.  :-D

A bear climbing a tree is a slow moving target so in this case I have to agree with you.  In fact most any decent caliber handgun would have done the job.  But a .22 auto isn't the right caliber to be packing for self defense.  I know a number of hunters that pack a .22 while deer hunting.  Reasons are for "snakes", "squirrels", and such.  Personally, for snakes, I find a CCI Shot shell load out of either a .357 or .44 works much better than a .22 and in this case loaded with standard factory loads would have ended that bear's climb before she could have bitten the hunter.  If you are going to pack a gun make it big enough for whatever job that may come along.   :wink:   Lawdog
 

[Redhawk1]

My 4 inch 500 mag would of taken care of that problem.  :-D

  If you are going to pack a gun make it big enough for whatever job that may come along.   :wink:   Lawdog
 

You got that right.  :toast:

[oso45-70]

Gentlemen,

Obviously you have been around some very slow climbing bears. To say you would have time to shoot this bear needs some more thought . I have seen lots of black bear go up a tree before a cat could lick his self with his tounge out leg up, You got to be joking, The Man is a very lucky man just to still have his leg. I think the man did about what any red blooded man would have done. Second guessing is way easier than the real deal. My praise goes out to him and wish him good luck on his recovery............Joe........... :roll:  :roll:

[victorcharlie]

Yep.....I think so as well.......very lucky man....

[RollTide]

Another news account someone sent me about this same incident stated that the man was climbing down the tree when he spotted the bear and then started climbing back up to get away from him.  In the account posted here, he mentioned that his safety harness was not fastened.  Most safety harnesses are only fastened once you are up to your hunting position in the tree.  I make my own safety harnesses that loops around the tree and slides up and down the tree with me as I climb up and climb down.   My point is that without a safety harness attached, this poor fellow had to hold on with both hands just to keep from falling.  It is hard to shoot anything with both hands preoccupied.  If he had a safety harness on at the time of the attack, he could have probably deployed his weapons sooner and possibly avoided injury altogether.  I also keep a 25' safety rope on me while I climb so that if my stand malfunctions or it my legs are somehow injured, I can rappel down the tree if needed.  REading about this makes me glad I use the type safety harness attachment that I do, and I am also glad I usually have a 44mag in a bandoleer holster while I am climbing, sense I never climb with my rifle.  I always leave it on the ground and pull it up on a rope after I am up the tree.  

Anyway, I am glad this guy lived to tell the tale.  I am also impressed that the 22 pistol was enough to force the bear to fall off the tree and give the guy enough time to get to his rifle.  I am still going to carry my 44 for backup though.  I will not be switching to a 22.

A really scary scenario would have been if the bear had run off after being shot off the tree with the 22 and if the guy had not had a cell phone or had been out of range with his cell phone.  He would then have had to climb down the tree with a torn up leg and tried to make his way back to his truck in the approaching darkness with a wounded bear trailing him.  It could have easily been much worse for this guy.  I NEVER contemplated a bear attack while hunting in AL, but it does seem this guy did take enough extra precautions ( a handgun in addition to his rifle and a cell phone ) that he was able to deal with the totally unexpected.

It always pays to do the little extra things for safety sake.  It probably saved this guys life.

Roll Tide

[Lawdog]

Gentlemen,

Obviously you have been around some very slow climbing bears. To say you would have time to shoot this bear needs some more thought . I have seen lots of black bear go up a tree before a cat could lick his self with his tounge out leg up, You got to be joking, The Man is a very lucky man just to still have his leg. I think the man did about what any red blooded man would have done. Second guessing is way easier than the real deal. My praise goes out to him and wish him good luck on his recovery............Joe........... :roll:  :roll:

oso47-70,

In my life I have seen a number of Black Bears climb trees but remember that according to the story,

Scoggin, who said he was at least 30 feet up a pine tree in a climbing tree stand

30+ feet is a long way for a bear to climb.  The bear had to walk over to the tree and climb up.  Plenty of time to stop the bear but not with any .22 pistol.  I can honestly state for the record that this would NEVER happen to me.  The reason is you will NEVER catch me up in a tree stand.  I have a thing about heights.  I do all my hunting from the ground.  Lawdog
 

[victorcharlie]

]I have a thing about heights.[/b][/i]  I do all my hunting from the ground.  Lawdog
 

Me too!  Read a stastic that 1 in 4 hunters will be involved in a tree stand incident at some point in time...........I like go old tera firma myself!  

[Redhawk1]

Gentlemen,

Obviously you have been around some very slow climbing bears. To say you would have time to shoot this bear needs some more thought . I have seen lots of black bear go up a tree before a cat could lick his self with his tounge out leg up, You got to be joking, The Man is a very lucky man just to still have his leg. I think the man did about what any red blooded man would have done. Second guessing is way easier than the real deal. My praise goes out to him and wish him good luck on his recovery............Joe........... :roll:  :roll:

You are also "Second guessing". You don't know how fast the bear went up the tree. But I sure as heck would not have a .22 as my back up gun.. :roll:

[Siskiyou]

I carry a .22 autoloader with me during deer season.  The reason is that California law allows the taking of grouse with a .22 pistol.  It is far easier to manage then having my shotgun slung over my back while carrying a rifle. Admittedly in a couple of areas known for "Dinner Bell" bears I carry a .357 while deer hunting.  If I go looking for a couple of grouse for camp I will take the shotgun and a few rifle slugs incase a need comes up.  I realize that if there is a surprise encounter there may not be time to change rounds but up close #5's in the face can be rather nasty.  

My game plan has been to take on bear with my deer rifle.  But that plan may fail.  On a back pack hunt I killed a deer on a steep hillside.  I laid my rifle down along with my pack, and gutted the deer.  I then started carrying part of the deer down to better location.  A rattlesnake sounded off near my feet and I kicked into overdrive.  The problem was that the snake was between me and my gear.  And the snake was hid in the grass on the easy way up the hill.  I worked my way back up the hill to my rifle.  I then located the snake by tossing a couple of rocks in the area I thought the snake was.  The snake sounded off and I was able find him in my cross hairs.  I can testify that the .270 Winchester is a very effective snake gun.  The bullet cut the coiled snake into three chunks.

If it had been an aggressive bear I would have been in trouble.  Just me and my skinning knife.  I do not like those odds.  At that point a .22 pistol would have been welcome.  Not great but better then a knife.

The point is a hunters rifle may not be handy in some situations.  When we camp in some bear prone areas you might see us wearing hand guns in camp.  The rifle is not very handy when you are cooking or doing other camp chores.  Most of our bear problems went away when the bear season and deer season opened on the same day.  I believe black bears are more agressive in areas that they are not hunted in.  A classic example is Lake Tahoe.  Both on the California and Nevada sides.  They have nothing to fear.

If you happen to find me in a tree you know I am in trouble.

[oso45-70]

Lawdog, Its oso45-70

Redhawk1, No sir i'am not guessing, Been there plenty of times, Have guided plenty of dudes from back east and observed their actions and am fully aware of what can take place at a bear catch. And by the way i don't do the arboreal thing myself, I leave the climbing to the monkeys and squirrels.... Its obvious that some of you think you would have handled every situation differently and don't feel  bad about bringing the other person down with your comments and innuendos.

Lawdog himself said in one of his posts how fast a bear could cover a given amount of ground !!!!!!!! which was right BUT the black bear can go up a tree at about the same speed if it is mad or scared, Either way you may end up bear food with or without your 4" 500 S&W Mag. Hate to have to tell you that Redhawk1     ..............Joe............

[victorcharlie]

Jimmy Buffet sang a song called "God's Own Drunk".....I can't recall who wrote it........It tells the story of a man who's uncle asked him to watch his still while he went into town to vote...........and his encounter with the bear after he had watched the still for awhile........who knows?  Maybe "God's Own Drunk" was more fact than fiction?

We can beat this one some more if you guys want to........fact is, only the fellow up the tree knows why he did what he did, or for that matter what the bear did..........and he's not saying much.......

As I don't believe there is a bear season in Alabama, he just might not wanted to have to explain himself......and why he shot the bear.......who'ld believe him anyway without bite marks on his legs?

[Lawdog]

oso45-70,

Lawdog, Its oso45-70

Sorry about that.  Attribute it to old age and not watching what ones fingers type.  Yes a 250 - 350 lb. Black Bear(average size for a sow) can cover ground quite quickly but not when it comes to climbing a tree.  The bigger they are the slower they climb.  As far as it being legal or not it all boils down to the old saying, "I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six."!  Any critter trying to climb a tree that I'm in and knows I'm in it is a dead critter.  Don't care what any law says.  Lawdog
 

[Graybeard]

For the record there is no bear season in Bama and not a lot of bears but yes we do have them. There is a population of them in extreme south Bama and perhaps some in north Bama and for sure in TN and NW GA. The bears trade back and forth between population centers. This is especially so of young males who've been kicked out by momma and are looking for a territory to call home. They come thru the area around here from time to time. My next door neighbors saw one at their pond down front once a bunch of years ago.

No season in Bama means more than just no time set aside to shoot them. It means you best be able to prove to the law's satisfaction it was a matter of life or death when you shot one. I seriously doubt it climbing the tree would have been adequate justification in the eyes of the law. Now being bitten most certainly would. To have shot it on the ground would have mean a jail sentence most likely and a very stiff fine.

Still once the bear was near enough to make powder burns on the skull I'm thinking the law would have accepted that as proof of need before the hunter was injured. With less than the full story none here can do but speculate.

As to the choice of a rimfire handgun to be with him there is no reason to question that. The chances of seeing a bear in Bama while deer hunting is likely less than of being struck by lightning. There are in places some feral dogs that might want to do you harm but in 50 years in the Bama woods I've had them actually endanger me once. Personally I usually have a .357 Mag with me when hunting just for dogs but will usually have a more potent handgun also as I do handgun hunt and even if I have a rifle I'll also have a handgun just in case a close shot opportunity is presented.

No one in Bama expects to see a bear much less be attacked by one when they go into the woods.

[Redhawk1]

Lawdog, Its oso45-70

Redhawk1, No sir i'am not guessing, Been there plenty of times, Have guided plenty of dudes from back east and observed their actions and am fully aware of what can take place at a bear catch. And by the way i don't do the arboreal thing myself, I leave the climbing to the monkeys and squirrels.... Its obvious that some of you think you would have handled every situation differently and don't feel  bad about bringing the other person down with your comments and innuendos.

Lawdog himself said in one of his posts how fast a bear could cover a given amount of ground !!!!!!!! which was right BUT the black bear can go up a tree at about the same speed if it is mad or scared, Either way you may end up bear food with or without your 4" 500 S&W Mag. Hate to have to tell you that Redhawk1     ..............Joe............

All I can say is, my black bear went down from one shot from my 500 Mag this year from less than 20 yards. So say what you want, I was up close and personal. Handguns have there place.  

[victorcharlie]

 Handguns have there place.  

Of course they do!

[oso45-70]

Yep, of course they do. .............Joe...........