ROSEBURG, Ore. — A bear presumed to have been wounded by a hunter later mauled a friend of the shooter, the authorities said.
Aaron Wyckoff, 33, of Glide had bite and scratch marks “on his ankle and on his forehead, and everywhere in between,” Oregon State Trooper Aaron Baimbridge told the News-Review newspaper while at the scene east of Glide on Saturday.
Wyckoff was taken by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition, a nursing supervisor said Sunday.
Chris Moen, 15, who was hunting the western side of the Cascade Mountains with father, Pete, said he shot the bear behind the shoulder early Saturday.
It was the last day of the bear-hunting season, and Chris Moen had a tag for the animal. The Moens trailed the wounded bear for a little while, but couldn’t find “a good blood trail,” Pete Moen said.
About 2 p.m., they asked three friends, one of whom was Wyckoff, to help them find it.
Wyckoff was roughly 50 feet ahead of the others when the bear found him.
Pete Moen remembers hearing “three shots and then, ‘Help.”’ When the others approached, the bear was on Wyckoff. One of Wyckoff’s friends fired another shot and the bear rolled off.
“We fired one final round and pulled Aaron out,” Pete Moen said.
The men then hauled Wyckoff out of the woods, and the ambulance picked him up at the intersection of Rock Creek Road and Highway 138 East.
Baimbridge said a sample will be taken from the bear to make sure it didn’t have any diseases.
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