Young Hunter Trips into bear den

[Lipriper84]

Did anyone else read the Star Tribune and see the little blurb about a young deer hunter near Fosston accidentaly tripped into a bear den and had to kill the angry bear? Just hoping someone had some more info on this. Sounds pretty crazy.

[hockeybc69]

CO Dan Malinowski (Fosston) reports handling calls of vehicles hitting deer, an injured eagle, wolf hunting and a deer shot and left in the field and coyotes in town. One young hunter accidentally tripped into a bear den and had to dispatch the angry bear. Another confrontation was a trespass complaint that escalated into hunter harassment. Violations detected were hunting over bait and shooting a deer from the road right of way without a hunting license. Maintenance was performed on equipment for winter storage.

[bowhunternw]

There is an article about it in the Sunday Grand Forks Herald.

[Lipriper84]

Thanks, I found it. I think i would have crapped my pants.

[CANOPY SAM]

Trips into a bear den? Really? Hhhmmmmm?

[Lipriper84]

Here is a link to the article http://www.grandforksherald.com/event/article/id/249617/group/Outdoors/

[brian6715]

Yeah I don't know about this one... first, the openings of the dens are usually rather small. Second, wouldn't a bear in a den be rather lethargic and slow moving???

This just doesn't add up. If you would have had enough time to find your gun after tripping, aim at the beer, and pull the trigger, you would have had enough time to back up 20 ft and let the bear run off (it would be way more scared than you are!)

[bowhunternw]

I agree the story sounds a little off to me.

[eyeguy 54]

so many judges on here lol

[bigbucks]

I'm a childhood friend of the CO. He's a straight shooter for sure. I knew nothing about this incident until I read this article.

[Bear55]

Nothing wrong with the story as far as I can see, I know a guy who did the exact same thing but didn't shoot. Cooler and snow on the ground then so the bear didn't do anything, it was pretty warm last weekend so no surprise the bear was a little more alert. Things can happen fast, kid was scared and had a bear right next to him.

[ozzie]

don't be too quick to judge...imagine walking through the woods to trip and notice a bear clawing at your leg. Plus if they did it unethically and maybe illegally do you think they would be dumb enough to contact the DNR?

[leech~~]

Some times Bears just den-up by a turned over tree roots not even a den or hole. Just a deep depression. I can see it happening.

[bowhunternw]

I can believe finding a bear like that, but it says he was shooting as he was falling backwards. Then he emptied the 10 round clip and it still ran 50 yards. Sounds more like it was trying to get away then attacking him. Just an opinion I formed when reading it in the paper.

[hockeybc69]

Since it was reported by the CO in his weekly update, i would be quite sure he did leg work to ensure there wasnt any shananigans behind it...

[InTheNorthwoods]

If it had been done in bad faith, I'd guess they would have never contacted the game warden.

[Musky Buck]

Can you imagine the outrage if it would've been a study bear with web-cam on him or her lol. What age of youth are we talking about here ?

[bigbucks]

The article said 17. It's posted on here, take a look at it.

[Boar]

If its mild enough, some bear wont establish full hibernation, an some mature boars in years of mild winters will get up an look for food an just find a downed trees to sleep up againts. If its not full on winter with average freezing temps bear will be in den but still be well aware if a tresspasser stumbles by, not all but some, Just because we consider it winter about now dosent mean bear are tucked in with their pourage. Heard of tell this past weekend of some deer hunters pushed a woods an out came a bear.

[CSP]

I didn't realize you could hunt deer with a 10 round clip.

[Crappie Rage]

If it were your child, how would you want them to react? Want them to check with the bear, ask it if it is OK? I would imagine the kid was pretty scared.