Brown bear mauls hunter from Kentucky near Angoon

Brown bear at Chaik Bay near Angoon
A brown bear fishing up the feeder waters off Chaik Bay on June 30, 2010. (Creative Commons photo by Eric Heath)

Authorities say a 57-year-old man from Kentucky who was hunting on Admiralty Island with a local guide was mauled by a brown bear Thursday night. His injuries were not life threatening.

Blake Fleming with Coast Guard Sector Juneau says they sent a helicopter from Sitka to Chaik Bay near Angoon. The crew picked up the hunter around 2 a.m. Friday and flew him to Juneau for medical treatment.

“The report to us was just multiple puncture wounds, lacerations and possible broken ribs, was just what we had for an initial report,” Fleming said.

State troopers identified the injured hunter as Douglas Adkins of Jenkins, Kentucky. Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters says Adkins was with a big game guide out of Juneau.

“At approximately 8:30 in the evening there was a guide and a client that were out walking, using headlamps, and it appears that they startled the bear that was a short distance away from them and then the bear mauled and latched onto the client,”  Peters said.

Peters described the mauling as “brief.” The bear left, and the pair made it back to the guide vessel to radio for help.

Peters says the injuries are consistent with a bear mauling and that there is no criminal investigation into the matter.

This is the fourth incident of its kind in the region since August. There were three similar brown bear incidents along streams in the Sitka area in August, including the serious mauling of a wilderness guide in Sitkoh Bay. In September, the U.S. Forest Service reported that a tour guide on Kruzof Island used pepper spray to deter a bear which may have been protecting a food cache on the Mud Bay Road.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated and expanded with additional comment from Megan Peters and information about other recent maulings. 

Jeremy Hsieh

Local News Reporter, KTOO

I dig into questions about the forces and institutions that shape Juneau, big and small, delightful and outrageous. What stirs you up about how Juneau is built and how the city works?

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