The hunter became the hunted

“Man attacked by bear
Durbin resident could be
first-ever confirmed case

by John McCoy
Daily Mail
Outdoors Editor
A Durbin man is recuperating from severe injuries to his hands after being mauled by a black bear.
According to Division of Natural Resources conservation officers, 26-year-old Philip Propst was chasing the bear with a pack of dogs at the time of the attack, which occurred Saturday.
"His dogs finally cornered the bear against a cliff near the head of Hatchery Run on Cheat Mountain," said the DNR's Lt. Col. Bill Daniel.
As Propst slid down the bank to call off his dogs, the bear reportedly broke free from the pack. Propst found himself blocking the only avenue of escape.
"According to the report, he threw up his hands to defend himself and got pretty badly bitten," Daniel said."His left hand had all the bones broken across the palm, and the right hand suffered extensive damage that required surgery. He also had a puncture wound from a bite on one of his calves."
Propst's dogs rejoined the fray, and the bear beat a hasty retreat. Daniel says the injured hunter was able to summon help on a two-way radio. A friend quickly arrived and rushed Propst to Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins.
A hospital spokesperson said Propst was discharged Monday (August 4). Calls to his Durbin home have not been answered.
"Propst did say, when he talked to the conservation officer who prepared the report, that blame for the mauling shouldn't be placed on the bear," Daniel said."His exact quote was, 'It wasn't the bear's fault. I just got in his way.'"
Though West Virginia's bear-hunting seasons don't begin until mid-fall, chasing bears with dogs is permitted year-round. Daniel said the practice has never, to his knowledge, resulted in any injuries until now.
"In fact, this might well be the first-ever confirmed, documented case of injuries to to an attack from a West Virginia black bear," he said."I'm not 100 percent sure on that, but this might be a first.
Editor's note: This story was reprinted with permission of Charleston Daily Mail, Nanya Friend, Editor.”

“Either he was poaching (hunting out of season) or just maliciously harassing the Bear.

All my sympathy is reserved for the Bear.”

“No, as the story states, it is legal to chase bears with dogs year-round in WV. Bear hunters have radio collars on their dogs and go out in their piggups and hold the antenna to track where the dogs are.

There's almost always a missing bluetick roaming around Red Creek Campground on Dolly Sods, looking for handouts until the hunter can track it down.”

“OK, so he was not poaching.

I guess no-one thinks being chased by dogs is a harassment.
I do not think I would like being chased by dogs for someones sport.”

“Yeah, it doesn't fit our idea of morality. But that's the way things are in WV, which is how this guy got tangled up with the bear.

I thought it was interesting that he took it on himself and said it was not the bear's fault.”

“That is where I got the poaching thought.

He was doing something he shouldn't and copped a plea.”

“No, I think he realized they might try to catch and kill the bear. Strange, they don't mind chasing bears with dogs, but they respect the bears. It's a different mindset.”

“Agreed, different mindset.”

“I wish a few of the bears in the Smokies were chased.
A little bit of fear for humans would be a good thing for the bears and backpackers.”

“We could organize a TT bear chasing trip”

“Indiana John - Naw......I just want someone else to do the dirty work, and me reap the benefits! ;)”

“Yes, I have very mixed emotions about bears, hunting, and dog chases. It does put a healthy fear of humans in the bears. In parks where they are protected they get quite brazen, and that's not good. On the other hand, how we interact with the bears has a bearing on it as well. When bears associate humans with free food, that's when the problems start. And as long as there are idiots who don't use proper food storage, or worse yet intentionally feed the bears, it's the humans, not the bears that are at fault.

But that does not help the backpacker who does handle and store food properly and still gets a visit from the local bruin because it associates his or her presence with the promise of food.

But that is not the case where bears are hunted. Red Creek ought to have a serious bear problem, but does not because of all those good ol boys and their dogs, piggups, and radio trackers.”

“YO bear?...lol... I'm not chasing him!”

“Not unless you want to see a full moon...”

“More fun to chase a bare!”

“Geo - Won't touch that one!”

“I'm thinking in terms of the HMWHC SS, getcher mind in gear!”

“I prefer to chase a nice round female type bare.”

“Bare!?................. Where?”

“That was my point SS.

(Jeez, I gotta explain everything to these goobers)”

“It looked like the point was you wanted to chase Jerbear's bare, not that there is anything wrong with that. ;)”

“RETCH!”

“The bear should have eaten the stupid ass hillbilly! The idiot does not need his left hand anyway because he can not count past four.
They should just leave the bears alone.”

“Bear 1 Dick 0


8)”

“So Arkansas doesn't have a monopoly on stupidity?”

“hardy har har, baked alaskan


they do the same thing here with racoons...i went with some cousins one time and found it boring and a rediculous waste of time....so i went back to the house and got drunk...”

“I dunno... It kinda sounds like Instant Karma to me, <G>”

“what in tha world do you think you are?

a superstar?


well right you are!”

“Speaking of feeding the bears, I had an interesting conversation with an older woman in my community. We were talking about the amount of garbage we put out and how small it is with all the recycling that we do. I mentioned that I wished that they would pick up more often in the summer because of how smelly the garbage gets in a week. This woman said that she puts her food scraps but no meat, in an open composting can out in the back of her property. I said that it sounded like a bad idea because it was essentially feeding the wildlife, maybe even the occasional bear. She said that she never has bears in the yard and didn't mind if she fed a raccoon. This sounds like recycling but also like attracting bears. What do you all think?”

“Feed the bears... tuppence a day
Tuppence
Tuppence
Tuppence a day”

“ooops. Close enough! <G>

'day'... 'bag'... what's the diff?”