A moose hunter named Gavin Haakenson, who miraculously survived a bear attack in Alaska, says he’s “glad” he “blacked out” when the creature attacked him.
The harrowing brown bear encounter happened on September 2 while Haakenson and his friend Ethan Yeager were hunting near the Killey River in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.
He told Outdoor Life that the two had gone out to look for moose after work. The two men followed a track for less than two miles before moving through brush toward several marshy ponds, where they waited and called for a specific moose they had been scouting.
The brown bear charged at him ‘at full speed’
When no moose showed up, at dusk, they returned to their truck when the bear unexpectedly ambushed him.
“I heard a noise to my right and looked over and there was a brown bear charging me at full speed,” Haakenson told Outdoor Life. “It was super close, maybe 10 feet, when I saw it. It was growling extremely loud, a terrifying noise. I saw its face. Its teeth were out. It hit me in the shoulder and knocked me down.”
Yeager couldn’t see where Haakenson was because the bear blocked his view, so he was afraid to shoot directly at it, but he fired a few shots, hoping the bear would flee.
“Last thing I remember was trying to shoulder my rifle and the bear jumping at me,” Haakenson said. “Then I don’t remember what happened. That’s when my blackout started.”
Miraculously, a claw ripped Haakenson’s clothing close to his left shoulder, but the wound was not severe enough to need stitches. Scratches marked his rifle stock, a dent marred his scope, and a tear had mostly ripped away one sleeve of his coat, but other than that, he was okay.
Haakenson did add that because of the ferocity of the attack, he will need six weeks of physical therapy for his shoulders, even though an X-ray showed no broken bones. He’s mostly had to deal with the psychological aspect of the bear attack.
“I get restless just thinking about it,” he said. “I’m glad I blacked out and don’t remember the bear being on top of me. The thought of ‘what if’ is what keeps me up.”