Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Minnesota Hunter Stabs, Kills Wounded Black Bear

Minnesota Hunter Stabs, Kills Wounded Black Bear after Brutal Mauling
October 6, 2014

One Minnesota bowhunter is counting his blessings after a bear attack almost claimed his life. Brandon Johnson was hunting with several longtime friends on Friday, September 26 when everything went horribly wrong. The group had arrowed a large black bear that evening in a heavily forested area in Pine County and waited four hours to retrieve it. Worried that the meat would spoil overnight, Johnson and two other hunters decided to track the animal in the darkness. It was a decision that Craig Lindstrom, one of the hunters who followed Johnson into the trees, would later regret.

Tracking a wounded animal in the dark can be both difficult and dangerous, and Lindstrom said that trying to find the bear�s blood trail was no easy task. After more than an hour of fruitless searching, Johnson was the first to find the wounded 525-pound black bear.

�And that�s when they yelled it�s big and it�s coming your way. All of the sudden I heard [Johnson] screaming�felt like 10 minutes, but was probably two minutes�literally screaming, screaming and you knew he was being mauled,� said Lindstrom.

Lindstrom was about a quarter-mile away and was the only one of the hunters carrying a firearm�a .45 caliber Glock. The other hunter, Trevor Nowack, and Johnson both carried only hunting knives. Norwack, who was only about 10 yards away, recalled the bear tackling Johnson and biting the man in the face, hands, and arms. In response, the hunter pulled out his knife and began trading blows with the animal. By the time Lindstrom arrived with his gun, the hunters already assumed that Johnson was dead.

�He was covered in blood. I had to wipe his face off to see that it was really him,�� Lindstrom, who had first aid training as a firefighter, told the Duluth News Tribune. �I told him to breathe, I wanted to see if the bear had collapsed his lungs. He took a deep breath but he couldn�t open his eyes. He said he wasn�t going to make it and he was telling me to tell his family that he loved them.�

Astoundingly, the hunter managed to survive the encounter. Johnson had managed to kill the bear before it did too much damage, and the animal crawled 50 yards away before it fell over.

�He made that thing die because he stabbed it about 20 times while it was chewing on his arm. He kept stabbing it and stabbing it and stabbing it and it was pounding on him, a quarter of a ton�a 525-pound bear pounding on him.�

Johnson was hastily carried out of the woods and flown to a local hospital where doctors said he suffered two broken arms and numerous other wounds across the face, hands, and limbs. The hunter is expected to undergo a number of surgeries, but Lindstrom said that he has a chance to recover before the end of deer season.

As for the bear, it was later recovered by Lindstrom and nine other men, who plan on mounting the animal in memory of the event. Lindstrom said that Johnson is in good spirits and even looking forward to hunting again. Next bow season, however, the firefighter recommends that everyone bring a sidearm.

Wow!!

Memo to self:
1. Bring adequate self defense
2. Use knife for skinning rather than killing.

Dumasses R us... X3.

1. Pointy sticks aren't as good as a good 250 gr. slug....even when properly placed, which is obviously not the case here.

2. Following up a bearin the dark just ain't Einsteinish - tho they get points on the meat spoilage thing.

3. Follow up with firearms for everyone - for whatever good it might do in the dark, they are definitely advantageous in light... Better pick your pards tho....

As a side note, I learned to come up on downed game and fire a "security round" from 5-10 yards out.

OK - I had to learn that one twice.....

"THE GROUP HAD ARROWED A LARGE BLACK BEAR"??????????

yeah, sounds like candidates for the Darwin Awards....

we all have to make personal choices, but if I was given the choice of spoiled bear meat... or a mangled face, followed by tons of surgery... well I can do without the bear meat, I don't care if he weighed 2000 lbs, and had PLENTY of meat....

Use to have a client who was the Administrator of the little Hospital there in Remer MN.. he use to archery hunt bears...
got one every year, but usually killed them, after hitting them and then the bear was coming up the tree after him, as he kept firing arrows down the tree at the bear...

I told him he was nuts... he said it was all about the adrenaline rush....

no thanks...

" ... doctors said he suffered two broken arms and numerous other wounds across the face, hands, and limbs. The hunter is expected to undergo a number of surgeries, but Lindstrom said that he has a chance to recover before the end of deer season."

That's the spirit.

I'd buy them beers to hear them tell the story.

A lot of us would have done the same thing but I would have definitely had a pistol on me. I wonder if the knife disqualifies it from the P&Y book should it have the appropriate skull!

I don't have much sympathy for the stupid bastard.

Dang, I live in Pine County and never saw a bear once season opened.
I wonder what he used for bait?
He should have used a 35 Whelen.

A few of us have kicked the story around here too. A few bad decisions were made punctuated by the possibility of some fermented grain. Lucky it ended with no fatalities.
I don't think we have heard the unabridged version.