A northern British Columbia man fought off a charging grizzly bear by stabbing the animal in the neck with an arrow.
Fort St. John native Rory Chapple was hunting in the Kechika River area near the Yukon border when he was attacked on Sept. 8.
“I left camp … and all of a sudden behind me I heard a huffing sound,” Chapple told Metro Vancouver yesterday.
He said he turned around to see a sow, trailed by three cubs, coming full tilt toward him.
“It takes a few seconds to realize what’s going on and I started to holler at her and back-pedal as fast as I could. When I was doing that I hooked my heel and started to fall backwards.”
Chapple said as the sow tried to jump on top of him he held his bow out as a shield, pulled an arrow out of his quiver and stabbed her in the throat.
“Her elbow squashed my head into the ground and she turned to run away with the arrow stuck in her neck.”
Chapple said he’s fine except for a sore back and some residual jitters.
“In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been alone and definitely should have been packing pepper spray.”
