NC: Injured bear hunter reported OK, ready to hunt again
Injured bear hunter reported OK, ready to hunt again ENCTODAY.COM
Sue Book
December 10, 2008 - 6:36PM
A Richlands man who was injured by a black bear while hunting in
Hofmann Forest on Monday is home, well, and ready to hunt again.
Vince Cox was in a hunting party of four in the 79,000-acre forest
when he shot, but did not kill, the bear, said Kenny Huffman, forest
wildlife manager.
"They were hunting the bear, made the bear, shot him, then went to
him when it happened," Huffman said. "It was just a hunting accident.
The bear was wounded. They didn't kill him right off the bat.
"It's not that unusual; if you bear hunt long enough, you are going
to get scratched once in a while. It's something that happens every year
or so, just an accident."
Cox received bites on the leg and was airlifted for treatment to Pitt
County Memorial Hospital.
Huffman, who saw Cox on Wednesday afternoon, said that "he came home
last night. He's doing great, ready to go back hunting. He appreciated
everything everybody did involved in the rescue."
The Monday afternoon rescue "was a coordinated effort," Huffman said.
"A lot of people were involved and everybody did a great job."
The Hofmann Forest management crew went quickly to work breaking a
path through the woods for an ambulance but helicopters from East Care
and Marine Corps Rescue Pedro also went to the scene and Pedro carried
Cox out for treatment.
Huffman said members of several hunting clubs hunt black bear in the
forest from November to Jan. 1 each year and kill about 25 of them.
The hunts help to control the bear population, he said. "It's like
everything else, you have to manage it.".
