October 4, 2011
By Dean Poling, The Valdosta Daily Times
HOMERVILLE, Ga. — A black bear bit a Macclenny, Fla., hunter this
past weekend during a Clinch County hunting expedition, according to
the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Mitch Canady, 54, of Macclenny received severe bite injuries to
his right wrist, arm, chest and pelvic area, said Rick Lavender, a
DNR spokesman.
Canady had to be air-lifted from Clinch County to Shands Hospital
in Jacksonville, Fla., where he’s being treated for his injuries.
Canady was among a group of experienced hunters using dogs to
hunt bear Saturday morning in southern Clinch County. A black bear
ran past an unidentified hunter who, from a standing position on the
ground, shot the bear twice with double 00 buckshot from a 12-gauge
shotgun, Lavender said.
The shots stopped the bear but did not kill the estimated
350-pound animal, Lavender said. This hunter, Canady and others
reportedly approached the bear, shooting it a third time. The bear
still lived.
One of the hunting dogs ran up to the bear and bit it.
The bear bolted, Lavender said, and ran into Canady. The bear
knocked him to the ground and bit him. The bites caused the most
damage to the wrist and left puncture wounds in Canady’s chest and
pelvis, according to DNR Ranger First-Class Jason Shipes’ report.
“While the victim was on the ground with the bear on top of him,
the other hunter pulled and kicked the 350-pound animal off of the
victim and was able to shoot the bear a fourth time, killing it,”
Shipes reports. “The victim was transported to the nearest highway
by members of the hunting party to meet up with emergency-medical
technicians.”
Shipes and Sgt. Patrick Dupree responded to Georgia Highway 187
and Tower Road to investigate.
The incident occurred during last week’s brief but legal
bear-hunting season running from Sept. 29 through Oct. 1 in a
handful of South Georgia counties, including Clinch.
South Georgia has a population of black bear near the Okefenokee
Swamp and neighboring counties.
“I would hesitate to call it an attack,” Lavender said of the
incident, “since we’re dealing with a wounded animal. The dog bit it
and the bear just ran and ran into this hunter.”
