November 2, 2012
By Mandy Valencia, MailTribune.com
After being shot, wounded animal strikes back in Trail
A
Medford man suffered multiple injuries Thursday afternoon after a
bear he and a hunting partner had shot grabbed and began to maul
him.
Alex Machado, 22, was being treated at press time for
multiple injuries in the emergency room of Rogue Regional Medical
Center in Medford — following a search and rescue effort that
included the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, the Oregon State
Police and Mercy Flights responders.
(Correction: See below)
The second hunter, 24-year-old Nathan Shinn of Phoenix, was
uninjured in the incident.
Officials said Machado and Shinn
were deer hunting near Elk Creek Road in Trail when they spotted the
bear. The men, who officials said had bear hunting tags, fired on
the animal and hit it in the abdomen.
As the men approached
the bear in a meadow where it had lain down, the animal awoke and
grabbed Machado, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Andrea Carlson
said in a news release.
"To make sure something is dead,
confirm it with the barrel," said senior trooper Jim Collom of the
OSP Division of Fish and Wildlife.
"They thought it was dead
because it was laying there.
After grabbing Machado, Carlson
said, the bear began biting Machado on the right side of his body
injuring his right hand and arm, pulling the man into a hug.
Machado and the bear rolled down a 50-foot embankment, with the bear
continuing to bite Machado as they plummeted.
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