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Man fends off bear by ramming his arm down its throat

Chase Dellwo, 26, and his brother Shane, 30, were bow-hunting elk in windy conditions with snow and rain northwest of Choteau, Montana on Saturday. The two split up to drive an elk they were tracking up to a ridge. Chase was hot on the elk’s heels and didn’t notice the sleeping and presumed 350-400-pound grizzly bear.

Chase is now laid up in a hospital bed with a couple hundred stitches and staples in his head and face, and a mangled right leg. And he has a few things to say. Firstly, and most importantly, don’t blame the bear. It was just as scared as he was.

Dellwo had an arrow knocked, but didn’t have time to draw the bow back and the startled bear knocked him off of his feet and bit down on the top and back of his head.

From The Great Falls Tribune:

“He let go, but he was still on top of me roaring the loudest roar I have ever heard,” Dellwo said.

The bear left and Dellwo managed to sit up.

“He came back and bit my lower right leg and gave it a pretty good shake and threw me a ways,” he said.

The bear came after him again.

“I remembered an article that my grandmother gave me a long time ago that said large animals have bad gag reflexes,” Dellwo said. “So I shoved my right arm down his throat.”

Dellwo’s gamble paid off and the bear fled. His brother was able to get him to a hospital 20 minutes away to get him proper medical attention. Dellwo said he saw a six-point elk on the way out of the woods. “That was disappointing,” he said with a laugh.

Again, Dellwo stressed that none of this was the bear’s fault. He started with that. This man is amazing.

Advice to others about preventing a bear attack? “Carry bear spray,” although Dellwo admits that it wouldn’t have really helped him in such windy conditions.

If all else fails, you can always just shove your arm down the bear’s gullet.

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