Sow attacks hunter in tree stand

A 42-year-old Ladysmith man was attacked by a black bear just after sunset Friday, Oct. 12, at his bow hunting tree stand two miles southeast of Tony.

Kevin Schultz was treated at Rusk County Memorial Hospital for arm, back, side and leg wounds after the sow, weighing an estimated 300 to 400 pounds, came up the tree after her small cub.

Here’s his account as emailed to friends and family:

“I was bow hunting in a tree stand and was hearing a lot of noise about 75 yards away, but of course I thought it was a big buck making some scrapes and rubs.

“Shortly after sunset four bears were making their way to my stand, probably on the way to the cornfield. All four bears, sow and three cubs, were under my tree and when a cub started climbing my tree, I started making some noise to scare them away.

“Well, within less than a second, the cub crawled up the tree to a point above me and the sow came right up after her. I tried to fight her off by yelling at her and hitting her in the head with my bow. The cub went back down the tree but the sow started attacking me. She was biting me and trying to pull me out the tree. Luckily, I had a safety strap on. She would bite me and try pulling me down. Another good thing was I had heavy clothes on. About 4 or 5 times she bit me and/or clawed me on my arm and side. Somehow, I dropped my bow, or she swatted it away so I had nothing to do but try to kick her. She finally was able to pull me off my stand and she had a hold of my leg.

“I was wearing hip boots and she actually pulled my hip boot off as I was dangling from my safety strap. She then went to the bottom of the tree. She got to the ground and then she started wondering where her cubs were. She ran off about 15 yards and stopped for a while and finally left.

“I am not sure, but this all took place in less than a minute, I think.

“I pulled myself up to my stand again and tried to calm down. I was still worried about her coming back but I needed to get out of there. I climbed down, got my bow, nocked an arrow and started walking to the truck. I was so out of breath and so full of adrenalin. I could hardly stand it. I got to my truck, drove to my parents’ house, and then my mom drove me to the hospital. I had a big round gash on the meaty part of my elbow, and more wounds on my arm, back, side and my leg. The doctors were very concerned about my heart rate which was over 200 for a long time. They finally had to give me something for that. They gave me everything from rabies vaccine, to rabies immunoglobulin, tetanus and lots of other things I don’t even know about.

Schultz said he got home from the hospital Saturday, went in for an antibiotic IV on Sunday, and went back for stitches on Monday.

The incident was investigated by DNR Warden Jeremy Peery, who was not available for comment on Tuesday. Another DNR warden, Dave Zebro, described the attack as rare and said it was the “first I’ve ever heard of in Rusk County.” He said there were no plans to locate the bear, and commented that the hunter indicated he didn’t want anything done either.