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.