Montana Bear Attack: 'I Could Hear Bones Crunching'

ENNIS, MT — A bow hunter searching for elk in southwestern Montana got more than he bargained for when a grizzly bear attacked, leaving him with a 16-inch gash in his head that required 90 stitches.

"I could hear bones crunching, just like you read about," said Tom Sommer, as he recovered in a Montana hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

Sommer said his hunting partner spotted a grizzly bear feeding on an elk carcass in the southern end of the Gravelly Range, just north of the Idaho border. (For more information on the attack and other Montana stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

"The bear just flat-out charged us," Sommer said. He said it closed the 30-foot distance in 3 or 4 seconds.

His hunting partner slowed the bear's charge by deploying his bear spray. Sommer grabbed his canister too, but couldn't release the safety and couldn't afford to take his eyes off the bear as it closed in. He darted around a tree twice, dropping his bear spray in the process.

Watch: Montana Bear Attack: 'I Could Hear Bones Crunching'

Sommer then grabbed his pistol and turned to confront the bear.

"It bit my thigh, ran his claws through my wrist and proceeded to attack my head," Sommer recalled Tuesday.

He still had his pistol in his hand and was going to shoot the bear in the neck when it swatted his arm down, Sommer said.

"Just like that it stopped. He stopped biting me, he got up and started to run away," said Sommer, who splits his time among Idaho, Missouri and Florida.

His hunting partner had been able to deploy the rest of his bear spray, ending the attack Sommer estimated lasted about 25 seconds.

"It could have been a lot worse," he said.

Sommer found his bear spray canister. His hunting partner had some blood coagulation powder and they made a turban, stopping the bleeding after about 15 minutes.

They walked a mile back to their spike camp and rode mules another 4 miles out to their base camp, followed by a 2-hour ride in a pickup truck to get to the hospital in Ennis.

"Through it all I was very conscious, very level-headed and low key about it," Sommer said. "Besides some scars, it doesn't appear that I will have any problems."

"I've been a hunter my whole life," said Sommer, 57. "I have no grievance against the bear. He was just doing what bears do. But I would have shot him just the same."

By AMY BETH HANSON, Associated Press

Photo credit: Tom Sommer via AP