PRESCOTT, AZ — A Tucson man was killed in an exceedingly rare and "unprovoked" bear attack near Groom Creek in Prescott.
ABC15 talked to a survival expert about what you can do to mitigate the risk of being attacked by a bear when you’re out in the wilderness.
Cody Lundin is a well-known survival expert and the founder of Aboriginal Living Skills School.
He tells us, the first thing you want to do when you’re outdoors is pay attention, don’t leave food out, and keep your area clean.
“Wildlife is wildlife. Bears are predators and the main reason they’d be interested in you is one thing, and that’s usually food,” he added.
He says before you go outdoors to camp or explore, knowing how bears act is key.
Lundin says if you find a bear that’s on the defensive and perceives you as a threat, try your best to show you are not a threat and back off.
“If I’ve come upon you and you’re the bear and surprised you…oh, it’s okay bear. It’s okay. I’m going to maybe back off. I’m leaving. No threat. Lateral would be better if I do this. No threat. So, I’m just going to be super mellow and convince you, hey man, I’m not a threat,” he explained.
So, what if the bear goes from seeing you as a threat to seeing you as prey? Try to make yourself bigger than the bear and be ready to fight back.
“In this case, if it’s a deadly threat and this bear is not leaving me alone, I’m going to make eye contact. I’m going to start yelling. I’m going to get really big. Try to be bigger than that bear. I’m backing up because I don’t want to engage, but if this bear charges, I have to be ready to go. So I try to poke the eyes, stab the eyes, strike the eyes. Whatever I can and, of course, the snout. There’s a lot of sensitive nerves in the snout,” Lundin responded.
He says 66-year-old Steven Jackson, who officials say was killed in that rare and unprovoked black bear attack in Prescott, was likely perceived as prey.
“And you can have a male black bear called a boar that’s 600 pounds. I think the record here in Arizona was over 800 pounds,” he told ABC15.
Jackson was sitting at his campsite where he’d been building a cabin when the violent attack unfolded.
“He’s building a home. Which means you’re there for weeks and months. Which means you’re eating breakfast, you're eating lunch, you’re eating dinner. When you’re backcountry and you’re building a home, all those scents that would normally be inside a contained thing called a home, are just out drifting in the forest and I think that might have made a difference in this case,” said Lundin.
It’s unclear if Jackson had time to react.
The bear was ultimately shot and killed by a neighbor.
