After some more research....Updated.
Bear Attack Victim faces Misdemeanor Charge
Associated Press
Dec 4, 2005
http://www.wkrg.com/servlet/Satelli...RG_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1128768530073
SARALAND, Ala. (AP) - Alabama's black bear population is fewer than 50 and living in a swampy southwest corner of the state.
The bears risk more run-ins with people as homes and developments expand into their territory.
The latest, most painful example: Deer hunter Kenneth Scoggin of Chunchula said he shot and killed a 165-pound female bear on November 25th after it ripped the skin off his knee -- an extremely rare attack.
While in a tree stand in thick woods, the 67-year-old Scoggin says the bear grunted, then scaled the tree about 30 feet and bit his knee.
To escape, he says he shot at the bear with a .22-caliber pistol and then killed it with rifle shots.
Near dark, he hobbled back to his 4-wheeler, then drove to his truck, where he used a cell phone to summon help.
Scoggin had surgery for the injury during a three-day stay at a Mobile hospital and expects a full recovery.
Conservation officials weighed the bear and planned an autopsy. Wildlife experts were puzzled over why the bear bit the hunter because they usually shy away from people. Wildlife biologist Will Underwood of Auburn University says he doesn't know of another attack like that in Alabama.
State conservation officials probed the bear shooting and determined that Scoggin was attacked by the bear while descending the tree.
Allan Andress, chief of enforcement for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in Montgomery, says the bear was not hit by the pistol shots, but was killed by three rifle shots.
Bears are a game animal with special protection under Alabama law that calls for forfeiting a hunting license for three years; a fine of up to five thousand dollars; and a possible one-year jail term.
But there's no penalty for killing one in self-defense. Andress says there are no plans to pursue prosecution of Scoggin for killing the bear. However, he says evidence indicated Scoggin was hunting very near two piles of corn. Andress says Scoggin has been charged with hunting deer by aid of bait, a misdemeanor.
Andress says the bear had been there frequently. He says the corn pile was a "contributing factor to this attack."
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
