Todd Orr surprised a mother bear and her cubs, despite making every effort to keep any nearby animals aware he was in the area, and was savagely attacked
A HIKER was lucky to escape with his life after being brutally attacked TWICE by a mother bear and with her cubs.
Todd Orr posted a video to Facebook moments after the savage attack as he bled heavily and clearly has a large gash to his head.
He is covered in blood and has injuries on his arm, torso and head.
He describes what has just happened before signing off to take himself to hospital, but also wrote an account of his ordeal the next day to explain what happened.
Todd wrote he had gone for a hike in the Madison Valley of Montanta, USA, on October 1.
As he was aware bears are frequently seen in the area he called out every 30 seconds or so, "so as to not surprise any bears along the trail".
He said: "About three miles in, I stepped out into an open meadow and hollered again.
"A few more steps and I spotted a sow Grizzly bear with cubs on the trail at the upper end of the meadow.
"The sow saw me right away and they ran a short distance up the trail. But suddenly she turned and charged straight my way.
"I yelled a number of times so she knew I was human and would hopefully turn back. No such luck.
"Within a couple seconds, she was nearly on me. I gave her a full charge of bear spray at about 25 feet. "Her momentum carried her right through the orange mist and on me.
"I went to my face in the dirt and wrapped my arms around the back of my neck for protection.
"She was on top of me biting my arms, shoulders and backpack.
"The force of each bite was like a sledge hammer with teeth. She would stop for a few seconds and then bite again. Over and over.
"After a couple minutes, but what seemed an eternity, she disappeared."
He picked himself up, checked his wounds and knew he would be able to get back to his truck three miles away.
But only five or ten minutes after the first attack he heard a noise, and turned to see the bear chasing him down again.
She slammed on top of him again and started biting him all over.
The pain made him gasp, encouraging the bear to start attacking again, and his arm went numb before a gash opened above his ear - nearly scalping him.
Eventually after he went still, she stopped and left.
Todd had serious injuries and was bleeding heavily, but estimated he could keep going for another 45 minutes.
The 50-year-old jogged to his truck and headed to hospital, scaring his girlfriend with his tale on the way.
He said: "Once inside, the x-rays revealed only a chip out of the ulna bone in my forearm. Following was eight hours of stitching to put me back together.
"Most were arm and shoulder punctures and tears. A 5" gash along the side of my head will leave a nasty scar, but I'm hoping my balding doesn't come on too quickly and leave that one exposed.
"And finally, this morning, numerous deep bruises and scrapes are showing up from the bites that didn't quite break the skin.
"Dark bruising in the shape of claws, line across my lower back and butt where the bear stood on me.
"Also a few more chest bruises and facial abrasions from being smashed and slammed into the ground.
"Not my best day, but I'm alive."
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