Alaska State Troopers advise that a brown bear involved in the attack of a moose hunter on Thursday night, which may or may not be wounded, has yet to be located in the Chilkat River/Haines area.

At 7:59 pm on Thursday evening, troopers received a report of a bear attack with injuries along the Chilkat River above the Haines Highway. According to the report, two moose hunters, Scott Bradford, age 55, and his son Casey Bradford, age 21, were returning to their boat on the river after hunting “when a brown bear emerged from the brush, attacking Casey from behind.”

Scott reported that he fired a round above the attacking bear which was on his son’s back and the bear released his son and retreated towards the bushes. Scott fired an additional shot at the bear, but said he was unsure if he struck it or not.

The father/son duo made it to their boat then to their vehicle and were able to get to a medical facility for treatment of the son’s non-life-threatening injuries.

Troopers are unsure of what motivated the bruin’s attack and it has yet to be located.

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