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Posted on 09/30/2002 4:21:08 PM PDT by Shermy
POCATELLO — A Soda Springs man being mauled by a large female black bear Saturday was saved by his father, who shot the animal through the neck with an arrow.
“When you hear your son yelling for help, there’s only one thing going through your mind and that’s, ‘Get down there and save him,’” said Nolan Koller, the father of 29-year-old Jason Koller.
“It happened too fast to really think,” said Jason Koller, who was recuperating at Bannock Regional Medical Center Sunday. “I was just hoping my dad could get there as quickly as possible and he did. He saved me.”
Nolan Keller shot the bear from close range as it left his son and charged him. The arrow “stopped him in his tracks,” said Larry Hlavaty, a senior conservation officer with the Idaho Fish & Game Department.
“These guys are really good archers,” said Hlavaty, who investigated the attack. “But still, even at that, it was a darn lucky shot.”
Hlavaty said the bear weighed more than 200 pounds.
The Kollers were archery elk hunting at Stump Peak, near Lane’s Creek, northeast of Soda Springs, when the female and her yearling cubs encountered Jason Koller.
“The wind was in our favor, so there was no scent for the bear to pick up and she just walked right into him,” Nolan Koller said.
“She was right there and nailed him,” Hlavaty said. “She swatted the bow out of his hand.”
Using a walkie-talkie, Jason Koller had told his father — who was uphill about 100 yards away — moments before the attack that he had spotted the bears. When Nolan Koller heard his son yelling for help, he went sprinting down the hill “about as hard as I could go.”
When he arrived, the elder Koller said, the bear was on top of his son, mauling him. He said he immediately thought, “I’ve got to kill her and it’s got to be a good shot. It was a serious situation; a life-or-death situation.”
The Kollers said the attack occurred at about 8:30 a.m. and Jason Koller was flown to Bannock Regional Medical Center by Life Flight at about 3 p.m.
Nolan Koller radioed a friend and his young son, who were about half a mile away, for help. After a lengthy journey to get to their all-terrain vehicle, the four-wheeler flipped, Nolan Koller said. Even after the family friends were able to right the vehicle and restart it, they still faced a two-mile trek over rough roads.
Luckily, the pair ran into some policemen from Washington who were hunting in the area and they went for help.
“He’s doing much better today,” Nolan Koller said of his son, who received several serious bite marks in his legs close to the femoral artery, and to his head and arms. “He’s bitten up pretty bad all over.”
Jason Koller underwent surgery Saturday and is expected to remain at Bannock Regional for another three or four days.
“It will take a little while to recover, but I’ll live,” he said. “It could have been worse.”
"Bear charging? Me with a bow? One shot? No problem."
Then my son-in-law ran five miles to a logging road and miraculously a Forest Service truck came by. He was still bleeding from wounds to his arm and shoulder, but he lead the rangers to the other two wounded guys and saved their lives as well as his own.
His uncle was nearly scalped by the bear and had 104 stiches to repair the damage. My son-in-law was a real hero, but still he has a real aversion to bears of any kind, including the Teddy bear variety.
Since forestry personnel were involved I believe you can assume the cubs were taken to a preserve area by them. (At least that's what happens here with orphaned animals when wildlife officers are involved.) No one wants the innocent young to suffer as a result of such an incident.
You are entirely welcome. Actually your question jogged my memory. Our Fish & Wildlife Service operates a center where orphaned and injured animals are taken until they are able to fend for themselves. Then they are released in a refuge area.
Following an autopsy on the deceased bear earlier today, EPA and Forest Service biologists, assisted by experts from the U.S. Geological Survey, determined that Koller had killed a bear distinct from a species for which his license was valid.
Koller's lawyer has said that his client will surrender to authorities on Tuesday, and plans to plead that he shot the bear in self-defense.
In response, Ahkmaidiah cited the clause in the Endangered Species Act which preclude claiming self-defense in cases involving the killing of endangered and threatened species. "Animals are not human" she stated, "and therefore, while self-defense against a human being may sometimes be protected by law, such technicalites are not covered by agressive human acts against protected animals under the Endangered Species Act ".
Jason Koller was the endangered species here, and then his Dad was threatened. I hope someday Tamika's Dad is in the same position and, instead of saving her, decides to protect his own hide.
These regulatory agencies of unelected bureaucrats making up regulations at will, are out of control.
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