Hunter wounded by black bear in Pine County

A hunter who was tracking a wounded black bear in northern Pine County was attacked by the bear and suffered bites and severe cuts as he tried to fight off the bear by stabbing it with his hunting knife, the Pine County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Authorities received a 911 call about the injured man at 3:30 a.m. Saturday. The attack had occurred in “dense wild land,” northeast of the Village of Duxbury. To get there, responders had to use ATVs, according to a sheriff’s department news release.
It was unclear Saturday when the attack occurred and whether the hunter had shot the bear before the attack, since it is bear hunting season in Minnesota. No one at the Pine County Sheriff’s Office on Saturday afternoon had more information.
But before being loaded into an air ambulance, the hunter told deputies that while tracking the wounded bear, it charged out of the darkness and knocked him to the ground, clawing and biting him. He said he attempted to fight off the attack by stabbing the bear with his hunting knife, the news release said.
The injured hunter, whose name was not released, was transported to North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn., where he was listed in stable condition on Saturday.
The bear fled the area and hadn’t been located, but authorities said it poses no risk to the general public.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, along with the Pine County Sheriff’s Office, are investigating the incident.