Lester Clayton Harvey Jr. died ‘doing what he loved most – bear hunting’, according to his son, who had accompanied the poacher before the freak fatal accident
A hunter was killed when the bear he was trying to catch fell out of a tree and landed on him.
A group of bear hunters had driven the animal into a tree in Lunenburg County, Virginia, Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources confirmed Tuesday (yesterday). The treed bear was then fatally shot by one of the hunters before it plummeted onto Lester Clayton Harvey Jr., 58, who was standing around three metres away from the tree. “A member of the hunting group rendered first aid until local fire and EMS arrived on scene,” wildlife resources spokesperson Shelby Crouch said.
Harvey Jr. was taken to hospital after the accident on December 9, but died from his injuries last Friday. “The department is not currently seeking any charges related to this incident,” Crouch said.
“Dad was doing what he loved most, bear hunting with me and some of his good friends when he was injured,” Harvey Jr.’s son James, who had been alongside his father when the accident happened, wrote in a heartfelt Facebook post.
“Never good to lose a houndsman. Never good to lose anybody this time of year,” said fellow hunter James Russell Hudson on Facebook.
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Last month in Siberia, a woman was “torn apart” by a bear before being buried under a pile of leaves by the animal.
Natalya Pasternak thankfully survived the incident and was discovered by a group of hunters in Tynda, Siberia, who stumbled across her body in shock.
She recalled her experience to The Siberian Times, saying: “When I saw the bear, I tried to escape. Then I remembered about my friend and stopped. That was the moment when the predator attacked me.”