The Daily Maul: Hunter Loses Leg After Shooting Himself, Black Bear Dies

The good news is: A California savage has one fewer legs than he did before going bear hunting earlier this month. The bad news is: A black bear was executed for being a black bear.

A December 28 post on Outdoor Life’s “Newshound” blog explains that “the man was bear hunting with friends when the group treed a black bear. When someone shot at the bear, it dropped from the branches above and charged the man. He drew his .44 handgun a little too erratically and blew a hole through his leg somewhere below his knee. Another hunter shot the bear and killed it.”

The blog post’s author, it should be pointed out, took an editorial swipe at the now-disabled hunter, writing: “Somewhere, Dirty Harry is shaking his head in disbelief.”

It’s an ironic reference when one considers that the one-legged barbarian will henceforth require a chair.

On December 12, KTXL (Fox 40, Sacramento) reported that the recent amputee “said he wanted to put this accident behind him, and that he is grateful for the love and support from his family.”

I take issue with the use, in this context, of the word “accident,” which is defined in my copy of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged as “an event or condition occurring by chance or arising from unknown or remote causes.”

“Chance” is defined in my dictionary as “something that happens unpredictably without any discernible human intention or direction and in disassociation from any observable pattern, causal relation, natural necessity, or providential dispensation.”

“Hunting injury” would have been a better choice of words.

One can speculate as to what the bloodlust-full former biped wants to leave “behind him.” The comment, as far as I’m concerned, betrays the bastard’s predictable refusal to evolve behaviorally. Physically, we know, he’s taken a step backward, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Sadly, the bear’s last steps were taken moving forward, in self-defense.

In my opinion, the world would have been a better place had the bear vanquished his or her subhuman assailants and survived.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Brensilver is the author of ExecTV (ENC Press, 2005), “the book the Vatican refused to comment on.” A classically trained musician-turned-writer, David’s writing has appeared in a host of publications including the All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music (Backbeat Books, 2005), Modern Drummer Magazine, Architecture magazine, Buildings magazine, Scandinavian Review (a publication of the American-Scandinavian Foundation), New Music Box (an online publication of the American Music Center), Philadelphia Weekly, Nashville Scene, New Haven Independent, The Arts Paper (a monthly publication of the Arts Council of Greater New Haven), Connecticut College Magazine, and The Day (Connecticut). For The Daily Maul, David has interviewed such influential animal advocates as Peter Jay Brown, whose documentary film Confessions of an Eco-Terrorist chronicles the work of Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society; Carlie Jackson, executive producer of the TV series Project Earth; Denis Henry Hennelly, whose movie Bold Native examines the federal Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.