An Alaska hunter was mauled by a brown bear mid-hunt, and he says he’s grateful for the one thing he can’t remember

Gavin Haakenson is lucky to have walked away from a brown bear encounter in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. As reported by LADbible, Haakenson was hunting with his friend Ethan Yeager on September 2 when the pair set out to track moose through the Alaskan wilderness. About two miles along the trail, the encounter turned into a survival situation.

The pair had moved through some brush toward a series of swampy ponds when Haakenson noticed movement to his right. “I heard a noise to my right and looked over and there was a brown bear charging me at full speed,” he said. Brown bears can reach speeds between 30 and 35 miles per hour, and this one closed the distance almost instantly.

Haakenson said the bear was roughly 10 feet away by the time he spotted it. “It hit me in the shoulder and knocked me down,” he recalled. Yeager tried to fire at the animal but struggled to get a clear shot because the bear was positioned directly in front of his friend. The gunfire ultimately scared the bear off before the encounter could escalate further.

He’s relieved he doesn’t remember the worst part

The entire struggle lasted under 10 seconds, and Haakenson said he lost consciousness during it. He said he is glad he blacked out and does not remember the bear being on top of him, though the “what if” thoughts are what keep him up at night. The two men retreated to their truck afterward, calling out “hey bear” along the way to avoid startling any other wildlife in the area, amid a string of animal encounter stories.

Haakenson walked away without needing stitches. He sustained a claw mark through his coat, and an X-ray confirmed no broken bones, though the impact was significant enough to require about six weeks of physical therapy for his shoulder. Federal wildlife officer Dustin Martin later warned him the bear would likely remain territorial if he returned to the area.

Haakenson currently holds tags for brown bear, black bear, and moose, and he is weighing whether to go back for the animal that attacked him. “I have a hard decision to make. I’d like to go out and find this brown bear and shoot it, but how much do I want to make my mother worry? And how angry will this brown bear be when it sees me?” he said.

The Kenai National Wildlife Refuge spans nearly two million acres and is a popular destination for hiking, fishing, and hunting. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, visitors staying overnight in one of the refuge’s 14 public use cabins are required to secure food and trash to reduce the risk of bear encounters.

Haakenson says he plans to keep hunting despite the attack.