State wildlife officials have concluded that a bear didn’t attack and maul a hunter over the weekend on the Grand Mesa.
On Saturday, a man in his late 60s reported he was attacked by a bear. He told Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials he was parked on his ATV near Powderhorn Ski Resort when a bear attacked him causing him to drive over a small cliff into rocks below. CPW says the episode left him with extensive but non-life threatening injuries.
Mike Porras, a spokesman with the agency, said CPW responded to the call and investigated the incident.
"We looked at the individual's wounds," said Porras. "We brought dogs out there from the USDA’s Wildlife Services. These are trained dogs that can certainly pick up a bear scent if it is there. We looked at the scene very carefully and based on all of that we determined a bear did not cause the injuries or the attack."
He said CPW isn’t sure what the hunter saw.
"We are not discounting that this individual believes he saw something that caused him to react," said Porras. "What it is we don’t know, but it certainly was not a bear based on the evidence."