courtesy of Anchorage Daily News
by Casey Grove

A moose hunter attacked by a grizzly bear north of the Denali Highway survived the severe mauling Monday after hiking to his camp, traveling by boat downriver to a wilderness lodge then getting an airlift via Alaska Air National Guard helicopter to an Anchorage hospital.

Donald “Skip” Sanford, 65, was hunting about five miles upriver from the Maclaren River Lodge when the bear attacked, according to Alaska State Troopers.

Sanford had been hunting with his son John, 12, his friend Monty Dyson, 47, and Dyson’s son Chad, 22, Dyson said.

Dyson relayed Sanford’s story Tuesday by radio phone from the lodge, which sits on the highway 42 miles east of Cantwell.

Sanford walked away from camp Monday about 2 or 3 p.m. to find a hand-held radio he lost earlier, Dyson said.

Sanford was on a game trail when he saw the bear stand up, Dyson said. Sanford backed up, but the bear seemed to circle around him, Dyson said.

Sanford told rescuers he first saw the grizzly about 75 yards away from him, said Joe Snyder, one of the many people at the lodge who helped treat Sanford and get him out of the wilderness. The bear quickly closed the gap between them, Snyder said.

“He turned around and the bear was about 20 yards away, and it was coming at him pretty fast with its head down,” Snyder said.

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