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A Kentucky hunter was taken to a Juneau hospital early Friday morning after being mauled by a brown bear in Southeast Alaska, according to Alaska State Troopers.
The U.S. Coast Guard transported Douglas Adkins, 57, of Jenkins, Kentucky, Friday morning from Admiralty Island, south of Angoon, troopers wrote in a dispatch.
His injuries are not life-threatening, according to troopers.
Around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, a Juneau-based big game guide and Adkins, whom troopers described as a client, were returning from a brown bear hunt to the beach at Chaik Bay when they came across a brown bear a short distance away. The two were using headlamps, troopers wrote.
The brown bear was startled and attacked Adkins. After a short while, the bear backed off and left the area, troopers said.
It was dark and the incident happened quickly, wrote Alaska State Trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters.
A crewmember from their vessel, Sultana, notified the Coast Guard Sector Juneau command center at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday that a bear had mauled a member of their hunting party and that the man had “multiple puncture wounds,” the Coast Guard wrote in a release.
The Coast Guard arrived around 2 a.m. Friday and took the injured man to a Juneau hospital, where he remained Friday, said Ryan Scott, regional supervisor for the Department of Fish and Game’s wildlife conservation division in Douglas.
Scott said the two people were armed but didn’t fire any shots at the bear.
Few additional details were available Friday afternoon. Fish and Game had yet to speak with the mauling victim, Scott said.
The department will only attempt to locate and kill a bear if a mauling was not defensive, Scott said.

Hope the bear gets by.
Are people allowed to hunt after dark with headlamps? That’s the first thing that stood out to me. If it is illegal, I hope the outfitter is fined and they all get charged for poaching.
It may even be out of season as well.
Very sad story, particularly the part about “his injuries are not life threatening.”
I agree, Geoff. I’m disappointed that the injuries are not life threatening. I also wish they’d identified the hospital where they took the hunter, as maybe I’d send a “Get Dead” card to him. Not nice, I know, but sincere.
That part saddenend us too.