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Bear Gets The Jump On Hunter Who Was Field-Dressing His Kill — He Didn’t Make It

The 22-year-old newlywed didn’t have his gun at the ready, and he didn’t stand a chance against the bear he encountered.

When you are in the wilderness, you may be a lot of things. ‘Safe’ isn’t one of them.

Even avid an experienced outdoorsmen — like Ohio’s Austin Pfeiffer — need to be alert to threats at all times… especially when you are doing something that might attract the local apex predators.

Field-dressing a moose is definitely something a bear would find interesting.

He was days away from his 23rd birthday when he took a hunting trip to Alaska.

His wife, Ryleigh Pfeiffer was naturally distraught as she described her now-late husband.

“When Austin wasn’t working, he was outside, hiking, hunting, just enjoying everything God had to offer,” she said. “Austin was such a kind, caring patient man and he loved me, his family and friends.”

Speaking with us at one of her husband’s favorite places, the Mount Jeez Overlook at Malabar Farm State Park, Austin Pfeiffer’s wife of two years said her husband traveled to Alaska two weeks ago for a moose hunting trip at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Ryleigh Pfeiffer was stunned when she received a call from a friend on Monday, indicating that her husband had been killed in Alaska, mauled to death by a grizzly bear. — Fox8

The incident itself has some important lessons for the rest of us to learn from. Never assume you’re ‘out of the woods’ until you are, well, actually out of the woods.

Park rangers in Alaska said the tragic incident began to unfold on Saturday night when Austin Pfeiffer and his hunting partner killed a moose in the national park. They field dressed the carcass and returned the next morning to carry the meat back to their campsite.

Rangers said it appears the grizzly bear was drawn by the smell and attacked Austin Pfeiffer so suddenly that he could not defend himself. The bear then encountered his partner and charged at him, but he was able to fire several shots at the bear, which then retreated.

Austin Pfeiffer’s wife said he had been planning the trip to Alaska for the past two years and she is now trying to come to grips with how his life was taken while he was doing what he loved. — Fox8

It’s truly unfortunate that the success of his hunt was what led the bear to encounter him while he was off-guard.

Does this mean hunting is a ‘bad’ thing? Not at all.

Get Doug Giles’ book, Rise, Kill and Eat: A Theology of Hunting from Genesis to Revelation today!

 
If a person looked to Scripture and paid particular attention to the passages within the Bible that address the topic of hunting, then they’d walk away thinking not only is hunting animals tolerated but it is endorsed by God. And that’s exactly what this little book is about: proving that God, from Genesis to Revelation, is extremely cool with hunters and hunting. I’ll go out on a biblical limb and claim right off the bat that you cannot show me, through the balance of the Bible, that the God of the Scripture is against the responsible killing and the grilling of the animals He created. ~Doug Giles
 
In his killer new book RISE, KILL & EAT: A Theology of Hunting From Genesis to Revelation Doug carries on with his courageous war against the lunatic fringe who dare recommend Bambi solutions to the annual production of edible wildlife. –Ted Nugent

Wes Walker

Wes Walker is the author of "Blueprint For a Government that Doesn't Suck". He has been lighting up Clashdaily.com since its inception in July of 2012. Follow on twitter: @Republicanuck

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