NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — A Florida man attacked by a bear while on a hunting trip in Wyoming is speaking out about the harrowing experience that left his hunting guide dead.
"When that bear did have me by the back of the leg thinking to myself that this is it, this is my death. This is how I'm dying," Corey Chubon told WESH 2 News in Orlando.
Two new friends on a hunting trip. And only one made it back alive.
Mark Uptain was Chubon's guide on the trip. They caught an elk Thursday evening, and went back Friday to pack it up. I was in a forested area near the border of Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks, northeast of Jackson Hole.
"We heard rocks tumbling. and all of a sudden, we turn around. and we see two giant grizzly bears," Chubon said. "Full charge. coming right at us."
The first bear went for Uptain, clawing him. As Chubon tried to load their pistol, the second bear attacked him.
"He swiped at me on my arm and then he went around behind me and grabbed the back of my ankle and he swung me by his jaws," he said. "I tried to throw the gun to Mark. It didn't make it to him and the gun landed on the ground. And somehow the grizzly let me go and charged Mark again and that's when I made the decision to just run for my life."
Rescuers airlifted Chubon to the hospital in Wyoming. Now, he's back in New Smyrna Beach, still visibly wounded but able to walk.
Emotionally, he's got a long recovery ahead.
"The approach that he took in dealing with the bears probably saved my life," Chubon said.
As Chubon continues to recover, he says Uptain leaves behind a wife and five children.
On Sunday, Fish and Game officials in Wyoming reported that they had trapped and killed the two bears believed to have attacked the men. The attack remains under investigation.