A 31-year-old archery hunter was attacked by a grizzly in the Upper Green River Basin of Wyoming at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, suffering severe bite wounds to his thigh before shooting the bear dead with his handgun.
Landon Clement of Blue Ridge, Georgia, was still being treated at the Pinedale Clinic when Cowboy State Daily reached out, said close family friend John Quintrell, who was at the clinic with him.
“He’s still back there with the doctor. He’s been back there a long time,” said Quintrell, who lives in the Upper Green River area of rural western Wyoming.
Quintrell is originally from Georgia and is lifelong friends with Clement’s father.
Gun Jammed, Then Cleared For Lethal Shot
Quintrell was hunting with Clement and was set up in a different spot about 300 yards away when Clement was attacked by a large sow (female) grizzly that had two nearly grown cubs.
He said he came running when he heard gunshots and Clement screaming.
The attack, as Clement described it to him, was sudden and extremely violent, Quintrell said. At one point, Clement’s 10 mm Glock semiautomatic pistol jammed.
He managed to clear the weapon and keep firing, his last shot hitting the bear in the head, Quintrell said.
The bear “was as dead as hell when I got there,” he said.
Clement had 3-inch deep bite wounds “on both the top and bottom” side of his thigh, Quintrell said.
“To start with, he was in terrific pain. But after a while, he got a little better,” he said, adding that the wounds didn’t really start bleeding until the reached the clinic.
Clement’s cousin and father were also along for the hunt, and were about a half-mile off when the grizzly attacked. After they arrived, Quintrell said he went to get their side-by-side.
Clement was able to walk part of the way out with his father and cousin balancing him from either side.
Saying Still And Quiet Didn’t Work
Quintrell said that during the morning’s hunt, Clement found a spot against a large rock that was flat on one side where he could scan a large area below for elk.
But before long, he saw the grizzly and her cubs coming down the hillside adjacent to him.
So he drew his handgun “and tried to stay as absolutely still and quiet as he could,” Quintrell said.
That didn’t work.
As the bears passed about 10 yards in front of him, the female caught his scent and immediately charged. Clement, who was backed up against the rock and had nowhere to go, opened fire.
After the bear sank her teeth into his leg, Clement’s pistol jammed, but he somehow maintained the presence of mind to clear the jam and continue firing, Quintrell said his friend told him.
Quintrell said that Clement probably fired about 10 times, and he saw at least four bullet wounds on the bear’s carcass, including the evidently fatal head shot.
A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service game warden had been informed of the attack and the bear’s death, Quintrell said.
Grizzlies remain under federal protection in the Lower 48 and may not be hunted. It is, however, legal to shoot and kill a grizzly in self-defense. It’s standard protocol for wardens to investigate self-defense shootings.
An Avid Hunter, Athlete And Good Guy
Clement loves hunting in Wyoming, Quintrell said.
He added that his friend is in peak physical condition, and competes in marathons and Iron Man endurance events.
He also has excellent character, Quintrell said.
“He’s as honest as the day is long,” he said. “He doesn’t even cuss. And of course, I cuss like hell.”
Quintrell added that he’s optimistic about his friend’s chances of a full recovery.
Wants Grizzlies Delisted
It wasn’t the first time they’ve tangled with grizzlies in the Upper Green River Basin, Quintrell said.
Two years ago, Clement and his father were attacked while coming back from a hunt in the dark, and Clement was knocked to the ground by the bear before it fled, he said.
Quintrell also said that at few years prior, he and another archery hunter were trying to recover the carcass of an elk that hunter had killed earlier.
That hunter had already been charged by a grizzly. So he asked Quintrell to go back with him, carrying a .308 rifle, while he carried a shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot.
They were charged by a grizzly — which might or might not have been the one that attacked the hunter earlier — and shot it with both weapons.
Quintrell said wardens also investigated that incident, but were unable to locate the bear.
He said that those previous attacks, attacks on archery hunters in Idaho and Montana this year — who also shot bears dead — and now Clement’s ordeal have convinced him that grizzlies should be delisted and hunted.
While he doesn’t want grizzlies gone, he thinks hunting them would control their numbers and deter them from attacking people and livestock.
“This is getting ridiculous,” Quintrell said. “Whose kid is going to have to get killed before we have a hunting season on these bears? Is it going to take a governor’s kid or a senator’s kid?”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
