Bearly

Tim Scott, 56, of Springfield, was hiking in the Red River Gorge Geological Area ahead of his wife and son on Sunday when he spotted the bear about 25 feet away. He said it appeared to be about 150 pounds and he took a few photos with his cell phone until the bear disappeared under a ledge. Scott said he was about to call his wife to tell her to take another trail when the bear reappeared.

Scott said he yelled and dropped his belt bag hoping to distract the animal. But the bear sniffed it and continued approaching Scott, who grabbed a rotted branch.

Alone, Scott hit the bear with the flimsy branch, but the animal kept coming. Eventually, the bear "lunged forward and grabbed me a bit but let go."

Scott tried to move behind a tree for protection a couple of times, but he said the bear grabbed him by the leg and threw him into the woods. Then, it sank its teeth into his thigh and shook him.

Scott said he tried to think of ways to fight the bear off, reaching into his pocket and finding his 3-inch pocket knife.

He was preparing to stab the bear in the eye, not sure what the animal's reaction might be, when a group of hikers who heard the commotion arrived.

One of them took his day pack and threw it at the bear, knocking the animal sideways, and prompting it to release Scott.

Scott said he crawled over to the other hikers and the group backed down the path for a quarter mile, with the bear following them. An ambulance met the group at the trail head and took Scott to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and transferred to University of Kentucky Hospital.

"The bear had a really good chunk of my leg in his mouth and was shaking me," Tim Scott told The Associated Press on Monday, after receiving 50-60 stitches.

The Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources says the incident Sunday was the first recorded bear attack on a person in the state.

Wildlife Division Director Karen Waldrop said the agency's policy is to kill any bear that behaves aggressively toward humans, and officials have closed the popular scenic area inside the Daniel Boone National Forest and set traps to try to capture the animal.