Hunter survives bear attack in Alaska, credits cousin's quick action for survival

A hunter from Washington nearly found himself on the wrong end of the food chain when he was mauled by a bear in Alaska and narrowly survived the ordeal.

"I was sure I was going to die," Jadon Nicoara, 27, told King 5.

He and his cousin, Dan, were hunting for caribou last Thursday when a bear charged them from behind.

"This bear is running full speed, like out of the movies. It was insane," Nicoara said.

When the animal reached the startled hunters, it bit into Nicoara's face. He said he could feel the strength of the bear's jaws crushing pieces of his skull.

He said at that point he was sure he would die.

"I was in a strange space. It was like, what's the point where you cross from living, and you're going into heaven?" he said.

Nicoara's cousin pulled a handgun and began firing on the bear, which likely saved his relative's life at the cost of making himself a target. The bear stopped attacking Nicoara and charged Daniel, knocking him to the ground.

"That's like one of the most sinking feelings ever. When I was shooting at it, and all of a sudden they whipped around, and it looked at me and was like, 'wait a minute,'" Daniel told KOMO News. "So he charged me, and I emptied the rest of my magazine as he was charging."

Daniel said the force of the bear's attack knocked the gun out of his hands. Once he was on the ground, he said he curled up into a ball, protected his head, and tried to play dead.

It's unclear if the bear lived or died, but the weapon apparently did enough damage to drive the animal off.

Though the attack was over, the men were still out in the Alaska on a hunting trip, meaning they'd need to make it out of the wilderness with their injuries before they'd get a chance for proper care.

Nicoara said he was afraid he might die before he reached medical care and decided to film a video of himself saying goodbye to his wife and daughters.

"I pulled out my phone and filmed a short video for my wife and my girls, because I thought I wasn't going to make it," Nicoara said. "I was bleeding really bad."

Thankfully, in addition to being a gunslinger, Daniel is also a doctor and was able to get his cousin's bleeding under control.

It wasn't clear what kind of bear attacked the two men but it may have been a brown bear, which is common in Alaska.

While frightening, brown bear attacks are rare. Between 2000 and 2015, there were 183 brown bear attacks, which amounts to approximately a dozen each year, according to the journal Nature. For comparison, NOAA stats show that approximately 300 people are struck by lighting in the U.S. every year, and approximately 30 of those strikes are fatal.

Nicoara is recovering at his home in Walla Walla, Washington, and is appreciating the life he nearly lost, saying that "God answered a prayer, and we feel very blessed."

"It just makes me thankful for the days that I have with my family. I was thinking about my wife and girls through the whole thing. They kept me going," Nicoara said. "It just makes me want to live my life in a way that counts, take each day as a gift from God, and live to share His love with other people."