The Fatal Predatory Black Bear Attack On Steven Jackson

View pictures and Support us at Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=73787379

Check out our Merch Store
https://scarybearattacks.myshopify.com/

Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode whisks us away to about 100 miles north of Phoenix, Arizona, to a place just outside of Prescott called Groom Creek. It isn’t exactly the back forty here, as there are homes all around this rural development. There are even a few small businesses nearby. The terrain is hilly and covered with stands of spruce, pine, and juniper trees. There are an average of 300 trees per acre here, which is high density. The wildlife in the area includes mule deer, elk, pronghorn antelope, turkey, and javelinas, to name a few. The dominant predators in this area include mountain lions, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, and black bears. It is in this scenic and peaceful setting that our episode takes place today.
At seven forty AM, on Friday, June sixteenth, twenty twenty-three, sixty-six-year-old Steven Jackson was sitting down at a table on his rural property to enjoy a morning cup of coffee. He was building a cabin on some land he owned and was just beginning to plan his work day. He was from Tucson and recently relocated to his land in Yavapai County, on a quiet wooded lot. Steven had been camping here regularly and enjoyed the peace and serenity.
Whenever he came up to work on his cabin, Steven would sleep on a hardshell pop-up tent mounted on a rack over the back of his truck bed. It was made by a company called RoofNest and was the state of the art in camping. It provided an elevated sleeping area which would be sure to keep you safe from any animals which may wander into your camp. It had a reduced vulnerability to being attacked by an animal like a bear, who would find a ground-based tent easy access, even though this kind of encounter rarely happens. Users describe this means of tent camping as granting a sense of security more than ground tenting it.
Steven’s neighbor, David Montano described him as extremely intelligent and very friendly. The two had exchanged phone numbers when they first met several years back and had been friendly neighbors ever since. Montano liked Jackson and enjoyed how happy he always was when he was up on his property. He and Jackson’s other neighbors would while away hours on his property, chatting. He looked forward to the completion of Jacksons' home and continuing to build their friendship.
As Steven prepared his coffee, he set up his typical morning ritual, a comfy camping chair by his table only a few yards from his cabin site. As he relaxed he had no way of knowing there would be a dangerous visitor to his site on this day.
With Steven’s back facing the wooded part of his lot, he couldn’t possibly have seen the very large male black bear approaching him. Bears have plantigrade feet, which means their weight is distributed over a larger area, like human feet. Their feet have thick rubbery pads similar to dogs, that flex around any object they step on. This may keep twigs from snapping, or prevent other sounds while they approach their prey. While I was in the backcountry of Alaska, I once had an enormous brown bear shake the ground with thudding footsteps as he approached me, stop, then slip away without as much as a twig snap.
Nobody witnessed precisely how the black bear closed in on Steven, but his neighbors suddenly heard him yelling for help. They rushed outside to see Steven in the grasp of a huge black bear, clearly terrified.
Neighbors began flocking to the attack site. Many of them yelled and screamed at the bear, trying to frighten it off. Others got into their vehicle and approached the area, honking their horns, but none of it scared the bear away.
As the bear bit and clawed Steven, the man yelled and tried pushing the bear away from him. With all the din raised by the neighbors, the bear began to drag Steven away, about 75 yards down a slope. That is when one of them went to get Montano.
Montano worked for the government and as part of his training, was well-trained with firearms. He firmly believed that a firearm in the hands of a trained person can save lives, but on this day, he was painfully wrong.
Montano was sleeping when he heard a thunderous pounding on his front door. He lept out of bed and ran to the door to see what all the ruckus was about. As he opened the door he witnessed an exasperated neighbor telling him to get his gun because a bear had Steven. Incredulous, he scrambled to grab his rifle.
By the time Montano arrived at Steven’s lot, he was nowhere to be found. Bystanders directed him to look down the hill and he quickly made his way through the trees and down the slope. As he searched for Steven he could see the bear standing over him. The bear was eating Steven’s lifeless body and slowly dragging Steven further away.