From Staff And Wire Reports

A hunter won a fight to the death with a mother grizzly bear, stabbing the animal in the eye and jugular vein as she tried to tear him to pieces.

Bob Nichols of Maple Ridge, near Vancouver, was hospitalized for his wounds in Prince George.

The 880-pound grizzly bled to death after the struggle late last week north of Fort St. James. The animal was with three yearling cubs and another cub a few months old, wildlife officials said.

The bear attacked Nichols near a beaver dam and began chewing on his legs and chest, said Danny Boyd, Nichols’ cousin and hunting companion.

“He couldn’t get his gun up because the bear got on him too quickly. He finally … got his knife and started jabbing this thing in the side of the throat,” Boyd said Sunday.

Nichols, 49, later fired his rifle to alert his companions, who brought him out of the bush on a makeshift stretcher of coats and poles.