Bear attacks and kills deer in grisly video captured by anglers along Tennessee lake
Two men fishing in the dark on a east Tennessee lake heard strange sounds coming from shore, and discovered it was a large bear in the process of killing and eating a deer.
Video of the grisly moment — recorded in the glare of their spotlight — shows the deer futilely kicking at the ground as the bear held it down and took bites.
It’s something people rarely witness in the state, and serves as a reminder of how unpredictable black bears can be, according to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
“Eight-five percent of black bear’s diet is made up of vegetation, but you wouldn’t know it after watching this video!” the agency wrote in a July 19 Facebook post that shared the video.
“Anglers Dustin Tolley and Adam Buckles were fishing on Watauga Lake a couple of nights ago and captured this rare video of a black bear catching and killing an adult white-tailed deer. ... We know they appear cute and cuddly ... but remember, they are predators and may attack.”
Watauga Lake is a 10.5-square-mile mountain reservoir near the North Carolina state line and is home to bears that can reach 500 pounds.
The attack happened around 11 p.m. local time Sunday, July 17, and Tolley says they were alerted by “the craziest sound” of something that seemed to be headed toward their boat.
“So we got the boat light to (see what) was coming toward us and this is what we see,” he wrote on Facebook.
“We didn’t know what was (going to) come down the mtn toward us. Sounded like it was goin to end up in the boat with us. ... Kinda scary.”
The video is only about 30 seconds, because the pair decided they “didn’t stick around” to see what happened next. Tolley says the bear appeared to be trying to drag the deer up the mountain.
His video has gotten nearly 440,000 views as of July 20, and hundreds of comments from people who were either horrified of fascinated.
“Here I thought black bears only ate berries and things like that, not another animal as big as it was,” Hope Zdonowicz wrote.
“This puts into perspective just how dangerous black bears can be,” Kenzie Woods posted.
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 12:31 PM with the headline "Bear attacks and kills deer in grisly video captured by anglers along Tennessee lake."