A member of Lester Harvey's hunting group shot a black bear out of a tree while Harvey was standing just feet from the trunk.
On Dec. 9, 2024, a Virginia hunter named Lester Harvey was killed by the very bear he set out to shoot. The 58-year-old father and grandfather passed away four days after a freak hunting accident in which a bear fell out of a tree and landed on him.
Now, Harvey’s family is remembering him as the passionate outdoorsman and “friend to all” that he was. However, his death is also sparking heated online debate about bear hunting.
Lester Harvey Dies In A Freak Hunting Accident
Lester Harvey of Phenix, Virginia, was a father of five, a grandfather of eight, and an avid hunter. When he wasn’t spending time with his family or working as a contractor, he was often in the woods.
“If you know my dad, you know a hard working, kind, caring man,” wrote Harvey’s son, Josh, in a Facebook post. “A man who has never missed a day of work. A man who would give you the shirt off his back… A man who loves the outdoors and wouldn’t miss a good hunt for nothing.”
On the morning of Dec. 9, Harvey was bear hunting with family and friends in Lunenburg County, Virginia. The group was chasing a black bear with hounds, and the creature eventually ran up a tree. As Harvey approached the tree to grab his dog, another hunter shot the bear. It fell from the tree and struck Harvey, who was standing roughly 10 feet away from the trunk.
A medical professional who was hunting with the group immediately administered first aid while waiting for emergency services to arrive. Harvey was taken to a nearby hospital before he was transferred to a critical care unit in Richmond, Virginia, where he succumbed to his injuries four days later on Dec. 13.
The Contentious Aftermath Of Lester Harvey’s Death
In a post on Facebook, Lester Harvey’s wife, April, lamented his death. “I went from having the best husband and a man who loved me so much and a man I loved with my heart and soul to being a widow at 48 years old. It’s not fair.”
However, as Harvey’s family mourns their loss, opponents of hunting are making comments on social media suggesting that Harvey deserved his untimely death because he was a hunter. Using dogs to hunt in particular is a hotly debated topic in Virginia and beyond.
Virginia does allow for the use of hounds while hunting black bears during certain seasons, but hunters are expressly forbidden from trying “to cripple, harm or dislodge a bear from a tree for the intent of continuing a hunt, chase, or for the purpose of training dogs,” according to the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (VDWR). The VDWR has announced they are not currently seeking charges related to this incident.
According to the VDWR, more than 40 percent of bears killed while hunting are chased down with the assistance of dogs:
“Across all bear seasons, an estimated 43.2% of bears were taken by hunters using hounds. Preliminary season estimates for the proportion of bears harvested by hunters using hounds were as follows: three-day early firearms season (43.9%), firearms season (74.8%), and youth/apprentice weekend (72.3%).”
Some Virginia landowners have even pushed for a full ban on the use of hounds in hunting. It is too early to say whether the tragic story of Lester Harvey will bolster support for this cause.
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