The former Navy member is fully recovered after assisting a hunting group in Montana after a grizzly bear attacked him.
The Search and Rescue team of the Gallatin County Sheriff’s released a press release stating that one of the hunting group members reported ” while tracking a deer, a human has attacked by a grizzly bear ” on the Yellow Mule Trail to Madison County Dispatch, just after 1:45 p.m. local time on Friday.
The group had engaged Alpine Adventures in Big Sky, Rudy Noorlander’s daughter KateLynn Noorlander’s company, “to rent out some of his ATVs.” KateLynn detailed the circumstances on a GoFundMe page that has raised over $40,000 to support her father’s rehabilitation.
His daughter claims that when Rudy learned that the hunters had killed a deer, but they were unable to locate it, he decided to assist them in their search. Rudy was an actual good Samaritan. As it happens, the buck the hunters had shot was not the one he had tracked.
Once, after attempting to scare off an adult bear that his daughter shared, Rudy faced a grizzly that was ten feet tall. The second bear “lunged” at Rudy when his rifle misfired, and this bear was far more hostile than the first.
Rudy allegedly tried to punch the bear “in hopes of slowing it down,” but KateLynn said it didn’t work. It was “on top of Rudy” when the seasoned puncher struck the bear.
Rudy was assaulted, sustaining “a large scratch down his right chest” in addition to bites to his arms and legs. His lower jaw was amputated, and he also had “the most disgusting French kiss of his life.”
Thankfully, KateLynn stated before requesting assistance that “the hunters were there to scare the bear away.” Before help could arrive, her father remained on the ground for two hours “while still fully conscious,” according to the GoFundMe.
According to GCSSAR, Life Flight Helicopter took the person to Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical Centre.
After the incident, the government temporarily blocked the Yellow Mule Trails, including all Buck Ridge Trail entrances. As reported by FOX station KSTU, Noorlander’s sister, Kary Lyman, claims that the entirety of his lower jaw and teeth are missing. She added that during the attack, the bear “broke part of his throat.”
Rudy underwent “an initial surgery” and was sent to the Salt Lake City University of Utah Hospital, where he is in stable condition now, according to his GoFundMe page.
KSTU reports that despite his horrific injuries, Rudy continues to find ways to make others smile.
Lyman stated in an interview with the source, “He scribbled on [a board], ‘Bear French kiss me,’ and one of the nurses remarked, ‘We understand you’re kissing bears.’ “Oh, bad breath?” she said, and he acknowledged it.
At the event, Katelynn described her father as the “bravest and strongest man I know,” expressing her awe at his resilience.
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