Two college wrestling teammates fought off a ‘surprise’ bear attack.

Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry, both students at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, were antler hunting near Cody in the Shoshone National Forest on Saturday.

Cummings and Lowry are both sophomores and teammates on the Northwest College wrestling team. They went hunting with two more of their teammates, Orrin Jackson and August Harrison.

The duo were suddenly set upon by a grizzly bear, in what the Wyoming Game & Fish Department is calling a ‘sudden, surprise encounter.’

Cummings and Lowry first noticed they were in danger when they realized there were bear feces all over the patch of forest they were walking through, the students told KSL-TV.

The bear first went after Lowry. The animal’s bite broke the wrestler’s arm.

‘It shook me around and I didn’t know what to do,’ the wrestler said. ‘I curled up in a ball and it got me a few more times.’

Cummings leaped into action, yelling at the bear and trying to draw it away from his friend. When that didn’t work, Cummings began kicking the bear and pulling its fur.

‘It kind of tackled me and chewed me up a little bit. Then when it was done it wandered off and I started calling out for Brady to make sure he was alright.

Photos of the two students show the aftermath of the gruesome attack. Lowry is wearing a large cast on his right arm, while Cummings has a slew of cuts to his face and forearms.

The injured students were able to make it to a trailhead, where they were picked up by medevac helicopter. Park County Search and Rescue responded with the Wyoming Game & Fish Department and transported the injured students to St Vincent’s Healthcare in Billings, Montana.

Cummings and Lowry were treated for lacerations and broken bones. They both underwent surgeries, and the Northwest College Alumni Foundation put together a fundraiser to help pay for the students’ medical expenses.

Wyoming Game & Fish is still investigating the incident. They have seen an ‘abundance’ of bear activity in the area lately.

‘In the vicinity where the attack occurred, reports from landowners and hunters indicate there may be six to 10 different bears moving between agricultural fields and low elevation slopes,’ said Cody Region wildlife supervisor Dan Smith.

‘This is a sad and unfortunate situation, we wish both victims a full and speedy recovery,’ Smith said.

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