Kettle Falls woman survives black bear attack while hiking [Video]

FERRY COUNTY, Wash. — A Ferry County woman fought off a black bear during a hike last week outside Kettle Falls and lived to tell the tale.

Lynn O’Connor was hiking with her dogs on her family’s ranch when the dogs started chasing what she believed was a bear cub.

“The next thing I knew there was a bear six feet in front of me,” O’Connor said.

O’Connor made a split-second decision to fight the bear.

“She popped out on the trail and she was in a run and she just kept running at me. She started getting real big at me, she pushed her shoulders forward and her head down,” she said. “She was that close and I punched her, I got little scars on my hands and I think I got three good whacks in before she was on top of me.”

O’Connor tried to protect herself by dropping into a ball.

“I just dropped and tucked …