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  1. #1
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    Default Autopsy on ginseng hunter in Park

    Since people were asking about it in another thread---i created this new thread just for this...

    here's what the Park sent down today...

    Great Smoky Mountains Media Update


    Release Date: February 4, 2019



    Autopsy Complete for Man Found in Park in September 2018

    Great Smoky Mountains National Park officials recently received the autopsy report from the Knox County Regional Forensic Center detailing that William Lee Hill, Jr. died of accidental methamphetamine intoxication. Hill, age 30, of Louisville, TN was found off-trail in the park on Sunday, September 9, 2018, near Rich Mountain Road, approximately two miles north of Cades Cove.

    According to the report, "An autopsy revealed extensive postmortem animal predation, but no findings of antemortem/perimortem trauma (i.e. Mr. Hill was not attacked by a bear)."

    At the time of discovery, searchers encountered a bear feeding on Hill’s body. Without knowing the definitive cause of death, the next day officials made the decision to euthanize the bear in the interest of public safety after consultation with wildlife professionals and further understanding of the bear’s aggressive behavior. The road leading into the area remained closed to the public while the bear was located and euthanized a few days later.

    The park is home to an estimated 1,500 bears. Very few bears exhibit aggressive behavior towards humans. Wildlife biologists and park rangers work hard to prevent bears from becoming food-conditioned or habituated to high-use areas. Out of an abundance of caution for the park's 11 million park visitors, park staff implement aversive-conditioning techniques and, on rare occasions, euthanize individual bears that pose a threat to visitor safety.





  2. #2
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    It doesn't say it in what I posted above but the report states that drugs and syringes were found near the body...

    and he had a history of using meth intravenously.....

  3. #3
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    I was kind of expecting to hear something like this....

  4. #4

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    Meth use and Appalachian Mt range ginseng hunting? Why am I not surprised. Ever see some of those characters on Appalachian Outlaws? Uhhh, I thought it was illegal to gather ginseng in GSMNP? If so this guy was a criminal in several incidences,...illegal poaching of plants and drug user on NP property.

    Hope the bears aren't eating the methy parts. That's just what we don't need...Jonesying meth bears.

  5. #5

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    Thanks for the follow up. It's good to see this chapter coming to a close.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by TNhiker View Post






    accidental methamphetamine intoxication.

    Methamphetamine "intoxication" was intentional; "overdose" was accidental

    intoxication was presumably his desired effect, overdose and death were the accidental part.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by trailmercury View Post
    Methamphetamine "intoxication" was intentional; "overdose" was accidental

    intoxication was presumably his desired effect, overdose and death were the accidental part.
    Maybe he was having an unsuccessful illegal "sing" hunting day and decided to intentionally end it all. Not enough stakes in the freezer.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dogwood View Post
    Maybe he was having an unsuccessful illegal "sing" hunting day and decided to intentionally end it all. Not enough stakes in the freezer.


    That is one theory.....

    or he got lost and figured to end it all thinking he would never come outta the woods....

    also---keep in mind---his partner committed suicide a few days after this incident...

    so we will never know the exact reasoning......

  9. #9

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    his poaching partner or his significant other?

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by trailmercury View Post
    his poaching partner or his significant other?


    Poaching partner....

    sorry, should have made that clear.....

    from what we had heard---partner (and apparently long time friend) was distraught during the search and finding of his friend......and a few days later, committed suicide....

  11. #11

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    So a bear partially ate a meth-head. I wonder if he was chain smoking and babbling nonsense when they found him?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rex Clifton View Post
    So a bear partially ate a meth-head. I wonder if he was chain smoking and babbling nonsense when they found him?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro



    no.....

    he was dead......

    as for the bear----it was shot and killed afterwards.....

    not sure if the sex of the bear was ever released.....

  13. #13

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    So... I think that still means only one person has been killed by a bear in the GSMNP since it's inception. Quite a record considering the number of visitors to that park, the high number of black bears and the almost regular mis-handling of food by visitors, campers and hikers in the park. I think it also should be a credit to the rangers and folks that manage the wildlife in the park. I suspect the ratio of bear to human deaths is a staggering number, so that is a sad conclusion.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rex Clifton View Post
    So a bear partially ate a meth-head. I wonder if he was chain smoking and babbling nonsense when they found him?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    Allow me to use this as a segue to introduce the famous Cocaine Bear a.k.a. Pablo Escobear:

    https://kyforky.com/blogs/journal/cocaine-bear
    Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Emerson Bigills View Post
    So... I think that still means only one person has been killed by a bear in the GSMNP since it's inception. Quite a record considering the number of visitors to that park, the high number of black bears and the almost regular mis-handling of food by visitors, campers and hikers in the park. I think it also should be a credit to the rangers and folks that manage the wildlife in the park. I suspect the ratio of bear to human deaths is a staggering number, so that is a sad conclusion.



    That is correct......

    back in 2000---Glenda Bradley was killed by a bear along little river trail in the elkmont section of the Park...

    she was killed on a Sunday---I had seen the same trio on the previous Friday...

    i also went to the press conference the Park held on Monday....


    and in 2006---there was a 6 year old girl who was killed in the Cherokee national forest here in Tennessee....

    there have been a few other incidents in the Park---most notoriously the guy at Spence field and the teenager on Hazel creek....

    and every year there are also other minor Bear incidents ---such as someone getting a sprained ankle due to running away from a bear after it might have bluffed charged them due to being too close or something like that...

  16. #16

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    I agree it’s not the bears fault and I know bears are scavengers but I did not know they would eat dead animals “humans”. Is this natural they eat dead animals?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Georgiahiker1784 View Post
    I agree it’s not the bears fault and I know bears are scavengers but I did not know they would eat dead animals “humans”. Is this natural they eat dead animals?
    Bears are omnivores. Yes, bears will feed on carrion. And garbage. Bears arent aggressive predators. They rely on natural killed carrion for food. Especially winter kills in spring

    I eat dead animals too. And i like em that way.
    Last edited by MuddyWaters; 02-05-2019 at 11:12.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sarcasm the elf View Post
    Allow me to use this as a segue to introduce the famous Cocaine Bear a.k.a. Pablo Escobear:

    https://kyforky.com/blogs/journal/cocaine-bear
    Wow! a little long, but fascinating story!
    Click it. Read it.

  19. #19
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    Great, now some bear is out there tweeking!

  20. #20

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    Quote Originally Posted by MuddyWaters View Post
    Bears are omnivores. Yes, bears will feed on carrion. And garbage. Bears arent aggressive predators. They rely on natural killed carrion for food. Especially winter kills in spring

    I eat dead animals too. And i like em that way.
    ROTFL. he he he.

    Bears can surely get aggressive Black, brown, Panda, Polar, sloth, and sun especially if you're a bee or termite protecting the hive or mound. I've seen them hunting rodents digging up ground like excavators working on Boston's Big Dig. I've seen them hunting elk and whitetail fawns very aggressively and methodically. Can be quite territorial.

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