[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16121]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO CHASE DELLWO

 Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, today I would like to highlight an 
incredibly courageous Montanan and a man very dear to my staff and me: 
Chase Dellwo. Chase is a strong example of the courage, bravery, and 
quick thinking that sets Montanans apart.
  Chase Dellwo, like myself and many other Montanans, is a hunter. In 
recent weeks, however, Chase showed resolve that many could never 
achieve. While bow hunting with his brother recently, Chase climbed up 
a narrow creek expecting to drive a herd of elk toward his waiting 
brother.
  Having been focused on the elk, Chase did not notice the sleeping 
grizzly bear 3 feet from where he stood. Startling the now awake 
animal, Chase soon found himself head to head with this 400-pound bear. 
Chase recounts later that there was no time for him to draw his weapon 
back before he had been knocked off his feet and bit on the top and 
back of his head.
  With his eye swollen shut, part of his scalp hanging over his eye, 
and blood pouring from his wounds, he suffered through the animal's 
repeated assaults. This attack in normal circumstances would have been 
the end of a hunter's life, but not in the case of Chase Dellwo. Mid-
attack, Chase remembered an article his grandmother had sent him about 
large animals having terrible gag reflexes.
  This quick thinking led him to plunge his arm down the animal's 
throat, enacting the bear's gag reflex, and subsequently scaring the 
animal away. Despite incredible disorientation, he found his way to his 
brother and was in turn rushed to the nearest hospital.
  After undergoing multiple hours of surgery to fix his many 
lacerations, Chase sat with his wife, defending the bear, saying that 
it had been just as startled as he had. His many injuries led to 
multiple stitches, staples, and a hospital stay, but this 26-year-old 
remains alive and has encouraged Montana residents to be more aware of 
the animals that share their land.
  I commend Chase on his courage and smarts that saved his life and 
wish him luck on both his recovery and the upcoming hunting 
season.

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