WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS -- In the past two months, I've written about hikers and hunters who have defended themselves in a grizzly bear attack by using bear spray as well as by using a handgun.

The latest case involves an alternative that's even more creative if not more desperate.

Hunter escapes attack by shoving arm down bear’s throat

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) — A bow hunter in Teton County is recovering after he survived a grizzly bear mauling by remembering a tip from his grandmother and shoving his arm down the animal’s throat. 

Chase Dellwo, 26, was hunting with his brother northwest of Choteau on Saturday when he came face to face with a 350 to 400 pound male grizzly, the Great Falls Tribune reports. 

Dellwo went to walk up a creek bed, hoping to drive a group of elk to a ridge where his brother was waiting. 

He was about three feet away before he realized he was near a bear that had been sleeping. With 30 to 40 mph winds with snow and rain, the bear hadn’t known Dellwo was coming. He said he only had time to take a few steps back before the bear knocked him off his feet and bit his head. 

“He let go, but he was still on top of me roaring the loudest roar I have ever heard,” Dellwo said. 

The bear then bit Dellwo’s leg and shook him, tossing him through the air. As the bear came at the man again, Dellwo remembered a magazine article his grandmother had given him. 

“I remembered an article that my grandmother gave me a long time ago that said large animals have bad gag reflexes,” Dellwo said. “So I shoved my right arm down his throat.” 

The advice worked and the bear left. 

Dellwo started to walk out, bloodied and disoriented.

"I saw a six point elk on the way out, that was disappointing," he said with a laugh.

He wasn't laughing at the time however.

"I forced myself to calm down and not to panic," he said. "I was lost. I cleared the blood out of my eyes. If I had allowed myself to panic I would still be in there."

Dellwo rejoined his brother who drove him to a hospital. He received stitches and staples in his head, some on his face, a swollen eye and deep puncture wounds on his leg. 

“I want everyone to know that it wasn’t the bear’s fault, he was as scared as I was,” Dellwo said