A Miracle Beach man is taking a bear mauling in stride this week after a black bear swiped the top of his head and sent him flying 10 feet.

Today, Ed Claydon says the whole experience should serve as a public reminder that bears are feeding and should be treated with respect.

Claydon was going out to the car shortly around 7:45 Thursday evening with a flashlight when he heard a growling sound.

He took another step and heard another growl.He stopped under an apple tree and, thinking it was a raccoon or something, he looked down at the ground.

Little did he know a black bear was sitting in the tree directly above him. It took a swipe, and sent him flying.

When he landed, Claydon shone the flashlight at the apple tree and met his adversary. He quickly skirted away from the bear, back toward the house and let himself in the back door.

"When I saw him I couldn't even comprehend what had happened," said his wife, Joy. "His face was dripping in blood. I thought maybe he'd caught his face on a tree branch but he said no, a bear just attacked me." She took him to the hospital, where the deep gash on the top of his head was stitched up and released.

Aside from the stitches he also sustained injuries to his shoulder - which took the brunt of his fall.

But his pain could have been a lot worse. If he hadn't looked down the gash could have been across the side of his face.

The Claydons live about 500 yards from Black Creek, where bears hang out and gorge themselves on salmon.

Though they pick and use most of their apples, they leave the very high ones - too high to reach with a ladder - for the wind and eventually, the deer to enjoy.

"I guess when we were attracting the deer we were also attracting the bears," Joy Claydon said. "I guess he moral of the story is don't leave any fruit on the ground." Even after the attack Ed Claydon, says he doesn't feel the bear meant him any particular harm.

He didn't even ask the conservation officers to attend. Conservation officer Ben York advises people to let his office investigate and decide whether a bear is dangerous or not.

He says in most cases, if a bear was acting defensively, people will be educated about bear attractants and the bear will be left alone.

If a bear is acting aggressively or in a predatory manner it will be investigated, tracked down and removed.

But the Claydons said the bear definitely fell into the first category.

"The bear meant him no malice," said Joy Claydon. "It was just a swat to say get away from my tree. It was not a rogue bear." The last bear complaint conservation officers had from the Miracle Beach area was in August.

"It's been extraordinarily quiet," said York. "It's been one of the quietest years across B.C. we've had in years.

"We haven't even set a trap yet and usually at this time of year we have all of our traps going." He suspects good berry crop, abundant pink salmon stocks in the rivers, and more bear awareness mean bears don't need to depend on human garbage as much as they have in the past.

"It might even be because people are starting to learn," said York.

Though bears usually hibernate by late November or mid December, bear sightings can occur on the coast year round.