Dad dies after bear falls on him in Virginia hunting accident, wildlife officials say

Brooke Baitinger, The Charlotte Observer on Dec 17, 2024

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A beloved father died after he was seriously injured during a hunting accident while with his son in Virginia, officials said.

Lester Clayton Harvey Jr., 58, was standing about 10 feet from the bottom of a tree where his group of houndsmen had chased a bear in Lunenburg County on Dec. 9, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources told McClatchy News in an email. One of the hunters shot the bear, and it struck Harvey as it fell.

“Dad was doing what he loved most ... bear hunting with me and some of his good friends when he was injured extremely badly,” his son Josh Harvey said on Facebook Wednesday, Dec. 11. “This is goin (to) be a long road ahead but hopefully one day I will have my best friend back.”

A medical doctor in the hunting group gave Harvey first aid until EMS arrived, Josh Harvey and wildlife officials said.

Lester Harvey then died in a hospital on Dec. 13, the department said.

“Lester was a friend to all and never met a stranger,” his obituary said. “He was an avid outdoorsman.”

He worked as a self-employed contractor, according to the obituary.

His children remembered him on Facebook for his work ethic and his love of hunting.

“If you know my dad, you know a hard working, kind, caring man,” Josh Harvey wrote in the Dec. 11 post. “A man who had never missed a day of work. A man who would give you the shirt off his back…. A man who loves the outdoors and wouldn’t miss a good hunt for nothing!”

“My dad was the hardest worker I know,” Lindsey Bender, one of his daughters, said on Facebook on Dec. 16. “He was either working or hunting. The ONLY time he missed work was to hunt.”

Bender shared multiple photos of her father on hunting trips and working.

His son Josh Harvey said their hunting group would keep the father’s dog pack going for him.

“I am so thankful for all the memories we made and all you taught me,” he said. “I wouldn’t be the man I am now if it wasn’t for you…heaven just gained a hell of (a) man.”

Lunenburg County is about an 80-mile drive southwest from Richmond. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources is not pursuing charges in the incident.

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