A Sitka, Alaska, man was found dead Wednesday after he was apparently attacked by a brown bear during a deer hunting trip, officials said.

Tad Fujioka, a 50-year-old Sitka resident, was reported overdue from his deer hunting trip Tuesday, the Alaska Department of Public Safety said in a statement. statement. Fujioka’s remains were found at 11:30 a.m. local time on Wednesday by search teams, and an investigation shows that he “was the likely victim of a deadly bear,” the agency said.

Tim DeSpain, an intelligence officer for the department, said Fujioka killed a deer before being attacked by the brown bear.

“The area is remote and there are a lot of bears,” DeSpain told NPR.

Troopers and members of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game searched for bears “until daylight constraints affected the search and they did not locate the bears,” DeSpain said. “The bears consumed the deer and left the immediate area, which is remote and hard to find. accession.”

Fujioka’s family members have been notified, the public safety department said.

Sitka is located in Southeast Alaska and is a community on Baranof Island. The community is nearly 100 miles south of Juneau, the state capital.

There are an estimated 30,000 brown bears in Alaska, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They normally live along the south coast of Alaska and can weigh up to 1,500 pounds.

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