CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — An elk hunter who shot and killed a grizzly bear after the animal bit his arm hiked three miles to a trailhead and drove himself to a hospital in Cody, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department said.

The man wasn’t seriously hurt after the attack in northwest Wyoming Thursday afternoon, and he was released from West Park Hospital Friday morning, according to Game and Fish and the hospital.

A hunting companion wasn’t in the immediate area when the bear attacked and wasn’t hurt.

The attack happened in the Jim Mountain area midway between Cody and Yellowstone National Park. Details about what happened remained sketchy Friday.

“I don’t know if he walked in on the bear, or if the bear walked up on him,” Game and Fish spokesman Dennie Hammer said.

Game and Fish didn’t release the man’s identify, saying state and federal wildlife officials were still investigating what happened.

Hammer said the man was an out-of-state hunter.

At least 38 grizzlies are believed to have died in the Yellowstone ecosystem this year. That includes 31 deaths caused by people in one way or another, according to the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team made up of federal and state officials who oversee the region’s grizzlies.

The Yellowstone ecosystem is home to an estimated 580 grizzly bears. Known grizzly bear deaths — including those killed by hunters in self-defense — have increased as the region’s grizzly population has grown.

“We see bears pushing out to places where they haven’t been in a long time,” said Chris Servheen, grizzly bear coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Mortalities are high just because we have so many bears.”

Grizzlies are protected as a threatened species and the mortality count can affect their status under the Endangered Species Act.