BIG SKY, Mont. (AP) — A mother grizzly bear with cubs attacked a 69-year-old man in the mountains of southwestern Montana, authorities said Monday.

The victim had been hunting near Flattop Mountain near Big Sky when he called 911 to say he had been attacked by a bear, the Gallatin County Sheriff’s Office said. He was later walked out to a nearby road and waiting ambulance by rescuers and transported to a hospital for injuries to his shoulder and hip.

Officials said the man suspected he had been too close to a site where another hunter had recently harvested an animal, the sheriff’s office said. Grizzly bears are drawn to carcasses of elk and other big game shot by hunters. Gallatin County Sheriff Brian Gootkin says hunters need to remember that bears search for food in the fall and can be protective of their food sources.

Hunting grizzly bears is illegal in Montana but they are sometimes shot in self-defense or killed after repeated run-ins with humans.