( CNN ) -- If Marco Lavoie had not been rescued when he was , the Quebec man probably would have perished within 48 hours . He was hypothermic , dehydrated and near starvation in the unforgiving cold of northwestern Quebec when police rescued him Wednesday . Lavoie 's survival might be called miraculous , as he had been in the wilderness for more than three months . The 44-year-old is an experienced outdoorsman , but an encounter with a bear changed his luck , Quebec police said . At some point during a planned two-month canoe trek in the Lake Matagami area , a bear attacked Lavoie 's campsite , eating his food and ruining his equipment , police spokeswoman Christine Coulombe said . The bear did not injure Lavoie but left him without the tools or resources to survive . Police say they have yet to speak with Lavoie to get details . Minnesota hiker falls from cliff to his death near Yosemite waterfall . `` In these parts , there 's a subculture of people who go on these long trips into the middle of nowhere , but sometimes we forgot how dangerous it can be , '' Gerald Lemoine , mayor of a small town near Matagami , told the Montreal Gazette . The rescued canoeist began his adventure July 16 , Coulombe said . It was n't until three months later , on October 21 , that his family called authorities because too long had passed without Lavoie 's return . Police conducted searches for eight days , weather permitting , with no luck . Rescuers in a helicopter finally spotted Lavoie on Wednesday , but they could not safely land at that spot , Coulombe said . So officers had to hike in to pick him up and carry him more than a mile to the chopper . Lavoie 's condition was such that he was barely able to speak and at first could n't even drink water , the Gazette reported . Had he spent another day or two in the elements , he would have starved to death , police spokesman Ronald McInnis said . The man had lost half of his body weight , he said . It was Lavoie 's German shepherd who scared the bear away on the day of the attack , but the dog did not survive the ordeal , McInnis said . `` Up there , in the Canadian shield , there 's little plant life to live off , so he would have been slowly , painfully dying when they found him . It 's an amazing feat that he was able to keep himself alive this long with almost no equipment , '' survival instructor Caleb Musgrave told the Gazette . `` When you start to go hungry , you get mood swings , your mind breaks , and you cramp up all over your body . Eventually , your body will start cannibalizing itself , eating away at the fat in your organs and then in your muscles . It takes someone who wo n't give up in the face of that , '' he added . Woman carries stranded , wounded pit bill down mountain .
Bear attacked Marco Lavoie 's campsite , leaving him without tools for survival . He was able to survive by eating the bear meat and drinking their blood. Police found him near death three months after he began trip .