Darsh Patel took this picture of the bear that mauled him to death

A US student who was killed by a bear while hiking in New Jersey snapped photos of the 160-kilogram beast before it gouged the phone and mauled him.

A US student who was killed by a bear while hiking in New Jersey snapped photos of the 160-kilogram beast before it mauled him to death — and even gouged the phone the victim used to take his last pics.

The New York Post reports that Darsh Patel was walking with four friends through the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford in September when the black bear attacked.

The 22-year-old student became the first person to be killed by a bear in New Jersey.

West Milford police have released six photos taken before the attack, five of them snapped by Patel himself before the bear attacked, according to The Record of Hackensack.

The images show the lumbering male bear approaching a fallen tree about 30 metres away from the group.

The bear appears to get closer in the five photos taken by the Rutgers University senior, including this one.

The police report said that the young hikers attracted the bear’s attention by taking the nature shots, according to The Record.

“They stopped and took photographs of the bear with their cellphones and the bear began walking towards them,” the police report said.

Mauled ... Darsh Patel was killed by a bear after taking photos of it. Picture: Supplied.

After snapping the shots, the four men tried to walk away, but the bear started to follow them and came within 5 metres of the group.

That’s when they split up and ran away in separate directions, they told police.

Four of them later regrouped, noticed that Patel was missing, and called police.

After a two-hour search, Patel’s body was discovered as the bear lingered near him.

It was shot to death by police officers. A necropsy of the bear revealed it had ingested human tissue and blood, as well as clothing, and had human blood on its paws, The Record said.

Patel’s phone was also found nearby with fang marks on it.