Fatal grizzly encounter

[Carnage2011]

Sad deal for sure. Anytime you are hiking in bear country, you are taking a risk. The risk is very low, but it’s still there. We will never get away from human/bear conflicts no matter what we do. I had a fairly tense moment in the spring of 2020 in the same drainage. I’m fairly certain the best defense I had going that day was the few dogs I had along for the hike.

I’ll be applying for a tag the minute it’s an option, but I don’t put a ton of faith in that season having any impact on bear behavior or population.

 

[BlazerBeam]

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Are memories of this country worth risking the danger of being in proximity to grizzly bears? Absolutely.

That's cute. Very inspirational.

 

[BlazerBeam]

Bears need to be pursued by people. I think that if enough hunting were allowed, we would be surprised at the effect that would have on their willingness to hang around in close proximity to camps and trails, etc.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Bears need to be pursued by people. I think that if enough hunting were allowed, we would be surprised at the effect that would have on their willingness to hang around in close proximity to camps and trails, etc.

Fairly certain this guy was far from the trailhead, in the timber, looking for elk sheds in 6 mile.

 

[Gerald Martin]

Fairly certain this guy was far from the trailhead, in the timber, looking for elk sheds in 6 mile.

Stop it. That doesn’t fit the narrative that a few pew,pews would keep everyone safe from griz.

 

[BuzzH]

Stop it. That doesn’t fit the narrative that a few pew,pews would keep everyone safe from griz.

Right they already hear gun shots for 6 months now in Montana...a few more from a handful of grizzly hunters means jack.

 

[Carnage2011]

Right they already hear gun shots for 6 months now in Montana...a few more from a handful of grizzly hunters means jack.

Oh don’t sell MT short now Buzz! Between unlimited sheep, elk, wolves and spring bear we do our best to make sure there are gun shots at least 10 months…

 

[Gerald Martin]

Oh don’t sell MT short now Buzz! Between unlimited sheep, elk, wolves and spring bear we do our best to make sure there are gun shots at least 10 months…

Given anecdotal evidence (which I believe to have some credibility) that bears now associate gunshots with food; how many bears would we have to kill before we see any statistical reduction in maulings and deaths?

 

[FI460]

Given anecdotal evidence (which I believe to have some credibility) that bears now associate gunshots with food; how many bears would we have to kill before we see any statistical reduction in maulings and deaths?

I'll wager upwards of 300.

What's the threshold for re-listing? Less than that? Oh...

 

[The Hedgehog]

Regardless of what anybody thinks shooting at bears does for a bullshit safety factor - I think it’s well past time delist and manage them by hunting.

 

[Irrelevant]

Given anecdotal evidence (which I believe to have some credibility) that bears now associate gunshots with food; how many bears would we have to kill before we see any statistical reduction in maulings and deaths?

it's not anecdotal.

Grizzlies are Following Elk Hunters, Study Says

Elk hunters near the Grand Teton National Park may have a little reason for concern out in field. It appears they are being followed by grizzlies.

www.wideopenspaces.com

 

[406dn]

it's not anecdotal.

Grizzlies are Following Elk Hunters, Study Says

Elk hunters near the Grand Teton National Park may have a little reason for concern out in field. It appears they are being followed by grizzlies.

www.wideopenspaces.com

I came across either this article or one similar some time ago.

It shows a few things, I think.

For one it shows Grizzly bears are very smart. They have made the connection that humans can kill an elk for them. Similar to how they shadow wolf packs for the bounty they can provide. Also, they are smart enough to follow in a manner that makes their presence unknown to the hunter.

A fair assumption is that most elk hunters hunting in Grizzly bear areas have been shadowed by a bear at one time or another.

Given the relative rarity of a bear attacking while an elk is field dressed, I would suspect they often wait a short distance away, knowing they will get a meal in due time.

 

[Lasiocarpa]

I feel terrible for the family, just like I would if it was some other sort of tragedy.

While I think it is time for us to delist them, I don’t think that out of some naive vision that it will result in a statistically significant reduction in bad encounters. We are already lethally removing many problem bears every year and it does nothing to educate the rest of the population.

I enjoy knowing that we have wild landscapes with large carnivores on them. There are many things we can do to reduce our risk while traveling in bear country, but sometimes your luck runs out regardless of your savvy. If you can’t accept the existence of that risk, you can always move to Texas…

 

[tjones]

So once grizzlies are delisted an effective way of hunting them would be to hike into know grizzly county, shoot a couple rounds into a stump and sit back and wait for a bear to show?

Like bugling in a bull only different.

 

[BlazerBeam]

Fairly certain this guy was far from the trailhead, in the timber, looking for elk sheds in 6 mile.

I bet he was. I'm just saying that people's comments on here severely underestimate the fact that ALL critters tend to change behavior over time based on changing external factors. Can't pretend that hunting grizzlies wouldn't have some kind of effect on their behavior over time. Aside from that fact, I don't understand how having a Grizz in every drainage in some areas is ideal. Need to knock those numbers down a bit. Can't continue to prop them up on the "they're wild and beautiful creatures and are off limits" pedestal.

 

[longbow51]

So once grizzlies are delisted an effective way of hunting them would be to hike into know grizzly county, shoot a couple rounds into a stump and sit back and wait for a bear to show?

Like bugling in a bull only different.

Doubt it; while they might be attracted by a gunshot, suspect their sense of smell of fresh blood plays a role.

 

[Straight Arrow]

A fair assumption is that most elk hunters hunting in Grizzly bear areas have been shadowed by a bear at one time or another.

Given the relative rarity of a bear attacking while an elk is field dressed, I would suspect they often wait a short distance away, knowing they will get a meal in due time.

That "fair assumption" seems more an opinion which I don't believe. There does not seem to be substantiation of bears stalking hunters. However, many hunters seeing bears often dramatically tell that tale.

The rarity of such encounters does seem accurate. Longbow51 likely has it correct in that the bear's sense of smell is typically what draws them to a carcass.
The scenario of a bear sneaking around hunters waiting for a carcass seems a stretch.

The reality with bears, especially grizzly's, is that they don't want to be around humans. That is the very premise and fact as to why "bear aware" practices are effective. On the trail if you make human sounds, you will likely never see a bear, even though you see fresh signs. At camp if food is sealed with no odors, then no bear will want to be anywhere near.

 

[tjones]

I'm just saying that people's comments on here severely underestimate the fact that ALL critters tend to change behavior over time based on changing external factors.

Can a grizzly tell the difference between all the elk hunters in the woods for 6 months verses a handful of grizzly hunters should they ever get delisted?

I know when I had one of very few breaks bull tags years ago the bull elk ran like hell from the scores of mule deer hunters that were crawling all over the same unit.

Its time to hunt them for sure but the season we will see will be so limited it will not affect populations.

 

[Nameless Range]

It is a very sad deal, and I feel so very sorry for his family.

I support delisting and management by the state, but is like clockwork, that following an attack such as this, folks come out of the woodwork blaming high griz populations,mismanagment, etc. Alluding to a premise that if only we managed them, this wouldn't have happened.

Maybe, maybe not, but I think context is important. Griz are thick in the GYE and Crown, and exist in lesser numbers everywhere east of the Little Belts. Millions of tourists come to MT every year (11.3 million in 2020), and of those millions hundreds of thousands at the very least spend time in griz country outdoors -maybe millions. Throw in residents who spend dozens of days a year in the wilds of griz country, and then juxtapose that against the fact that of the maybe dozen griz attacks per year, one or two of those are fatal in the state.

I'm not saying it is something I don't think about or am not aware of, but there is this unreasonable focus on the risk, curiously further, by people who I watched poopoo Covid, maybe rightfully, regarding its risks. But when a risk that is orders of magnitude less likely than Covid was, or dying in a car accident on the way to griz country is, has claws, it's all of a sudden a Goddamn crime committed by the enviros that someone died. I do think claws and teeth trigger something deep within us - make us a bit irrational.

Basically, this will continue to happen every once in a while, and the reactions by the same players will be the same, and I hope to always live in a Montana where crossing the divide due to a pissed off griz is always a possibility.

 

[FI460]

Can a grizzly tell the difference between all the elk hunters in the woods for 6 months verses a handful of grizzly hunters should they ever get delisted?

I know when I had one of very few breaks bull tags years ago the bull elk ran like hell from the scores of mule deer hunters that were crawling all over the same unit.

Its time to hunt them for sure but the season we will see will be so limited it will not affect populations.

Will they be able to tell the difference of 20-30 grizzly killed by hunters vs the ~25 combined bears killed by poachers and agency hunters?