Grizzly Experiences

[RobG]

I've seen quite a few. One thing I learned to do while fishing with a partner is to be on opposite sides of the stream so you can watch each other's back. One time on the Lamar I saw one walking the banks a bit faster than my wife was fishing. Luckily it spooked when it saw us.

Another time my wife saw one coming towards me. I couldn't hear what she was saying but she kept pointing at her bear spray. That one turned out to be a black bear...

 

[RobG]

Little Salmon River in the Bob Marshall. I was hiking alone but never saw the bear.

Two weeks ago I was off trail in Yellowstone with my wife and a friend. While we were stopped in some dense timber my wife saw something behind me. Her eyes got huge and she exclaimed "Oh sh*t!" I had the bear spray out as I spun around and was ready to spray when we all realized it was a fleeing bison. It's scary how close you can get to something as huge as a bison without seeing it.

 

[jejack26]

I plan on doing a solo backcountry bow hunt for elk in Montana in September and this being my first time in grizzly country. I have read and watch about every article on grizzly bears I can find. I also plan on taking a pistol and bear spray. So if I take all the pre-cautions being in grizzly country is it a bad idea on going on a solo backcountry hunt?

Do you have a way to get the elk out of the mountains in a reasonable time frame? A lot guys have quit hunting evenings even with horses do to the possibility of a bear claiming kill overnight. For me anymore the big issue revovles around getting the animal out without putting myself or the bears in a bad spot

 

[mplane72]

Finally saw my first Grizzly, sow with cubs, 2 weeks ago in YNP. Heading back to Madison camp ground from Gardiner. Came around the bend to a pile of cars jamming up the road near sheepeater cliffs. People were out of their cars and I figured it was another Bison. 30-40 yards from the road in the timber momma bear and cubs were working through. Watching her open up a downed log was quite impressive.

My kids really wanted to get out with the 20+ people watching but changed their tune when I explained all it would take is for one of those cubs to wander down a little closer to the road and then get spooked and make the wrong noise for things to get ugly quick. I then stated "she could be chewing on any one of these fools before they make it back to their cars". Must have said it a little loud through the open window. The look on one women's face as she turned to me was about priceless. My wife LOL'd.

Best moment of trip.

 

[JT88]

My kids really wanted to get out with the 20+ people watching but changed their tune when I explained all it would take is for one of those cubs to wander down a little closer to the road and then get spooked and make the wrong noise for things to get ugly quick. I then stated "she could be chewing on any one of these fools before they make it back to their cars". Must have said it a little loud through the open window. The look on one women's face as she turned to me was about priceless. My wife LOL'd.

Best moment of trip.

It amazes me there aren't more people mauled/gored/dismembered in YNP every year. A few years back I witnessed a guy prodding a bedded 6 point bull with a stick trying to get it to stand up for a picture. For some reason, it's never enough to just enjoy seeing the animals and leaving them in peace. Somebody always has to try and push them further than they need to

 

[Straight Arrow]

My wife and I just completed a bucket list seven-day, seventy-eight miles backpack trek through the upper reaches of the Yellowstone to the Thorofare Ranger Station, the most remote ranger cabin in the lower 48 states. Eagle Creek on North Fork Shoshone over Eagle pass to Yellowstone Thorofare, then up beautiful Pass Creek to Ishawooa Pass and out to Ishawooa Trailhead on South Fork Shoshone. We encountered grizzly tracks and scat each and every day, but our loud talking, singing, arguing and general verbal nonsense avoided any unfortunate human traumatic encounter for the bear whose home we were blessed to visit. These two trail trekking trudge-mudgeons saw no bears but did hear elk and wolves.

 

[802flyfish]

 

[shrapnel]

I have seen dozens, killed 2. I spent my summers near West Yellowstone on my grandfather’s homestead, living the life of Huckleberry Finn. In the 1960’s we had grizzlies weekly in our garbage pit. Our cabin is as as rustic as living in the 1880’s.

We had a well for water, outhouse, fireplace and a wood stove that my mother cooked all our meals on. No electricity, no modern conveniences. It was a great life for a boy that loved the outdoors.

Disposal of garbage was the same as it was over 100 years ago. We burned everything combustible and buried everything else in a pit behind the outhouse. Bears were all over after the Park Service closed all the open pit garbage receptacles throughout the Park.

We had both black and grizzly bears frequenting our back yard almost every evening. We had a 1948 Packard on blocks in the back yard and would sit in it and watch the bears when they came to the garbage pit.

When I was a kid, I shot a 7 foot grizzly in the woods behind my grandfather’s homestead. My dad had gotten a 9 foot bear near the same area the year before. We never considered the trophy aspect of bears then and both of those bear hides were stretched out on a floor in a storage shed and salted to dry. I still have mine, I don’t know what happened to my father’s.

Years later when my oldest son was working in Alaska, I joined him in Ketchikan and we went to Admiralty Island and hunted grizzlies. We both got one, although the one I shot in Montana was a bigger bear.

We still bow hunt around West Yellowstone and frequently see sign and an occasional grizzly. I don’t like seeing them when I am hunting, and still carry a firearm and even spray, although I don’t put much faith in the bear spray.

 

[MTLabrador]

I have seen dozens, killed 2. I spent my summers near West Yellowstone on my grandfather’s homestead, living the life of Huckleberry Finn. In the 1960’s we had grizzlies weekly in our garbage pit. Our cabin is as as rustic as living in the 1880’s.

We had a well for water, outhouse, fireplace and a wood stove that my mother cooked all our meals on. No electricity, no modern conveniences. It was a great life for a boy that loved the outdoors.

Disposal of garbage was the same as it was over 100 years ago. We burned everything combustible and buried everything else in a pit behind the outhouse. Bears were all over after the Park Service closed all the open pit garbage receptacles throughout the Park.

We had both black and grizzly bears frequenting our back yard almost every evening. We had a 1948 Packard on blocks in the back yard and would sit in it and watch the bears when they came to the garbage pit.

When I was a kid, I shot a 7 foot grizzly in the woods behind my grandfather’s homestead. My dad had gotten a 9 foot bear near the same area the year before. We never considered the trophy aspect of bears then and both of those bear hides were stretched out on a floor in a storage shed and salted to dry. I still have mine, I don’t know what happened to my father’s.

Years later when my oldest son was working in Alaska, I went up in September and went with him to Admiralty Island and hunted grizzlies. We both got one, although the one I shot in Montana was a bigger bear.

We still bow hunt around West Yellowstone and frequently see sign and an occasional grizzly. I don’t like seeing them when I am hunting, and still carry a firearm and even spray, although I don’t put much faith in the bear spray.

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It still amazes me how recently Montana had grizzly hunting, and how different that hunt would have to be today. If I had a time machine I’d love to visit the Bob Marshall in the 60s with a grizzly tag in my pocket.

 

[WesternRookie]

Had a couple of encounters with them in the Northwest Territories. One instance was the most hair raising. We didn't shoot the bear, but we did have to fire a couple of shots over her head to get her and her cub to bugger off. We were packing out, packs heavy with all things including meat. They had winded us from about 700 yards and closed the gap in less than 5 minutes. Fortunately we saw it all happening and were able to discuss the plan and get our nerves together. I have great respect for these animals