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Griz attacks

bunch of fortunate hunters!

Def not a critter to take lightly

Yes sir on the verge of extinction. We should definitely not have grizzly hunting.

Time to break out the Jimbo Kern method of self preservation maybe? “It’s coming right for us!”

12 hours apart....and within a mile of each other?? Sounds like a certain bear is looking for hunters!

Too close for comfort

Maybe relocate this sweet, misunderstood bear to the back yard of the judge who stopped the hunt.

Been plenty of problem bears in that particular area. Is it a dropoff spot or just a matter of volume of people frequenting that area?

Doesn’t California have a grizz on their flag? They obviously want them.

Load them up in semis and dump them in San Francisco!

Would solve two problems - overpopulation of Bears in Wyoming and Montana and the homeless problem in San Francisco!

Hell, LA and Seattle would be begging for loads of bears within days of seeing how fast the streets cleaned up in San Francisco!

Franzen- It's a matter of too many bears. One of my boys killed a black bear on Sunday and we had a long visit with FWP when checking it in. We have been recovered and huntable.since 99 according to the science and their research. They are now branching out into other areas as there are too many to sustain in the recovery zones. A month ago there were 9 confirmed bears in one drainage eating cows that had died from bad feed. That drainage was closed of to access for a bit. People that don't live here or spend much time in those areas don't understand what's going on. Unfortunately all the lawsuits are whats holding it up. FWP is trying to get a hunt and some tools to manage but it's all tied up in BS lawsuits in court. I know areas there and in Paradise valley that I could probably put you on more Grizzlies than elk in an evening of glassing.

This bad boy is in an area that does "not" hold grizzly bears. They are getting pushed out of the other areas cause there's too many.

SBH that looks like a Pretty decent sized Grizzly in your picture,I don't think I like to run across him without some heavy fire power.

Kurt

I figure this one was dumped in an area my friend hunts. FWP even put up a sign on the road accessing where it was dumped to warn people. All the blacks in the area have disappeared since as it's usually a place loaded with them.

SBH that sure is one healthy looking bear! I’m not generally afraid of them but if I saw him where I was elk hunting I might consider migrating somewhere else. Yikes!

Bears don't normally scare me..............................................but there is something about a big headed Griz that makes me "pucker!" ;-)

That one in SBH’s pic looks like Bart!

I hope that’s a trail-cam pic....

Bart is part of the reason the bears recovered so well. :)

SBH.....that is a big azz bear! Most are the size of Pop-R`s pic. That thing looks like a Coastal bear.

Tom Miner is probably full of them now. There were griz in Cottonwood Canyon 20 yrs ago, probably crawling with them too.

Sbh was that Centennial Valley ? They had a closure while we were not too far away in an area that doesn't have many either!

Franklin that does look like a coastal brownie for sure.

I spent some time across the valley, had more issues this year than years past. You'll be reading about some more bad encounters soon. I consider myself very lucky this year.

Wait till they get to the east. If they grow eight hundred pound black bears, just imagine how huge the grizzlies will get!!

Damn! A trailer load should go east as well! Good thinking Rod!

That is one big Griz! Looks like all attitude too.

KEEP them Griz out THERE Ambush! I don’t wanna even think about that................. ;-)

There seems to be attacks in the gravelly range almost every year. Does anyone know the stats? Do the Gravellys have the highest bear attack ratio of anywhere?

I would say that the Bridger-Teton or Shoshone NF ibn Wyoming likely has the honor of most encounters/issues but I could be wrong.

Gravellys have been a hotbed the last few years.....multiple attacks each year. Tom miner is full of them. I had one night where we saw 7......out in the fields. Only reason less attacks lately (IMO) is I think more people have been staying out and elk numbers are absolutely devastated over there. Thats part of the 20,000 herd that is down to 4,000.

Be safe out there fellas.

That is what I was saying earlier... Gravelly/Snowcrest complex seems to have a higher rate of attack than other areas that have an overpopulation of bears as well. May just be coincidence.

Very tragic about that Northern herd. It was around 18K when I was there. Elk everywhere. Now, very few seen, way more bison instead.

I’d be pretty good with a bison tag, though....

I just return from my solo hunt in the Gravelly's. I had a so-so hunt as wet summer conditions scattered the elk and the late heat sent most of them up high-too high and steep for this old man. Regardless, I had some action despite having to alter my hunting methods due to the griz issues. Before leaving home, I checked the USFS website for alerts relating to fires and road closures. Finding nothing I headed for Montana with high hopes. I stopped in Sheridan WY to have dinner with some old friends and he informed me that the FS had closed part of the Gravelllys due to livestock mortalities and the resulting concentration of griz. Since the closure abuts the area I hunt, I was extremely vigilante during my hunts. Fast forward to Wednesday the 11th-I was stopped by the USFS Law Enforcement officer who wanted to chat about my hunt. He told me the closure had been lifted and to be careful as most of the bears had dispersed in the direction I was hunting. Nice! In addition, he told me that a contract trapper had been called in to remove two bears that were targeting moo cows. The trapper was using foot snares and had a "shoot on sight" order for any bear he caught. I questioned the officer further but he would not offer me more concise information other than the baits and traps were set in the area I was hunting. Great, just what I wanted to hear. How can a guy hunt when he's not sure if he's wandering into a baited area. I was pissed to say the least. Please note this was several days prior to the attacks. I continued to hunt but I hunted defensively which caused me great annoyance as I usually go in before first light and leave around dark. So, I drove 2492 miles one way to hunt. I paid $900 + for a tag/license and as yet to be determined traveling costs for this. Most of the other hunters I encountered were doing the same as me but, many hunters just pulled camp and left because of the bear issues. As hunters, it's time for us to be heard about the grizzly issue. I'm sure there have been some actions taken( I must admit that since I live in NC, I probably am not well informed on what hunters have done in the past) regardless, we need to start yelling and defying the liberal judges that keep squashing DNR's attempts to have a hunt. Hunting is the only way to re-instill the fear of humans in grizzly bears. Rant over.

It's not a rant. You paid a fortune in supplies and gas expecting to have a half way decent hunting trip. Quit supporting these lousy states that can't control their problems and put you in danger on top of your loss of money and time.

Like SBH said, the Gravelly's have been a problem area due to grizzly bears for years. So when you plan a hunt to Montana, if you fear grizzly bears, then hunt areas that don't have any or where they are rare. I do sometimes hunt areas that have lots of grizzly bears, but I'm aware of that and try to be careful. I agree that there should be a grizzly bear hunting season, but the fact is that currently their isn't, so if you fear bears don't hunt the gravelly's, or anywhere else near Yellowstone, or Glacier National parks.

Just a thought....

A guy getting paid to remove bears is probably a good enough hunter to not shoot a human by mistake.

And a snare probably won’t maim you if you sit down and remove it, rather than acting liked a terrified animal trying to run away from it.

I dunno... are these snares spring-loaded and lock in place like zip-ties? Presumably they can be removed without taking off most of a limb.... Seems like a really bad idea to set out any kind of trap that could kill or maim a person and have it set up such that a person would be unable to remove it unaided.

Sorry it put such a damper on your hunt, but maybe you talked yourself out of having as good an experience as you could have???

Hmmm. Did not see that coming. Dang GF, not sure how you jumped to me being scared of getting shot by a trapper. Let me add some details that I hope will clarify my post. First, I am not scared of bears. I spent much of my career as a wildlife biologist working with bears-worked on research projects where we trapped(snares and culvert traps) and collared black bears. I also worked with nuisance bear issues and injured bears. I have a healthy respect for bears as I have seen what even a small bear is capable of. I also worked on the policy/regulation side of things and worked closely with bear hunters collecting data and advocating for intelligent, science-based seasons. Secondly, I knew full well what I was getting myself into when I chose to hunt this area. I've been hunting SW MT since 2016. What I could not anticipate was the circumstances that led to the unnatural congregation of bears (dead moo cows). I guess my main complaint arising from recent events centers around how Montana Parks and Wildlife and USFS chose to handle the situation in the Gravellys. I'm not arguing with the decision to close the area (although LE officer told me the closure was ignored) due to the dead cows and closing the area where the attacks happened. My main gripe is with whoever made the decision to put out baits where hunters could accidently stumble upon them. The same "whoever" failed to notify hunters that this activity was ongoing. Why close the other areas and then choose to not close the area that was known to have at least two griz that were purposely being targeted by baiting? In addition, the LE officer suggested that at least some of the traps were on a griz kill (moo cow) in the section I was hunting. Damn, nothing like having a large, unmarked bait laying out there for hunters to blunder into. Ultimately though I am concerned that we as hunters cannot enjoy these beautiful public lands because some damn bunny hugging Obama-appointed judge, who is smarter than all of the professional wildlife biologists in MT and Wy, has waived his wand to shut down a much needed hunting season on the cuddly grizzly bear. I would like to add that bears did not affect the quality of some of my hunts nor did they impact my overall enjoyment of SW MT. I just love that place and I hope that I can return for many years to come.

Like SBH said, the Gravelly's have been a problem area due to grizzly bears for years. So when you plan a hunt to Montana, if you fear grizzly bears, then hunt areas that don't have any or where they are rare. I do sometimes hunt areas that have lots of grizzly bears, but I'm aware of that and try to be careful. I agree that there should be a grizzly bear hunting season, but the fact is that currently their isn't, so if you fear bears don't hunt the gravelly's, or anywhere else near Yellowstone, or Glacier National parks.

“12 hours apart....and within a mile of each other?? Sounds like a certain bear is looking for hunters!”

Have you seen that study where they had hunters carry GPS units and found that Grizzlies were clearly shadowing the humans throughout their hunts?

They know we are a Food Supply - leaving gutpiles and sometimes whole carcasses behind. They’re not stupid.

And we are Unwise to think they aren’t keeping tabs on our whereabouts and successes. I’m thinking black bears do the same - at least some of them - but are less likely to challenge us for a carcass.

Thankfully!

"It's what you learn after you know it all that counts."

- John Wooden

Another griz attack yesterday in the Gravelleys

I never had much use for the Gravellys when I lived there. Not sure why it is such an attraction to hunters now. Seems to be a lot of hunters in there. Yet you never hear of anything about the Tobacco Roots, not that far away. Either there are no elk hunters there, no elk, or no griz. I wonder why...

I know some good spots in the Tobacco roots. Or at least I used to. There is occasional griz sign but nothing like the Gravelly's. T-Roots are pretty steep, in general, but there's plenty of elk in some spots.

My experiences in the Gravelly's were back in the elk migration days, you either found a ton of elk or none. Always found people and camps everywhere. Nowadays throw in bears. No thanks!

That is also why I never hunted the Gravellys - too many others there. Road access seems much more favorable, so I guess that is the main reason too. I usually went tot he trailheads where the fewest rigs were. I went into the Tobacco Rots a few times but never found the spots with a lot of game sign, so I stuck to the Madison Range, mainly Bear Trap. That is one remote spot to most on foot if you go way in. Probably my favorite spot actually. Blocked to the west by Mad river, east by Ted, and too far in N and S generally, for all but the most adventurous. Saw a lot of black bears and one huge cinnamon, twice, but no griz. I almost ran into Dan and Don though, I am almost certain, early Nov. 1984, not far from where they were captured a few weeks later. Would have been worse than a griz encounter I am pretty sure.

We had a 5-bear day yesterday in Wyoming! Sow with 2 hold over cubs and one from this year and a boar on the other side of the hill.

Crazy numbers of grizz here!

Damn sure keeping us on our toes!

Still think they need to trap a bunch and haul them to California...

Wyoming definitely has the grizz in large number Treeline! Stay safe my friend!

Just came back from 7 days in the gravelleys. Been hunting there for years because it's close to my Aunts place but god damn, I've never seen so many hunters while elk hunting in my life! Didn't come across a single bear in 7 days. Some good sized bear scat but didn't physically see a bear. Came across 15 different people throughout the week. Time to find a new spot.

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