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Sheep herder was attacked north of Lemon reservoir NE of Durango. Sounds like the guy will live. Cpw brought in hounds and killed the bear. I've hunted in the area in 2016 and 2017 some rough country.
Man, I’m all primed to get serious about spot and stalk bear hunting this year and now they want to run around and snatch people off their porches and stuff.
Talked to a person who was doing a family camping trip in a designated campground around Ruidoso NM and had a bear come in and go after some stuff in the truck. Dented the heck out of his hood.
How big is #250 for an 8 YO boar? Taking the season into account….
Seems substantial for a wilderness bear; any time you’re approaching NFL lineman size… or what USED to be lineman size, anyway.
Makes me wonder how a wilderness bear would get that aggressive, and (JMO) going after the sheep first sounds like hungry, not rabid….
Hope the herder comes out of it OK.
No mention of dogs at all. Seems like a herder would have some kind of dog. Lot of stories about hikers and hunters running into, I think, Great Pyrenees.
Inflation is hitting the sheep herders too. When we encountered them in the Flat Tops, they had 2 great pyrenes and a wagon for shelter along with a rifle. Now, they just get a rifle and a tent! :)
A few years ago just on the Utah side of the line. we had a black bear charge us. We saw him coming down the mountain for a long ways. There was a Lab with us and I believe between me trying to look big and walking toward him and the lab jumping in between the bear and us and being aggressive was what stopped him at less than 20 yards. There were a lot (too many) bears in that area and on our last trip to SW Colorado.
The dogs(Great Pyrenees) are not for the sheepherder. the dogs stay with the sheep at all times to protect them.
No mention of dogs at all. Seems like a herder would have some kind of dog. Lot of stories about hikers and hunters running into, I think, Great Pyrenees.
Shane, the bear was eating sheep, so the dogs should have been there.
I was also surprised there was no mention of the dogs but journalism sucks now so who knows what really happened. I'm guessing that the dogs barking probably alerted the sheepherder and that they were probably quite involved in the encounter.
I’m not sayin’ you’re wrong, but to tangle with 1 or 2 Pyrenees AND a man with a rifle… that would be one highly motivated bear.
Maybe rabies isn’t so much a stretch after all…. I have no clue how common rabies is among bears….
Yea, dogs stay with the sheep but the bear was eating sheep first.
I’ve heard Colorado has a lot of bears. Looked at their season, it’s over the counter but was surprised it’s only the month of September.
While it would be odd the article sure reads like there were no dogs. Although like Aspen Ghost pointed out could just be bad journalism.
September is only for the special limited season. In October and November, a rifle hunter with a tag for deer or elk can also buy a bear tag for that same unit.
Thanks Jaquomo, with that though you can’t just buy a bear tag and past Sept. correct? You have to have another tag in your pocket?
Correct. And I haven't kept up with bear hunting opportunity, the past couple years, but previously the September OTC tags were capped by either unit or DAU, and many units sold out within a couple minutes of going on sale.
Thanks Jaquomo, with that though you can’t just buy a bear tag and past Sept. correct? You have to have another tag in your pocket?
Yes, yo5i have to have either a archery deer tag or an archery elk tag to get a September bear tag. Colorado does have a lot of bear, and some true monsters in some places. But most folks kill the small 150 and 200 pound bear because they are stupid and hang around to see what spooked them. Very seldom do you see a big 400 pound bear hanging around once it's seen you or smelled you.
