Another grizzly attack in Montana...

[TheTone]

The specific area that I was referring to is the Cabinet Mtn region in the north east corner of Idaho and just within the past 5-10 years. I have no first hand knowledge, so who knows if it is even true, but instead I have heard 2nd and 3rd hand info from Fed types about problem bears being moved into that area of Idaho, apparently specifically because there aren't many people there?

If this is true, you would think that the prudent thing to do would be to warn the public about this. What would be the harm, except possibly drawing attention to a program that the public disagrees with? But having worked for the Federal gov't before, it would not surprise me at all for this to be occuring and for the authorities to be saying nothing.

Apparently several years ago, some orphaned grizzly cubs (yearlings?) were released into the Coeur d'Alenes, and I didn't see that publicized at all either. Someone that I personally know and respect though, sighted those bears once during the first year after their apparent release....not sure if those bears ever made it though.

I feel very, very confident in saying that problem bears are not being moved from the GYE area to anywhere in Northern Idaho, Northwest Montana, and/or the glacier area. If someone is telling you that consider them a poor source.

 

[slick]

Slick I disagree.First with your idea a bear hunting season would have no affect on behavior.
However as to the Billy Hill incident I can assure you BOTH the Federal and State agencies were involved-particularly in the investigation.I was there.I was actually in the jail when they were holding Bill and the 2 N York bowhunters.
I have no idea why it was trapped and relocated but it was injured in the process.Why relocate in a collaring study?
Please explain what Bill said that is a lie.Be specific not general BS.

Then we can disagree. But just because there is a bear hunting season doesn't now make them instantly more fearful of humans. As I said, the ones that would do so, get shot, die, and don't pass on a learned behavior. It'll take multiple generations before that becomes a thing- if it ever does. *For the record I am not opposed to a GB season whatsoever.

You're wrong about it being trapped and relocated (as far as the evidence you've stated and the video) Bill (guy in the video) says that they trapped the bear in Big Cherry Creek, that the trap broke its leg also has a broken jaw, and that it was released. Where is there ever talk of it being relocated? There isn't. Also, why is the encounter with Billy "inevitable"? He mentions that more than once, and I don't understand the reasoning or the choice of those words.

I re-listened to the last part where he says..."...It's the incubator for this Grizzly Bear Recovery Team, the mother nest area that these bears hibernate in, summer in, breed in, repopulate in. I've been on individual trips..."

I missed that key word. My apologies. I didn't catch that the first go around and thought he was mentioning the SCY (Cabinet-Yaak) compared to the GYE (Yellowstone) and NCDE (Glacier)

 

[mtmuley]

The lower 48 grizz have learned humans mean no harm and gun shots are a dinner bell. We really need some hunting pressure on them to back them off.

Hunting pressure ain't gonna scare them. mtmuley

 

[slick]

Hunting pressure ain't gonna scare them. mtmuley

Especially with only a handful of tags given out in a single year.

 

[SoDaky]

So Slick,are you saying that bear was not trapped and injured or just not relocated?

 

[slick]

Not relocated.

 

[SoDaky]

Also you said his 'statements' were untrue.Still saying that and if so,what is untrue?

 

[slick]

Also you said his 'statements' were untrue.Still saying that and if so,what is untrue?

See Post #22

 

[George]

We were hiking and fishing our way up the South fork of the Flathead from Spotted Bear Ranger station towards Big Salmon when we passed a lone hiker heading out. He told us that he was awoken the previous night by a grizzly licking his chops, literally the bear was licking his face. We went to sleep that night with that thought in our heads. The next morning a couple of old boys working on the pack bridge at the Black Bear Ranger Station invited us back to dinner so we decided to hang out, fish, and take them up on the offer. That night we dined on hind quarter of griz cooked in the ground with hot coals, semi warm Hams beer, and Jack. We brought the Jack and the bear was delicious. A Game Warden shot the bear the day after the night it licked the hiker's face. It was a 250lb sow, how many previous strikes it had against her I don't know but that problem bear definitely was not relocated from Flathead to Cabinet as part of a Government conspiracy.


G

 

[Huntindog45]

Don't read the comments in that link if you like having hope for humanity.

Scary deal, glad she is recovering!

yah sure are a ton of keyboard warriors who probably have never traveled more than a half mile from their mini van.

 

[S.Clancy]

I worked on the Cab-Yak grizzly project in 2012. I don't know exactly what kind of study they were doing, but ours used hair traps to collect DNA for a population estimate. This meant we were walking into sites "baited" with a variety of different scents. Never had a grizzly encounter, 3 black bear encounters though. A few things...

1) There are not many bears in the Cab/Yak ecosystem, last estimates were 50-55 bears. There are a lot of bears in the Northern Continental Divide ecosystem (NCDE), aka Glacier and the Bob Marshall.

2) The "we need to hunt them so they fear humans" argument, in my opinion, is flawed fundamentally. Places bears are hunted also have maulings, Alaska and Canada come to mind. I agree once recovery goals are hit we should hunt them, but my reasons are different from the above. Note, Cab/Yak is no where near recovered.

3) Bears from Glacier and NCDE are relocated in Cab/Yak on occasion. However, the vast majority of these bears return to their sight of capture, or nearby, within a few days. I actually got to see the GPS data for these bears, it's unreal how far and fast they will travel to get home.

4) Bears attacks, in my opinion, are 90% prevention (or lack thereof) and 10% luck (either good or very bad). Obviously, the more time you spend in their house the higher your likelihood of an encounter. There are so many things that you can use to prevent an encounter, but sometimes luck is not on your side.

This woman seems tough as nails to get out there on her own. I wish her a rapid and complete recovery.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

I agree that hunting them isn’t likely to make them fearful of humans.

Most animals are instinctually afraid of humans, whether they are being hunted or not. If they lose that, it would take them seeing or smelling a human before they are missed by a rifle or wounded in order to make them afraid.

If the bear has no idea where it’s coming from or is killed, it has no affect on creating fear.

What hunting does help is lowering the population numbers to the point where they aren’t competing for food sources, making them increasingly aggressive, or forcing them into towns and developed areas digging into dumpsters, where they encounter humans and lose their fear.

I’ve been to Becharof lodge in AK, an outfitter for some of the largest brown bears there are. The bears I encountered there were neither afraid of humans nor aggressive. They seemed indifferent to the fact that there were hunters, but there was also a ton of food with the sockeye run. It may be different outside the summer months.

 

[PredatorX]

We were hiking and fishing our way up the South fork of the Flathead from Spotted Bear Ranger station towards Big Salmon when we passed a lone hiker heading out. He told us that he was awoken the previous night by a grizzly licking his chops, literally the bear was licking his face. We went to sleep that night with that thought in our heads. The next morning a couple of old boys working on the pack bridge at the Black Bear Ranger Station invited us back to dinner so we decided to hang out, fish, and take them up on the offer. That night we dined on hind quarter of griz cooked in the ground with hot coals, semi warm Hams beer, and Jack. We brought the Jack and the bear was delicious. A Game Warden shot the bear the day after the night it licked the hiker's face. It was a 250lb sow, how many previous strikes it had against her I don't know but that problem bear definitely was not relocated from Flathead to Cabinet as part of a Government conspiracy.


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C'mon! Licking his face? What did it taste like? You don't hear too many people eating grizzly.

 

[George]

c'mon! Licking his face? What did it taste like? You don't hear too many people eating grizzly.

Seriously, you have never eaten grizz in the BOB, you need to get out more. The grizzle bear never had a chance to say how it tasted. My guess it tasted like crusty old hiker perhaps Creast toothpaste. Don Burgess, pictured in the group photo holding the bone and giving the bon appetit sign, a school teacher in Missoula, sent me the letter and pictures afterwards.

G

 

[JWP58]

This what deranged liberals on the coasts want. Its sad really. I suspect there will be many more as the year goes on.

 

[George]

C'mon! Licking his face? What did it taste like? You don't hear too many people eating grizzly.

Perhaps I misunderstood, did you mean "What did it (the bear meat) taste like? I said it was "delicious" but it didn't taste like chicken.

G

 

[PredatorX]

Ha. Thanks for sharing. I had just assumed it tasted like black bear but you never really hear many talk about eating grizzly.

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