Black Bear attacks sheep herder (Colorado)

[Poser]

 

[Naiche]

I'm glad they put it down. I hate when they just dump problem bears in a new area. It should be legal to shoot them like a coyote if they are bothering you.

 

[deerlifestyle]

Do the sheep herder not have a dog? Would a dog not warn about the bear?

 

[Poser]

Do the sheep herder not have a dog? Would a dog not warn about the bear?

They usually have Pyrenees in this area. I can’t imagine a black bear would want anything to do with 5-6 Pyrenees.

 

[WeiserBucks]

They usually have Pyrenees in this area. I can’t imagine a black bear would want anything to do with 5-6 Pyrenees.

I own Pyrenees, 99% of black bears don't want anything to do with one of them.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Pretty interesting story, nonetheless.

 

[RufusB.Marion]

Really hoping it's not him, but I ran into this sheep herder about 11 miles up the valley due north of Lemon 3 years ago scouting. An amazing dude, shared a campfire one morning as his herd made its way thru my camp. He made his way up here from Peru to run sheep in the hills every summer for 3 & 1/2 months. See guys like him all over the national forrest across CO, in my experience always friendly and willing to lend a hand with info. Terrible luck, hope he, or whatever unlucky herdsman makes a speedy recovery. Hard dudes, lot's of respect in my eyes.

 

[RufusB.Marion]

I own Pyrenees, 99% of black bears don't want anything to do with one of them.

Every herd I've stumbled on has had it's platoon of Pyrenees, however I still think it's a nightly struggle. 1200-2000 head of dumb sheep is tough to pass up for a bear I have to imagine.

 

[Mountainrancher]

From what I’ve heard about this story is that the dogs were what originally alerted him something was there. After he fired at the bear it attacked him then his dogs attacked the bear which is how he was able to get away and call help.

 

[Roguemountainhunter]

Interesting story. Best of luck on his recovery.

 

[Lonebow]

They usually have Pyrenees in this area.

..or Maremma Sheepdogs

 

[carsonkeys]

They usually have Pyrenees in this area. I can’t imagine a black bear would want anything to do with 5-6 Pyrenees.

As a total aside from this story unfortunate story: I was attacked by a German Shepard a few years back and, since then, have developed a new phobia of dogs I do not know.

In ‘22 I was hunting in CO and ran into a herder who indeed had a pack of Pyrenees along. I was really uncomfortable the entire time knowing that a pack of (large) dogs was in the area running free.

I’ve never heard of such a story, but it led me to wonder if anyone has ever been attacked by any of these herding dogs before.

 

[TagEater]

We were hunting that area a few years ago. They run thousands of sheep up there and have dozens of Pyrenees. The herder stopped us and every other hunter in the vicinity looking for folks with Bear tags. They were loosing 2-5 sheep PER DAY to the bears!!
(Needless to say there was not a single ungulate within a 10 mile radius)

 

[Poser]

As a total aside from this story unfortunate story: I was attacked by a German Shepard a few years back and, since then, have developed a new phobia of dogs I do not know.

In ‘22 I was hunting in CO and ran into a herder who indeed had a pack of Pyrenees along. I was really uncomfortable the entire time knowing that a pack of (large) dogs was in the area running free.

I’ve never heard of such a story, but it led me to wonder if anyone has ever been attacked by any of these herding dogs before.

Yes, there have been at least a handful of fatalities by sheep dogs. I’ve heard stories of dogs getting after mountain bikers in particular and also heard of them attacking people’s dogs.

That being said, I’ve never had any issues with the dogs. They’ll often bark and coke running to check me out (sometimes they are entirely indifferent), but usually friendly once they get an inspection. Some of them like to be petted, others will continue to bark at you but that’s about it. They’ll often escort me through the sheep and immediately lose interest once I’m through the sheep.

 

[Poser]

We were hunting that area a few years ago. They run thousands of sheep up there and have dozens of Pyrenees. The herder stopped us and every other hunter in the vicinity looking for folks with Bear tags. They were loosing 2-5 sheep PER DAY to the bears!!
(Needless to say there was not a single ungulate within a 10 mile radius)

I’m unsure hunting bear around the sheep would be productive at all -I bet that happens exclusively at night. I can’t imagine a bear being out in the open tundra, miles from any cover, in the broad daylight.

 

[TagEater]

I’m unsure hunting bear around the sheep would be productive at all -I bet that happens exclusively at night. I can’t imagine a bear being out in the open tundra, miles from any cover, in the broad daylight.

They were right above West Virginia Gulch...plenty of cover.