Grizzly Bears in Colorado's San Juans

[T-roy]

Not sure why I'm posting this as no one will probably believe me.
2012 I killed bull in San Juans. 3 days later bro in law and I hunted back to kill site.
We set up calling for a bit when 200 lb black bear came running out 300 yds above us.
It kept looking behind it. As we glassed it, I said to my bro in law "don't move, there is a brown bear coming".. 200 yds above us stepped out a huge brown bear. It had the big bull on its back, and silver tip fur. Very easy to see.
It turned and started towards us as my bull carcass was between him and us. At about 150 yds from us we scrambled and got out of there.
We didn't sleep next nights.
We know what we saw. We have killed many black bears before too.
Believe what you like. This was our experience.

I saw one also in that area. Was with my son and a friend doing a summer scouting trip. Hunted that area a few times. I killed a black bear with a bow before myself and have killed many big game animals and hunted all over the country. No doubt in my mind what I saw. I did report it to the biologist for the district also. Had a interesting conversation with him.

 

[jspradley]

Are grizzlies to Colorado what "black panthers" are to East Texas?

 

[T-roy]

Are grizzlies to Colorado what "black panthers" are to East Texas?
Maybe it was a cinnamon phase black bear. Very possible

 

[30338]

I've seen several cinnamon black bears with swatch of practically silver hair on their back. Very dark forelegs. I could see how one could be confused for a griz. But I don't think there are any grizzlies left out there. Not to say one won't come in tomorrow from WY.

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

Cinnamon phase black bears are mistaken for what you all call grizzlies all the time.

Any non casual can ID a grizzly from a black bear even glassing

 

[BeastOfTheTrees]

100%. Growing up in Pa... We have a few black bears... And a lot of big bears to... I think the state record is around 700 pounds...

We have more than a few.... Warren county Native..... PGC estimates between 20,000 to 30,000..... top 5 in the nation annually

 

[txhunter581]

To be clear, there might possibly be grizzly bears in Colorado currently or in the future, but there will never be a brown bear. Not many coastlines in Colorado.

 

[fwafwow]

BeastoftheTrees' avatar reminded me of an age-old conundrum. So if you put a male brown bear into a cage match with a male gorilla (both record size), and the gorilla has an aluminum baseball bat and is fully capable of using it, which one wins?

 

[jeff68]

sch 80 4 inch pipe, then the gorilla

 

[lyle_destroys]

Didn't CO parks and wildlife swear there weren't any ruffed grouse in the state either?

I find it hard to believe they are now extripated after they were believed to have been over 20yrs prior to the last encounter/attack. Let's just say I wouldn't be suprised if someone gets attacked by a grizz one day and once again it's declared "now that's the last one".

Btw I don't believe it's a cover up by the state/feds or anything of the sort.

Pa did the same thing with coyotes in the 70s probably. Farmer real close to me had chickens or something being killed off and no one believed him until he killed one with a Michigan tag. Apparently pa bought them from Michigan and denied it until this. My father in law told me the whole story.

 

[Jason7]

I'm sure there are plenty Cinnamon phase black bears that get mistaken for Grizzlies each year. Just like Bigfoot being real.

 

[LINK83]

Oklahoma DOW used to deny any sightings of mountain lions. When cameras became mainstream it became hard to deny them. I live in OK and know a guy that killed a wolf a few years ago less than 2 hours from me. He reported it to the DOW and I never heard another word about it. Nothing from a news source or the DOW and it was 100% legit.

 

[Pacific_Fork]

Oklahoma DOW used to deny any sightings of mountain lions. When cameras became mainstream it became hard to deny them. I live in OK and know a guy that killed a wolf a few years ago less than 2 hours from me. He reported it to the DOW and I never heard another word about it. Nothing from a news source or the DOW and it was 100% legit.

Pics of said wolf kill please!

 

[LongWayAround]

I heard your cousin saw them air dropping grizz out of black helicopters.

 

[John Jason]

Colorado big game book cover from a few years back. Big head, big claws to be a black bear but I'm not an expert. I believe it was taken in southern CO.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[tdhanses]

Colorado big game book cover from a few years back. Big head, big claws to be a black bear but I'm not an expert. I believe it was taken in southern CO.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

That is 100% a black bear.

 

[Carr5vols]

Chasewild or tobe_b needs to chime in, they live in the area and spends a lot of time in the wemi...they would know. I have been in the wemi some but highly doubt a griz would be there without being seen between hunters and backpackers.

 

[WCB]

I grew up in a household where my father was a game warden in California. The wildlife "sightings" that would get called into our house were always damn entertaining. In general, the average person with very little GOOD wildlife ID skills has no idea at all what they are seeing late at night. I have taken calls of people reporting grizzly bears and all sorts of other crazy crap including mt lions that end up being bobcats or dogs, of course the wolf vs coyote sightings have been around forever, . As such I literally believe nothing i hear from non expert accounts regarding bears, lions, sasquatch, and ghosts. Colorado is not that far from Wyoming so it is doable. The problem is that its grizzlies really are not good at hiding, and they leave a lot of tell tell sign. CO DOW would gladly report if they had credible evidence of a grizzly I know many people within colorado DOW that would love to see them, love to confirm it. There is no conspiracy to hide proof of a grizzly in colorado.

Funny...I hardly believe a lot of the "expert" sources. But maybe it is just from being in MN where they have told us for years there are no resident breeding Mt. Lions. Even though "dens" with females and kits have been found and people get pictures and see them all the time. Apparently every young male wanderer passes through MN.

 

[Antarctica]

Funny...I hardly believe a lot of the "expert" sources. But maybe it is just from being in MN where they have told us for years there are no resident breeding Mt. Lions. Even though "dens" with females and kits have been found and people get pictures and see them all the time. Apparently every young male wanderer passes through MN.

Same for half the east coast. Funny thing is back when I was in high school (mid 80's before game departments were actively playing these sightings down), there was actually an article in "Virginia Wildlife" (the DNR sponsored magazine) that went into great detail the about cat sightings in southwest VA. I'd love to find the article again, because I swear it even made reference to preparedness or availability of virginia damage control shooters for cat killings of livestock.

 

[Antarctica]

Baboom!

Virginia Wildlife February 1987 "A Catamount Tale"

Virginia Wildlife : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

archive.org

Sometimes the internet is truly amazing. Now I have to go read it to see how bad my memory is....