Grizzly Encounter / Shots Fired near Big Sky

[jmez]

Garbage thought process sir. No one rides a Grizzly to get to work to feed their family.

Dan Haggerty did, and was never mauled. You may be into something here. Appears taking the grizzly is more safe than a car. Who knew?

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[Dos Perros]

Here's a good repository on grizzly bear mortality around the GYE. Lots of bears get killed by people (more get killed by people than by other causes).

Documented known and probable grizzly bear mortalities in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, 2015-2022 (ver. 2.0, April 2023)

We evaluate mortalities for population segments within the DMA by deriving estimates of total mortality for independent-age (≥2 years old) females and independent-age males, including estimates of unknown/unreported mortalities based on Cherry et al. (2002). We then determine the total annual...

www.sciencebase.gov

 

[sf jakey]

I find it interesting how the guys from Montana and Wyoming are being scolded and lectured to by the guys from Florida, Kansas, South Dakota etc.
it’s about more than elk hunting. It’s affecting the life of those who live with these bears and wolves. It’s about their livestock, their homes, their children’s safety. All so the guy from mid America can take a vacation there once in a while and have a raw wilderness experience. It’s the same mentality as those liberals in their gated communities demand understanding and tolerance for the homeless and drug users on the streets of major cities while they remain insulated and protected from the impacts. Then occasionally they go out to eat or shop and see these people on the street and get a”raw” urban experience. They feel sorry for them, and pledge to do even more to “help” them while in fact they are making the problem worse.
I am not a resident of Montana, yet, but I will certainly defer to those who must live with the consequences of the decisions of single minded, agenda driven, bureaucrats.
Back to the original topic, I pray for the speedy and complete recovery from his injuries. My daughter is a student at MSU, and I share all these stories with her to help her with situational awareness in the great outdoors surrounding her.

 

[GAHunterJim]

I live in FL and I'm not lecturing or scolding anyone...my position is simple, the bears are expanding and need to be hunted to maintain a man v bear balance of power. You don't have to live in MT or WY to understand that there is a problem. Humans are being charged, mauled and sometimes killed!

 

[Dos Perros]

Hunting will have a negligible affect. I'm all for it, but acknowledge it won't do anything.

 

[Dos Perros]

It’s affecting the life of those who live with these bears

Can you please detail how?

 

[rileybassman]

Can you please detail how?

Killing livestock, breaking into garbage/barns/cars/sheds etc., changing if/when I'll let my kids play outside, increasing hunting pressure in bear "free" zones, changing hunting (use of calls, if I take my kids, etc.), maulings/run ins (I know people every year shooting to scare off and spraying bears), expansion of habitat (ranches that were safe for generations are having problems now).

Those who live out here and are running in to them understand that it's gradually getting worse and worse. We have more and more attacks - mountain bikers getting killed, joggers killed, hunters killed/wounded, bike campers (in a campsite that historically didn't have much bear activity) killed.

Yes, it's a price that we pay living out here, but also Yes, it's getting worse and needs to be addressed.

 

[Dos Perros]

Those who live out here and are running in to them understand that it's gradually getting worse and worse.

This is what I'd like to see substantiated with data. I haven't seen it yet. I suspect a lot of what has been posted in here is emotionally driven vs data driven. Don't get me wrong, I get the heebeejeebees in g bear country myself. I'm just aware it's an illogical emotional response.

 

[grfox92]

Can you please detail how?

My wife and kids don't go hiking without me. I won't let them and my wife won't anyway. It really bothers my wife. That's a personal choice though. Not like we have bears in town in our backyard.

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[Dos Perros]

My wife and kids don't go hiking without me. I won't let them and my wife won't anyway. It really bothers my wife. That's a personal choice though. Not like we have bears in town in our backyard.

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This is an example of an emotionally driven behavior.

 

[LoggerDan]

?…guys from Florida and Kansas saying that since they hunt the rockies may e ten days a year means they spend a lot of time in bear country…laughable.


Up here, bears hit hunting camps, cars, dumpsters, smokehouses, dry cabins, chicken coops, eat up snow machine seats, everything. Populated by people or out in tne bush. All are hunted. But they still do what they do. The Kenai Peninsula is very densely populated. We are allowed one bear per year by permit. This past june, a guy got hit. Here in anchorage, they pretty much raise hell. Even hunted, they aren’t scared of you. They just get smarter or sneakier or extremely aggressive. Its one thing for you flat footed flat landers to think its no sweat while you hunt. But you guys don’t have to pack a light and a pistol to go to the outhouse at night all year long.

 

[grfox92]

This is an example of an emotionally driven behavior.

Agreed 100%. Which is what I meant when I said personal choice. But when you go to a barbecue and meet and hear the story, from a guy who's been maulled twice. And have one of the wrestlers show up to your house with a stitched up face wearing his arm in a sling. And I've been charged twice in 2 years of hunting here, It's hard to believe there isnt a real danger.

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[Doc Holliday]

Odds of being in a car wreck, 1/366 crashes for every 1000 miles driven. Odds of being mauled by a bear, 1 in 2.1 million.

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Saying those statistics together assumes everyone who drives a car, also spends time in bear country, which is not the case.

The majority of the population (minus children and homeless people) drives a car, but only a very small % of the population spends time in the backcountry where a grizzly attack is a real possibility.

 

[Doc Holliday]

What are the odds of getting mauled by a grizzly when you hunt and recreate in the highest grizzly density region in the lower 48?

I know, personally, 3 people who have been mauled. One of those people had been mauled twice. Once in 2011 and once in 2014. Where does that statistic come from? If it doesn't take into account all the people who don't ever recreate in grizzly country, the statistics means nothing.

I've been archery hunting 3 or 4 days a week since September 1st. I haven't seen a single other hunter out there. I have passed around 5k cars on my way to work though....

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Bingo

 

[MuleyFever]

This may be more relevant to hunters/hikers.

"The best stats on bear attacks come from Yellowstone National Park, which focuses on grizzlies. Overall, only 1 in 2.7 million park visitors are likely to be injured by a bear, but those odds go way up if you're in the backcountry: to 1-in-232,000 per day. For someone who spends a 90 day summer in the backcountry, that gives them about a 1-in-2600 chance (0.04%) of getting injured by a bear."

"Based on the number of cars on the road, the amount of time the average person spends on the roadway, and the rate of fatalities caused by car accidents, you are estimated to have a 1 in 107 (or less than a 1% chance) of dying in a car crash during your daily drive."

I dont stand behind these quotes. Just what is available from a quick search.

 

[3forks]

I posted something about this kind of topic a few years ago because the national news was running stories about great white sharks being seen off popular east coast beaches, and of course the stories coincided with traditional holiday beach weekends.

People recreate and live their lives around grizzly bears every day and you hear nothing from the media about it. If someone is attacked by a shark, the chances of it making the national news and being sensationalized is way higher than someone who gets attled by a bear.

Look at the behavior of people in Yellowstone… they’ll actually get out of their car to get closer to a bear (or arguably just as dangerous an animal like a bison, black bear, moose, elk, etc) to get a better pic, but I’ve never seen anyone go charging into the water when someone yells “shark” or sees one.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Hunters are also much more likely to have a run in than a hiker, camper, or fisherman, due to the facts that we:

-Move quietly during first and last light
-Make sounds of animals that bears prey on
-Create kill sites / sources of food for bears that send scent of blood and meat downwind for miles
-Are in the backcountry most often during the end of summer/beginning of fall which is when bears are in hyperphagia

The only statistic that would matter is how many hunters are in the backcountry in grizzly territory each fall, and how many incidents there are. Problem is many go unreported (sss) or people just dont feel the need to tell the world about their day, so any stats will always be inaccurate and lower than reality.

 

[S.Clancy]

Do you get that there is indeed a problem?

The number of encounters and life or life threatening injuries has been increasing. Look at the number of news reports and articles that occur each year from the impact of the grizzly population. It truly is sad seeing the impact it has caused. I feel for the individuals and families impacted by the result.

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Your making the same argument for getting rid of grizzlies that people make about getting rid of guns and 2A..."(insert word) is scary and there is just too many incidents and too many injuries and deaths, they just shouldn't exist".....

Meanwhile like 1000x more people are dying falling of ladders. Life is risky.

 

[D S 319]

what benefit do these bears bring to the ecosystem?

 

[Dos Perros]

what benefit do these bears bring to the ecosystem?

Aside from an infusion of $, probably zero, or at least negligible.

The google limits it to keeping prey species in check and dispersing seeds through feces.