YNP in June (stupid questions)

LFC911

LFC911

WKR
Joined
Jul 15, 2020
Messages
786
Location
Lenexa, KS
My wife and are headed to YNP in a few weeks. We're spending Sunday through Thursday at a campground in W. Yellowstone. We have a Yellowstone Lake ride, sunset (yellow bus) tour and a Chuck Wagon dinner booked and planning to do some of the other things suggested on this forum. I.e. Jenny Lake Trail.

My stupid question is can i open carry my lead spray in the park or can i only bring regular bear spray in a NP?
Are there designated areas that i can and cannot open carry? I don't have a CCL.
Am i over thinking it?
 
Read park guidelines. You cannot carry in any federal building open or concealed.
As far as out on the trails though your good...not likely to have any sort of issue in high traffic areas but I get the rather have it and not need it approach.
Read wyoming, montana, idaho concealed carry regs. Last I checked they were all constitutional carry states so no permit required...but im not lawyer, do you due diligence.
 
You definitely can carry in Yellowstone, but can’t legally discharge. I would still argue that you should consider carrying both for some redundancy. Bear spray definitely works (from experience), but I probably don’t have to tell you about its drawbacks. I got charged in the park probably 10 years ago while I was a ways back in the backcountry. I only had bear spray, and she barreled at me until she came within around 20 yards of me when she wheeled around and went back to her cubs. Since the effective range on bear spray is only like 10 yards, I hadn’t yet discharged. If I had been packing (which I do nowadays), I think I may have starting lobbing some rounds, and who know how that would have turned out. At the very least I’d be the focus of a federal investigation, even if I had missed cleanly. I think it’s important to have a clear idea of what weapon you will use and under what circumstances. Obviously most times you won’t have time to decide, so just be sure that you can live with whatever one you choose. When push comes to shove and I can tell that I’m in immediate danger, I’m still going to reach for the pistol. If I see the bear coming for a little ways out and have time to process the conditions, I will pull the bear spray out first just to be ready.
 
If you're doing the normal stuff, you're gonna be fine. From my trip to Yellowstone, there were always lots of slow, uncoordinated, distracted, fat, clueless people around. You think a bear is going to pick out a couple that has their head on a swivel and can walk at a brisk pace?

We pulled over once because everyone else was and supposedly there was a mama grizzly with cubs that crossed the road and went up a hill. We stood in the back of our truck with binos. You should have seen the people hurriedly stumbling, wobbling down the road trying to get close and take a picture. The wide panicked look in their eye that they wouldn't be able to see this grizzly was weird.
 
Not verbatim and it's been a minute since I read the regs, but it was 'you can carry a firearm in the park if you are legally allowed to carry a firearm in the state in which the park is located' with the caveats for federal buildings. I've seen people open carry in the park, and I've open carried in Grand Teton backpacking. Didn't have any legal issues but plenty of social issues with that.
 
LFC911 said:
My wife and are headed to YNP in a few weeks. We're spending Sunday through Thursday at a campground in W. Yellowstone. We have a Yellowstone Lake ride, sunset (yellow bus) tour and a Chuck Wagon dinner booked and planning to do some of the other things suggested on this forum. I.e. Jenny Lake Trail.

My stupid question is can i open carry my lead spray in the park or can i only bring regular bear spray in a NP?
Are there designated areas that i can and cannot open carry? I don't have a CCL.
Am i over thinking it?
Click to expand...
There’s a real cool wolf and grizzly center in west Yellowstone that I would recommend. Henry’s lake isn’t too far into Idaho from west and is well worth the drive. Lamar valley is a must see as well as the petrified forest. I’ve never been to mammoth without seeing elk in the center of town. Cooke city and silver gate are really cool towns and not too far outside of the park on the north side. Hayden valley generally has lots of buffalo but last year when I went through the beginning of July I did see 5 grizzlies in it and last week my folks were traveling through and saw a pack of wolves closer to the west side of the park crossing the Madison river. I’ve been through YNP too many times to count and my advice is that there is so much to do and see don’t try to do it all in one day.
 
IdGoldHunter said:
There’s a real cool wolf and grizzly center in west Yellowstone that I would recommend. Henry’s lake isn’t too far into Idaho from west and is well worth the drive. Lamar valley is a must see as well as the petrified forest. I’ve never been to mammoth without seeing elk in the center of town. Cooke city and silver gate are really cool towns and not too far outside of the park on the north side. Hayden valley generally has lots of buffalo but last year when I went through the beginning of July I did see 5 grizzlies in it and last week my folks were traveling through and saw a pack of wolves closer to the west side of the park crossing the Madison river. I’ve been through YNP too many times to count and my advice is that there is so much to do and see don’t try to do it all in one day.
Click to expand...
To add, if you head to Henry’s, wrap around and go to Quake Lake.
 
Just got back from two weeks in Yellowstone. I had my bear spray attached to the bottom of my bino harness which felt like "enough" for the front country photography and wildlife viewing. I did have a pistol in the truck, but never really felt the need to carry it, though everyone is different in that. You might consider something like an HPG kit bag to carry - little bit discreet but still accessible, and you can hang bear spray off of it as well.
 
wesfromky said:
Just got back from two weeks in Yellowstone. I had my bear spray attached to the bottom of my bino harness which felt like "enough" for the front country photography and wildlife viewing. I did have a pistol in the truck, but never really felt the need to carry it, though everyone is different in that. You might consider something like an HPG kit bag to carry - little bit discreet but still accessible, and you can hang bear spray off of it as well.
Click to expand...

Yup, I'm up there alot and always have bear spray on my bino harness. I would always be cautious and prepared for a griz anywhere and everywhere up there - not just where there are crowds of people. Be cautious just leaping out of your car and strolling into even 1-2ft. tall sage or even a restroom in the "wide open". I have way more than once jumped out of my vehicle to hustle and take a photo of something and realized I never looked around at all and could have just blundered right on a snoozing griz to take a photo of an owl or the like. I have seen griz bedded right next to the boulders they use to rim alot of the turnouts....they aren't just buried up in the thick willows. I have seen them right outside restroom/outhouse doors. They can be amazingly camoflauged for big critters. Enjoy!!

It's a requirement on the WWW to have photos in a YNP thread...I don't make the rules:

Here's a griz bedded outside a restroom:
DSC04287a.jpg


A6701047.jpg

A6701027.jpg

DSC04275.jpg

DSC01810.jpg
 
This was in Mammoth.
img_3259-jpeg.888687
 

Attachments

  • IMG_3259.jpeg
    IMG_3259.jpeg
    303.4 KB · Views: 166
LFC911 said:
My wife and are headed to YNP in a few weeks. We're spending Sunday through Thursday at a campground in W. Yellowstone. We have a Yellowstone Lake ride, sunset (yellow bus) tour and a Chuck Wagon dinner booked and planning to do some of the other things suggested on this forum. I.e. Jenny Lake Trail.

My stupid question is can i open carry my lead spray in the park or can i only bring regular bear spray in a NP?
Are there designated areas that i can and cannot open carry? I don't have a CCL.
Am i over thinking it?
Click to expand...
What is lead spray?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

OXN939
WY Grizzlies
2
Replies
38
Views
4K
wyojdubya
wyojdubya
O
Moose to finish off my third hunt of the year
Replies
3
Views
860
medvedyt
M
Sliverslinger
“The Memories of Fall”
Replies
10
Views
1K
flytrue
F
S
Alaska vacation questions?
Replies
17
Views
2K
Werty
W
NJDiverDan
Idaho Grizzly Attack
Replies
7
Views
3K
Laramie
Laramie

Latest posts

Featured Video

Latest Articles

Back
Top