Grizzly bear numbers hit new high in Yellowstone region

: Wednesday, October 27, 2010 .Grizzly bear numbers in the three-state region in and around Yellowstone National Park have hit their highest level in decades.

Scientists from a multi-agency research team will announce Wednesday that at least 603 grizzlies now roam the Yellowstone area of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

That's about three times the number when the species was put on the endangered list in 1975.

But more bears also means more run-ins with humans. At least 45 grizzlies have been killed this year, most of them by hunters or wildlife agents. The last time so many bears died, 2008, the population dipped the next year.

Two people have been fatally mauled by grizzlies in 2010 - one east of Cody, Wyo. and another near Cooke City.

CODY — Wildlife officials are investigating a grizzly bear encounter near Cody in which a hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear after being bitten by the bear.

The hunter was bitten at least twice on the left thigh Wednesday morning in the Upper South Fork Valley, about 35 miles southwest of Cody, according to Mark Bruscino, bear management officer for the Wyoming Game and Fish De-partment.

The hunter was alone, but was able to walk out of the backcountry, and was assisted by someone in the area, Brus-cino said.

The hunter has received medical treatment and is expected to be released today, Bruscino said.

Additional details were not immediately available, and authorities are still investigating the incident, he said.

The incident is just the latest of an unusually high number of conflicts between bears and people this year.

Bruscino said that the Wyoming Game and Fish Department recommends hunting with a partner and carrying bear defense — either a gun, bear spray or both.

Bruscino spoke by cell phone from Bozeman, where he was reporting on Wyoming bear management efforts as part of a multi-agency meeting of wildlife specialists, the Yellowstone Ecosystem Committee.

Reports from that meeting show that more than 600 grizzlies live in the Yellowstone region of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, or more than three times the number since they were put on the endangered species list in 1975, according to the Associated Press.

"There’s no doubt from a scientific analysis standpoint that there is a healthy, growing and well-distributed" bear population in the region, Bruscino said.

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There’s no doubt from a scientific analysis standpoint that there is a healthy, growing and well-distributed" bear population in the region, Bruscino said.

DUH!

Too bad wolves aren't their main food item!

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Too bad wolves aren't their main food item!

The wolves are one reason the bear population is on the rise. The wolves move through the country killing almost everything and the bears move in behind them and clean up what the wolves don't eat.

Mark Bruscino wrote a article a few years back about grizzlies eating army moths above timberline. He took a small group of people up near Franks Peak ( If I remember correctly) to get a count on the bears. He told the small group they should see around four grizzlies, the group actually counted 44 grizzlies up in one basin.

I would bet there are more than 603 grizzlies in the Yellowstone ES. How would you get a correct count, that country is just to big to be accurate.

Steve

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I would bet there are more than 603 grizzlies in the Yellowstone ES. How would you get a correct count, that country is just to big to be accurate.

I agree 100%, I would bet there are that many or more, just in Wyoming.

We went up cow elk hunting yesterday, never cut a fresh elk track, dry and dusty. But we did cut two different bear tracks, both had front pads close to 7 inches in width. I can only remember one time seeing fresh grizzly tracks this late and that was near jackson, we were hunting south of Meeteetse at about 5000 feet, almost within a mile of an oil filed. Scatterd pines and mostly junipers.

more grumpy this year,thou its not all that late for them to be out.
headed in before the sun, prime grizz country
hope to leave 'em a gut pile for a snack.
damn sure plenty of them.
interesting, when yellowstone decided to close the bear dumps and tourist shows, the craigheads
told them there were 600 bears then and closing the dumps would cost 2/3rds of the population
and take 50 yrs to recover.
sounds like they were right