As grizzlies surge in the Rockies, some say it's time to lift protections, allow hunts



By Matthew Brown
ASSOCIATED PRESS

2:24 a.m. December 4, 2007

BILLINGS, Mont. – Nearly extinct last century, grizzly bears are back in a big way in the northern Rockies – rising in numbers, pushing into new territories and mauling hunters who stumble across them in the wild.

While state and federal officials laud the bear's comeback, others say it's time to lift the remaining protections that helped them recover. They point to recent grizzly encounters as evidence.



“We've got grizzly bears eating people who come here to hunt,†said Vic Workman, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioner, who fended off a grizzly during a Nov. 25 hunting trip near Whitefish. “It's getting out of whack. We've got too many bears.â€
The grizzly charged after Workman stumbled upon it as it guarded a fresh deer carcass. Workman fired a shot from his rifle and was not injured. The bear ran off.

If hunters could kill some bears, Workman said, the rest of the population would learn to avoid humans.

The biologist in charge of restoring grizzlies acknowledges they appear to be on track toward recovery in some areas. In central and western Montana, for example, they've expanded their range by more than 2,300 square miles in the last two decades.

But Christopher Servheen, grizzly recovery coordinator with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said it would take at least five more years of research to show the bear's progress is not fleeting.

Recovery is not just measured by the number of bears, he added. Also important is how widely they are distributed, whether females breed at an adequate rate, and how many are killed crossing highways or in other human-related accidents.

Workman's close call was the latest in a string of bear attacks and near misses this year in Montana and portions of Idaho and Wyoming near Yellowstone National Park. While there is no comprehensive data on grizzly-human conflicts, an Associated Press tally shows at least a dozen grizzly bear attacks reported since April.

Seven people were injured, some severely. At least five grizzlies were killed, either during the attacks or later by wildlife agents.

Servheen said it would be a mistake to link the run-ins to a decision on whether protections should be lifted.

“That wouldn't have changed what happened to Mr. Workman in any way shape or form,†he said. “If you walk close to a bear that's over a carcass, it doesn't care if it's a delisted bear or not. It's going to charge.â€

One bear population is already moving toward possible hunting. An estimated 600 grizzlies in and around Yellowstone this spring became the first of their species in the lower 48 states to lose their threatened species status.

Even there, a hunt is at least a year away and would likely be capped at just a few animals, said Chris Smith, chief of staff for the state wildlife department.

Conservation groups say more could be done to prevent bear-human conflicts without simply culling the grizzlies' population. Craig Kenworthy, conservation director for the Greater Yellowstone Coalition, noted that spikes in bear attacks generally coincide with a shortage of food or other unfavorable environmental conditions.

This year, for example, drought in the Yellowstone area forced bears to roam farther and stay out longer in search of berries, insects and other food before winter.

“What we don't want to do is have a hunt and knock the numbers down and then find out we're still having the same number of conflicts,†Kenworthy said.

His group recently filed a lawsuit seeking to reverse the delisting of Yellowstone-area grizzlies.

Smith said his agency would await the outcome of the litigation before drafting any plans for a grizzly hunt.

another look at it
Spray vs. gun bear deterrent debate rages
the Missoulian ^ | December 03 2007 | JOHN CRAMER


Posted on 12/03/2007 3:09:30 PM PST by george76


Long ago, grizzly bears thrived in Montana as did tales - some tall, some true - told by frontiersmen of a man-eater even more fearsome than the other two bogeymen of the forest, wolves and mountain lions.

Today, the reputation of Ursus arctos horribilis - along with other major predators ...

Also changed is how people can handle encounters with grizzlies, using a chemical spray rather than guns to improve the odds that both humans and bears will escape the encounters unharmed.

But Workman believes that if a bullet was good enough for his great-grandfather more than a century ago, then it's good enough for him when confronted by a charging grizzly, especially since he's wielding a modern, high-powered rifle.

It's an opinion held by many hunters, but Workman also is a member of Montana's Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission, the citizen board that oversees the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

And that agency, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, devotes considerable resources each year on bear awareness programs that emphasize chemical spray, not bullets, as the way to keep both people and bears safe in the woods.

Last week, Workman drew widespread criticism from bear biologists, wildlife officials and some hunters when he shot a charging grizzly - and later said bullets are far more effective than bear spray in fending off such an attack.

“These people who think that they're safe with bear spray, I'm here to tell them it's a false sense of security,†he said.

“The spray is better than nothing, but I'll choose a firearm every time.â€

Workman...also drew fire for saying grizzlies have become so populous in Montana that they should be taken off the endangered species list and hunted to make them afraid of people.


(Excerpt) Read more at missoulian.com ...


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There are twice as many Grizzlys in Wyoming now than there was when they were legally hunted. I think that there was an agreement back then, that as soon as the numbers reached a certain level, they would be back on the hunting list. As far as I know they have exceded that number by twice.
I haven't followed it, but I do know, in an area, only 35 miles from the town I live in, as the crow flies, there are 5 different grizzlies in drainages that we used to black bear bait. When only 10 years ago there were none. It is quite easy to go into areas west of highway 120 and find a grizzly.

To many, and time to hunt a few.