A friend of mine just returned from a week long elk hunt outside of Yellowstone Park. The week before his hunt, one of his outfitter's guides was mauled by a grizzley and flown out by helicopter. During his hunt he saw 13 grizzlies in 5 days of hunting. Bears were in camp on 4 seperate occasions. One guy in their group killed an elk late in the day, had to leave it, and found a bear on it the next morning. They shot over the bear's head and scared it off. They then dragged the elk to a meadow with a horse to quater it and pack it out.

One night, while on the way back to camp after dark, my friend and his guide were walking their horses down a trail through the timber, the horses were spooked by a sow and 2 cubs on the trail.

My freind was not there, but on another occasion, another member of the crew killed and elk. The gun shot was like ringing a dinner bell for the bears. The hunter and his guide saw several bears who came to investigate the sound of the gunshot. The hunter had to stand guard while the guide caped and quartered the elk.

I guess the drought has caused some of this becasue of the shortage of food, but it also seems that the number of bears is getting out of line. It is only a matter of time until bear attacks and maulings increase greatly.

cwilson

Right, right you are. Today in the local paper there are TWO stories of grizly encounter.

One where three hunters surprise a sow with two cubs on their elk kill, as they come back for the hind quarters. The sow charged, and the hunters hit it with their pack, bow, and an arrow, respectively. It seems the arrow "grazed" the animal. Pissed off grizzly, anyone?

The second was a young animal that jumped on a bow hunter in his twenties. He called out for help while being mauled, and dad runs up. The bear charges dad, who drops the bear with a single arrow to the neck........ How good are you guys with a bow?

Watch out, out there. That's two in one week, folks. FWIW, Dutch.

I have talked with several people that hunt that area and they are always running into bears. The anti's do not want to admitt that the bear population in on the increase and that limited hunting is called for. Delisting grizzys in that area would help cull out the bad ones.

The grizzly here in Montana will probably be de-listed within the next five or so years.

There are numerous locations within this region where you are more likely to see a grizzly than you are to see a shootable bull elk. There are some areas where it would be unusual to not see a grizzly in a days hunting. Regards, Bill.

I wonder how many folks would put in for that tag........ Dutch.

Hunting elk and sheep In Kananaskis country, you are highly likely to run into grizzlies! One must constantly be concious of the pontential threat. Camp must be kept super clean!!!

In 2000 we were camped Northwest of DuBois, Wy. One guy had a Griz clean up his deer carcass, and our moose gutpile was cleaned up before the next day. I took a picture of a track very close to camp that was huge. There were at least 2 mauling that season in that area of Wy.

I had one stick his head in my tent near Island park a couple of years ago..I didn't sleep well that night...they seem to be on the increase, particularly in the Throughfare area bordering Yellowstone...they get pretty bravo when not hunted.

My wife and I backpack hunted black bear last year in Montana. We were within 30 yards of 5 Grizzly Bears. One was about 15 feet from us, he snuck up on us, one came into camp and "crushed" our tent. In 5 days in that draineage we saw no black bears. Seems a Grizzly season is in order for the lower 48.

Last year one elk hunter was mauled and killed and another one was mauled, both after the elk was shot. Its like ringing a dinner bell for them. The grizzly bear population is high here in montana. They just relocated two more where i elk hunt south of here. Anyone coming to montana to hunt elk needs to be carefull!

P.S. Watch out for the wolves too!

We just had a local boy come back in from a Grizzlie "attack". The bear knocked him down and bit his forearm and wristwatch (according to the story, I don't know who was more surprised, him or the bear). Then the bear ran off. He was hunting at the time, but hadn't shot any game yet. He's a lucky man. - Dan

Yup, they seem to be everywhere. One was spotted a couple times last week a few miles from my house here in the Bitterroot - where no one has seen a griz in 40 years. Stand by for the inevitable. When one finally kills a kid, the defecation will hit the oscillation. Same goes for those ^#$$$^!!@ wolves. Won't be long, I'm afraid. They are EVERYWHERE.

Redial

The three S of nuisance animal management: Shoot, shovel, shut up

Sometimes the fact that Elk are tough is a good thing, makes you carry a bit more gun. I'd sure as hell rather be packing a 7mm or big .30 or .338 than a .243/.257 or so "just in case".

A 4" barrel .44 magnum revolver might not be a bad idea, regardless of the rifle carried.

Legalities in Canada aside, I don't put a lot of faith in handguns for Grizzlies, but it sure beats your hunting knife or fingernails. - Dan

Not long after Wolves were re-introed into the park there was an article in the Salt Lake tribune stating that the way things are going both Wolves and Grizzlies will come back to the Uintahs in Utah, it stated that its not a question of maybe, but when. Thats quite a ways to spread for them but it would appear they were right.

Ill never forget reading an article in Outdoor Life, it was numerous years ago, but the article told a story of a Montana man who was hunting and was attacked and severly mauled by a Griz. The man managed to kill the bear and ended up in the emergency room fighting for his life. He reported the incident to the authorities and was later sentanced to prison for killing an endangered species. Ive not heard anymore on this for ages, but it would appear that the dont ask dont tell rule of thumb may be in order for such a mishap.