The Photo was taken in the San Juan’s of Southwestern Colorado, not far from where the Last confirmed Grizzly was killed in 1979 by a Hunting Guide by the name of Ed Wiseman. So I would say that there is a chance that it’s a grizzly in this photo . The body shape, size , hump and location- high up in a mountain meadow where grizzly bears tend to roam in the summer months. Now what would prove that it’s without a doubt a grizzly , clearer pic of it with its head more at a level spot , so as to see the pronounced hump, the long white claws and a dish shaped face, would all be better indicators of whether this bear is a grizzly. The Wiseman bear was a female , who most likely had Cubs. So those Cubs offspring, could possibly be barely hanging on in that area of the San Juan’s. It’s all up for debate. There is evidence that there were legitimate Grizzly sightings up into the late 90s in that area. A Book called the Lost Grizzlies follows the search for remaining Grizzly in the San Juan’s. They found scat, large Dig sights and large prints .
I don't see how it's possible. Look at various remnant populations of bears in Europe, even those with only a handful of individuals, those bears are encountered... often.
Look at the cabinet-yaak population, there are what 50 bears there? Over a much larger area, that has a fraction of the visitors, yet these bears are frequently encountered, hair samples found, etc.
San Juan's are DAU 30 -35
DAU -30 - 5126 Deer hunters - 2709 Elk hunters
DAU- 35 - 1049 Deer hunters - 4183 Elk hunters
So literally thousands of folks with spotting scopes and high dollar optics are scouring these units ever year. Anecdotally, I hunted about as far back in the San Juan's this year as you can... tons of folks, we hiked past a bunch of camps folks hiked past us... people everywhere.
Other recreation, hikers, bikers, trail runners, Pagosa, Durango, Mancos... google loved to death. I don't know the exact numbers of user days for the forest... no doubt an order of magnitude more than the Cabinet-yaak.
Camped in the San Juan's this summer, on a Monday between Archery and rifle season's we had to drive around a bit to find a spot, I heard from several friends you literally could not find a spot to car camp during the weekend of the 4th.
Then there's food + conflicts. Where are are black bears in the San Juan's during the fall? They aren't at the top Montezuma peak or the back side of Mesa Lato. They're down low in the oak brush... which takes them down into town, people etc. The San Juan's have live stock allotments, grizzly kills, grizzly tracks around some dudes field?
How many bears are in Montana, how many attacks have there been in the last 10 years?
So a large carnivore, that is notorious in all of it's range for having human conflict has gone 40 years without an incident? Without being spotted? Track being found, hair sample... despite people looking... with helicopters? Credible people have reported bears, DOW then CPW now has gone in and done the full court press and found nothing.
Independence pass 06'
But yet in seemingly the hardest place likely for a grizzly to live without encountering humans in the United States one has managed to survive, and just happened to be encountered by an NR Alien, on his first hunt in the state...
Now... if a credible source said they saw one in the Medicine Bow... sure
Do you understand how social media influencers work?
