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Spray vs. gun bear deterrent debate rages
By JOHN CRAMER of the Missoulian
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.
By the late 1800s, one of Vic Workman's great-grandfathers was among the legions of homesteaders who trapped and shot the giant bears by the thousands in an effort to make the area safe for fellow settlers.
Today, the reputation of Ursus arctos horribilis - along with other major predators - is no longer that of a brutish killer, but of a keystone species decimated by overhunting and habitat loss, a symbol of America's misunderstanding of how nature works.
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.”
Workman, FWP's District 1 commissioner, 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.
A tall, rangy man who wears a cowboy hat and a made-in-Montana look, Workman is known for his outspokenness. He's a lifelong hunter with record-book kills of brown bear and black bear, but no room on his belt for a canister of bear spray when he heads into the wilderness.
He said only a blast from his rifle could have deterred the grizzly that charged him last Sunday while he was hunting north of Whitefish Lake.
Workman's comments come at a time of growing encounters between grizzlies and people in Montana's forests and open spaces, where both bear and human populations are increasing.
Chris Servheen, a Missoula-based bear biologist who heads grizzly recovery efforts for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Workman's comments are detrimental to grizzly conservation and human safety in bear country.
“It was a totally irresponsible thing to say,” Servheen said. “We spend a lot of time teaching people how to be safe in bear territory, and having someone in a position of authority make those comments is contrary to everything we teach people about the value of spray and the effectiveness of its use in close-encounter situations.”
Workman said he had time to fire only one shot from the hip, hitting the bear and causing it to veer away into the brush. The bear had been covering up a deer kill when it charged.
Workman said he and his hunting partner examined the deer immediately after the encounter, but that they couldn't find the bear.
His comments, which have caused a buzz among hunters, biologists and conservationists in western Montana, contradict a growing body of research and anecdotal evidence about bear encounters.
According to studies of human-bear encounters by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Calgary, hunters who used firearms to defend themselves against grizzlies were much more likely to be injured or killed than those who used bear spray.
The main ingredient in bear spray, which evolved more than a decade ago from tear gas and pepper spray used by police, is a derivative of capsaicin, a red-pepper oil that causes severe irritation to the mouth, eyes, nose and lungs.
Several years ago, Montana FWP considered making it mandatory for hunters to carry bear spray, which is not the same thing as modern pepper spray, but the commission instead voted to continue with voluntary public outreach efforts with hunters, ranchers, recreationists and other groups.
Workman said he regrets having to shoot the grizzly. He said he's taken heat from a number of people, but that he makes no apologies for his actions or his comments.
He said the only time he carries bear spray is in Glacier National Park, where firearms are prohibited and grizzly bears abound, but he expects it would be of limited use in an attack.
“I've had people chastise me for not packing bear spray,” he said. “Some even suggested I had time to use it before I fired (Sunday), but they weren't there. It happened in a nanosecond. Some absolute idiots would rather see a person potentially get eaten than harm a bear.”
At Thursday's monthly meeting of the FWP commission in Helena, Workman's comments were not on the agenda, but they prompted a lot of discussion and concern, said Chris Smith, the agency's chief of staff.
Workman faces no disciplinary action because commissioners are free to express their personal opinions, said Smith, a lifelong hunter who said he has twice fired his rifle to scare away bears but never used the bear spray he always carries.
The five-member FWP commission is a quasi-judicial, citizen board appointed by the governor to four-year terms. Commissioners' duties include setting fish and wildlife regulations and hunting seasons; they are not agency employees.
Interviews with hunters and wildlife officials suggest that many hunters in Montana don't carry bear spray, instead relying on their rifles and a sidearm as a backup if confronted by a grizzly.
According to FWP, none of the hunters mauled or charged by grizzlies in Montana this year were carrying bear spray.
Three grizzly bears have been reported shot to death this year by hunters who fired in self-defense, roughly the same number as in the previous eight years, according to FWP and Fish and Wildlife Service.
Workman faces no charges in last Sunday's shooting because FWP authorities determined he fired in self-defense. No sign of the grizzly was found, but blood samples from the scene are being analyzed to determine whether they are from the bear or the deer it had recently killed.
State and federal wildlife officials said they weren't questioning Workman's integrity or his decision to use his rifle against the grizzly that charged him, but they said his position on bear spray sends the wrong message to the public.
“His total dismissal of bear spray is a gross injustice,” said Mack Long, FWP Region 2 supervisor, who has tested the spray for years during public education classes. “Bear spray is extremely effective. You can shoot a bear five times and it can still live long enough to maul you, but bear spray works instantaneously. People don't need to be afraid when they go into the woods. They just need to be ready.”
Long, another lifelong hunter who always carries bear spray, said he regularly disagrees with Workman, so he's not surprised by his comments.
“He does get some weird ideas,” Long said. “I've heard it said several times that he shoots from the hip and not just with his gun.”
Biologists also criticized Workman's opinion that grizzlies should be taken off the endangered species list and hunted to teach them to stay away from people.
“That's ridiculous,” Servheen said, adding that a dead bear can't pass along behavioral traits.
He said three types of human behavior provoke natural aggression from grizzly bears: surprising a bear at close range, getting between a mother and her cubs, and getting too close to a bear on a food source.
“No amount of grizzly hunting will prevent natural aggression in such a situation,” Servheen said.
Montana FWP and the Fish and Wildlife Service offer brochures and public presentations about bear safety, but state law only requires rifle hunters born after Jan. 1, 1985, to complete a hunter education class, which includes bear spray recommendations. All bowhunters must complete the class.
Authorities said they have no plans to expand the bear education program or to make hunter education mandatory for older sportsmen, but they are spreading the word that grizzly populations are growing.
Scientists estimate that more than 500 grizzlies live in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem in northwestern Montana, one of the species' last strongholds in the lower 48 states. A five-year DNA study by federal and state agencies is nearly complete and is expected to give a more accurate count of the grizzly population and range.
Servheen said common sense is the best defense in the wild, including carrying the proper gear, looking for signs of bears, making noise so bears aren't surprised and knowing how to react if they charge.
He said the chances of encountering a bear are far less than getting into a traffic accident.
“You're not automatically safe with bear spray,” he said. “You're not magically immune to doing something dumb. It's wild country. That's why animals are there. If you wanted complete control, it'd be called Disneyland.”
Two dozen grizzlies have been reported killed this year in the Northern Rockies by cars, trains, poachers, wildlife managers and other human causes. That is above average but below the record of 34 in 2004.
Tony Hoyt, a member of the Hellgate Hunters and Anglers Club, said Workman's comments have prompted his group to ask FWP to expand its bear awareness education program, including a stronger emphasis on bear spray for hunters.
“We don't want Vic off the commission, but there has to be a way to stop all this needless killings of grizzlies,” Hoyt said. “Bear spray is amazingly effective, but there's just this sort of good old boy prejudice for a high-powered gun.”
Workman, 48, a Montana native who owns a real estate company in Whitefish, said he has been hunting, hiking and fishing all his life.
“I'm sure there are situations where bear spray could be adequate, but the only weapon that saved me from getting eaten was my rifle,” he said.
Workman acknowledged his stance may send a confusing message to the public.
“But my job isn't to promote or hinder the use of bear spray,” he said. “My job is to help manage wildlife and to try to expand opportunities for outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.”
Reporter John Cramer can be reached at 523-5259 or at [email protected]
By JOHN CRAMER of the Missoulian
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.
By the late 1800s, one of Vic Workman's great-grandfathers was among the legions of homesteaders who trapped and shot the giant bears by the thousands in an effort to make the area safe for fellow settlers.
Today, the reputation of Ursus arctos horribilis - along with other major predators - is no longer that of a brutish killer, but of a keystone species decimated by overhunting and habitat loss, a symbol of America's misunderstanding of how nature works.
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.”
Workman, FWP's District 1 commissioner, 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.
A tall, rangy man who wears a cowboy hat and a made-in-Montana look, Workman is known for his outspokenness. He's a lifelong hunter with record-book kills of brown bear and black bear, but no room on his belt for a canister of bear spray when he heads into the wilderness.
He said only a blast from his rifle could have deterred the grizzly that charged him last Sunday while he was hunting north of Whitefish Lake.
Workman's comments come at a time of growing encounters between grizzlies and people in Montana's forests and open spaces, where both bear and human populations are increasing.
Chris Servheen, a Missoula-based bear biologist who heads grizzly recovery efforts for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said Workman's comments are detrimental to grizzly conservation and human safety in bear country.
“It was a totally irresponsible thing to say,” Servheen said. “We spend a lot of time teaching people how to be safe in bear territory, and having someone in a position of authority make those comments is contrary to everything we teach people about the value of spray and the effectiveness of its use in close-encounter situations.”
Workman said he had time to fire only one shot from the hip, hitting the bear and causing it to veer away into the brush. The bear had been covering up a deer kill when it charged.
Workman said he and his hunting partner examined the deer immediately after the encounter, but that they couldn't find the bear.
His comments, which have caused a buzz among hunters, biologists and conservationists in western Montana, contradict a growing body of research and anecdotal evidence about bear encounters.
According to studies of human-bear encounters by the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Calgary, hunters who used firearms to defend themselves against grizzlies were much more likely to be injured or killed than those who used bear spray.
The main ingredient in bear spray, which evolved more than a decade ago from tear gas and pepper spray used by police, is a derivative of capsaicin, a red-pepper oil that causes severe irritation to the mouth, eyes, nose and lungs.
Several years ago, Montana FWP considered making it mandatory for hunters to carry bear spray, which is not the same thing as modern pepper spray, but the commission instead voted to continue with voluntary public outreach efforts with hunters, ranchers, recreationists and other groups.
Workman said he regrets having to shoot the grizzly. He said he's taken heat from a number of people, but that he makes no apologies for his actions or his comments.
He said the only time he carries bear spray is in Glacier National Park, where firearms are prohibited and grizzly bears abound, but he expects it would be of limited use in an attack.
“I've had people chastise me for not packing bear spray,” he said. “Some even suggested I had time to use it before I fired (Sunday), but they weren't there. It happened in a nanosecond. Some absolute idiots would rather see a person potentially get eaten than harm a bear.”
At Thursday's monthly meeting of the FWP commission in Helena, Workman's comments were not on the agenda, but they prompted a lot of discussion and concern, said Chris Smith, the agency's chief of staff.
Workman faces no disciplinary action because commissioners are free to express their personal opinions, said Smith, a lifelong hunter who said he has twice fired his rifle to scare away bears but never used the bear spray he always carries.
The five-member FWP commission is a quasi-judicial, citizen board appointed by the governor to four-year terms. Commissioners' duties include setting fish and wildlife regulations and hunting seasons; they are not agency employees.
Interviews with hunters and wildlife officials suggest that many hunters in Montana don't carry bear spray, instead relying on their rifles and a sidearm as a backup if confronted by a grizzly.
According to FWP, none of the hunters mauled or charged by grizzlies in Montana this year were carrying bear spray.
Three grizzly bears have been reported shot to death this year by hunters who fired in self-defense, roughly the same number as in the previous eight years, according to FWP and Fish and Wildlife Service.
Workman faces no charges in last Sunday's shooting because FWP authorities determined he fired in self-defense. No sign of the grizzly was found, but blood samples from the scene are being analyzed to determine whether they are from the bear or the deer it had recently killed.
State and federal wildlife officials said they weren't questioning Workman's integrity or his decision to use his rifle against the grizzly that charged him, but they said his position on bear spray sends the wrong message to the public.
“His total dismissal of bear spray is a gross injustice,” said Mack Long, FWP Region 2 supervisor, who has tested the spray for years during public education classes. “Bear spray is extremely effective. You can shoot a bear five times and it can still live long enough to maul you, but bear spray works instantaneously. People don't need to be afraid when they go into the woods. They just need to be ready.”
Long, another lifelong hunter who always carries bear spray, said he regularly disagrees with Workman, so he's not surprised by his comments.
“He does get some weird ideas,” Long said. “I've heard it said several times that he shoots from the hip and not just with his gun.”
Biologists also criticized Workman's opinion that grizzlies should be taken off the endangered species list and hunted to teach them to stay away from people.
“That's ridiculous,” Servheen said, adding that a dead bear can't pass along behavioral traits.
He said three types of human behavior provoke natural aggression from grizzly bears: surprising a bear at close range, getting between a mother and her cubs, and getting too close to a bear on a food source.
“No amount of grizzly hunting will prevent natural aggression in such a situation,” Servheen said.
Montana FWP and the Fish and Wildlife Service offer brochures and public presentations about bear safety, but state law only requires rifle hunters born after Jan. 1, 1985, to complete a hunter education class, which includes bear spray recommendations. All bowhunters must complete the class.
Authorities said they have no plans to expand the bear education program or to make hunter education mandatory for older sportsmen, but they are spreading the word that grizzly populations are growing.
Scientists estimate that more than 500 grizzlies live in the Northern Continental Divide Ecosystem in northwestern Montana, one of the species' last strongholds in the lower 48 states. A five-year DNA study by federal and state agencies is nearly complete and is expected to give a more accurate count of the grizzly population and range.
Servheen said common sense is the best defense in the wild, including carrying the proper gear, looking for signs of bears, making noise so bears aren't surprised and knowing how to react if they charge.
He said the chances of encountering a bear are far less than getting into a traffic accident.
“You're not automatically safe with bear spray,” he said. “You're not magically immune to doing something dumb. It's wild country. That's why animals are there. If you wanted complete control, it'd be called Disneyland.”
Two dozen grizzlies have been reported killed this year in the Northern Rockies by cars, trains, poachers, wildlife managers and other human causes. That is above average but below the record of 34 in 2004.
Tony Hoyt, a member of the Hellgate Hunters and Anglers Club, said Workman's comments have prompted his group to ask FWP to expand its bear awareness education program, including a stronger emphasis on bear spray for hunters.
“We don't want Vic off the commission, but there has to be a way to stop all this needless killings of grizzlies,” Hoyt said. “Bear spray is amazingly effective, but there's just this sort of good old boy prejudice for a high-powered gun.”
Workman, 48, a Montana native who owns a real estate company in Whitefish, said he has been hunting, hiking and fishing all his life.
“I'm sure there are situations where bear spray could be adequate, but the only weapon that saved me from getting eaten was my rifle,” he said.
Workman acknowledged his stance may send a confusing message to the public.
“But my job isn't to promote or hinder the use of bear spray,” he said. “My job is to help manage wildlife and to try to expand opportunities for outdoorsmen and outdoorswomen.”
Reporter John Cramer can be reached at 523-5259 or at [email protected]