Grizzly Attacks in 2020 at Record High

[WyoDoug]

From the article, "A wildlife biologist, out researching sage grouse at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, was seriously bitten by a charging grizzly despite deploying bear spray".
Anyone have more details on this? Would love to know if that biologist actually hit the bear with the spray and if so where? I always wonder about the actual effectiveness of spray, the available data is really quite limited.
Agree with others though, I also rather hunt areas that have grizzlies. Even so, they still get plenty crowded during gun season...can only imagine that the grizzly free areas are even worse in terms of hunting pressure.

That would be this article: https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/06/biologist-attacked-by-grizzly-bear-while-spraying-deterrent

 

[MTLabrador]

From the article, "A wildlife biologist, out researching sage grouse at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, was seriously bitten by a charging grizzly despite deploying bear spray".
Anyone have more details on this? Would love to know if that biologist actually hit the bear with the spray and if so where? I always wonder about the actual effectiveness of spray, the available data is really quite limited.
Agree with others though, I also rather hunt areas that have grizzlies. Even so, they still get plenty crowded during gun season...can only imagine that the grizzly free areas are even worse in terms of hunting pressure.

Sounds like the spray was eventually effective.

Biologist attacked by grizzly bear

A U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist was attacked by a grizzly bear in the Centennial Valley on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about a mile west of Elk Lake, on Wednesday morning. The following was sent out by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks: A biologist with the U. S. Fish...

www.google.com

 

[Tiredofthebickering]

Sounds like the spray was eventually effective.

Biologist attacked by grizzly bear

A U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist was attacked by a grizzly bear in the Centennial Valley on the Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, about a mile west of Elk Lake, on Wednesday morning. The following was sent out by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks: A biologist with the U. S. Fish...

www.google.com

I want bear spray that I can throw down like an old school ninja smoke bomb.

The grizzly charges and you pull a pin/hit a switch/push a button and this cloud of bear spray just erupts while you hit the ground and weep uncontrollably.

 

[WyoDoug]

I carry both a 45 ACP and bear spray. Which one I pull depends on the situation and how much reaction time I have. I prefer to use bear spray if I can but not always 100% effective. Usually my hunting partner would draw his pistol and start shooting if the bear spray fails to work. Vice versa if he were facing a charge.

 

[Wildabeest]

I think the record grizzly attack numbers are due to three things: (1) Grizzlies are expanding territory out of their normal range, 2) human population is growing closer to bear territory and (3) tourists in ever growing numbers are getting far too close to them.

(4) we can’t hunt them :-(

 

[bts09]

Combine that with more people trying to get outdoors due to covid...you have a lot more potential for conflict.

I think this has to be a large part of it. I don't know if anyone has done numbers yet on just how many more people are out and about, but even in Texas where it's super unpleasant to be outside in the summer, I see so many more people in parks and what not than ever before. Folks are just tired of being cooped up, and my guess is many, many, many more of them are taking to the woods. Some of them have never done that before, thus it's not just an increase in human numbers, but a disproportionate increase in human numbers who have no idea how to be bear aware.

 

[WyoDoug]

(4) we can’t hunt them :-(

(5) Too many animal rights interests overriding sensible wildlife management of them.

 

[Straight Arrow]

I carry both a 45 ACP and bear spray. Which one I pull depends on the situation and how much reaction time I have. I prefer to use bear spray if I can but not always 100% effective. Usually my hunting partner would draw his pistol and start shooting if the bear spray fails to work. Vice versa if he were facing a charge.

'Makes sense. Just how many attacks have you experienced? 'Sounds frequent.

 

[WyoDoug]

'Makes sense. Just how many attacks have you experienced? 'Sounds frequent.

Nothing with grizzly. Close call with a black bear on a bluff charge. I just am not taking chances. On another situation with a black bear I threw rocks at it to get it to go away but I don't think that one was any serious threat other than I wanted to make sure he didn't come my way. This was before I started carrying bear spray and had a S&W 38 revolver that I didn't want to use at the time and before I had any real experience hunting bear. Both times I was deer hunting. Seen grizzles at a distance but nothing to worry about.

 

[Straight Arrow]

Nothing with grizzly. Close call with a black bear on a bluff charge. I just am not taking chances. On another situation with a black bear I threw rocks at it to get it to go away but I don't think that one was any serious threat other than I wanted to make sure he didn't come my way. This was before I started carrying bear spray and had a S&W 38 revolver that I didn't want to use at the time and before I had any real experience hunting bear. Both times I was deer hunting. Seen grizzles at a distance but nothing to worry about.

Similarly, my "get the hell outta here!" tactic with black bear has consistently proven effective. However, with griz it's also been at a distance, which I prefer. I do carry bear spray at-the-ready and a spare in the pack. However, packing a pistol by me or those I frequently hike or hunt with seems more of a risk in a griz encounter panic situation, so I prefer to forego that.

 

[LuketheDog]

(4) we can’t hunt them :-(

Hunting them will not keep grizzly bears from attacking people. If a few bears are shot during hunting season the rest of the bears will still be cranky and the people will still be either a) stupid and get too close to take pictures or b) not stupid and just doing things where the bears live.

 

[Wildabeest]

Hunting them will not keep grizzly bears from attacking people.

Agree, but thinning the herd a bit and teaching them to have a healthy respect/fear of humans aren’t bad things. Not to mention that hunting griz in the lower 48 would be super cool!

 

[mtmuley]

Agree, but thinning the herd a bit and teaching them to have a healthy respect/fear of humans aren’t bad things. Not to mention that hunting griz in the lower 48 would be super cool!

I'm gonna say hunting grizzly bears won't make them scared of people. mtmuley

 

[kwyeewyk]

Was talking about grizzly hunting and bear behavior with a retired biologist friend who lives in Cody, he was saying that while he also doesn't think hunting them will make them scared, he does think that it will slowly help remove some of the bears that are more prone to having encounters with humans. His logic is that word of mouth will be a big factor, and that people with tags would end up targeting bears that are being seen frequently that they hear about from other hunters, recreationists, etc. He said he thinks it would be a slow process, and never a complete shift to docile grizzly bears that never attack, but a slow selective pressure that might, in his opinion, at least have a small positive effect. I think it's possible, and the more tags the more it would work, but we'll never know until we can hunt them.

 

[LuketheDog]

Agree, but thinning the herd a bit and teaching them to have a healthy respect/fear of humans aren’t bad things. Not to mention that hunting griz in the lower 48 would be super cool!

Agreed on 'cool' factor, but hunting will not give them a healthy fear of humans, hazing may but hunting just won't. If a hunter sees a bear and kills it, it's not like that bear 'learns' a lesson and the rest of the bears get a memo that says 'a hunter will kill you so watch out for people!' They are big, top-of-the-foodchain critters with high potential for causing bodily harm and they have been chewing on people for millennia, it's in their nature. Many bears are trapped and shot each year even without hunting and their overall behavior doesn't change.

 

[Irrelevant]

Best I can tell at least half the posters on this thread didn't read the article. It was actually pointing out that despite have more people and more bears we're generally seeing less conflicts that in the 90's. Specially saying that people aren't dumber they actually doing a good job of learning how to behave in bear country.

 

[shootbrownelk]

I’m headed to Yellowstone and almost more excited to see how people interact with the bison than almost the bison themselves

Oh Yeah! You don't want to miss the annual "Asian Bison Toss". It happens every summer after the Park opens. Bets are on how high the Asians are tossed into the air. Extra points for goring.

 

[shootbrownelk]

I want bear spray that I can throw down like an old school ninja smoke bomb.

The grizzly charges and you pull a pin/hit a switch/push a button and this cloud of bear spray just erupts while you hit the ground and weep uncontrollably.

The Feds are testing that idea right now in Portland.

 

[Hem]

I'm gonna say hunting grizzly bears won't make them scared of people. mtmuley

Yep...with time.

 

[Wildabeest]

I'm gonna say hunting grizzly bears won't make them scared of people. mtmuley

If they are like any other game animal, as soon as I have a tag in my pocket, I’m pretty much guaranteed not to have an encounter with one...