Mustangs Rule
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2021
- Messages
- 818
Looking down at Fresh Grizzly Bears Tracks. Now What!
The first time I saw fresh Grizzly Bear tracks and bears too, was in British Columbia.
That was 53 years ago. I wanted to experience truly wild country before it was gone.
So, with a pair of used Vasque hiking boots I bought in a pawn shop in Tucson, Az, a canvas Boy Scouts pack I named “Brownie” and a US Navy pilots knife, I went on my solo backpacking adventure across the Canadian Rockies, with no tent and no firearm
So many experiences back then!!!!
Years later, hiking in Mt. Wrangle/St Elias NP Alaska, I saw many Grizzlies, fresh tracks and still steaming poop.
Then hunting grouse with a Ruger Single Six .22 in the Chugach Mts. in Alaska my two friends and I saw old grizz tracks. My Alaskan friend said not to worry, all the grizz were down at the river raiding salmon wheels. He was right. We went down there with Plaster of Paris and made my best ever Grizzly footprint casts. The soft, wet river back soil was perfect for casting.
It is really easy to distinguish the tracks of a grizzly from a black bear and overall size can be either totally irreverent or absolutely conclusive. The tracks of a young sow grizzly are much smaller than an old boar black bear. The cut off point for black bear's front inter-digital pad is about 5 inches in width. For adult male Grizz/Brown bears, it is 7-9 inches.
The toe pattern of a grizzly are much straighter, a mild arc. Toes of a black bear really form a strong arc with the little toe dropping really low. Black bear claws are curved and close to the front of the toes. Grizzly claws are for digging, they can be real long , but when worn down from digging, they are short straight but do not make sharp stab marks in the soil like black bears claws. Also Grizz toes are huge and muscular with no space between them.
Lastly, 1.5 “ is about the max bore size for black bear poop. Grizzly poop can be way bigger
My lower 48 grizzly experiences began by my taking weeklong formal mammal tracking field classes through the Yellowstone Institute and then hunting in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. When hunting for high country antelope in mountain meadows surrounded by aspens in fall colors, and of course when hunting elk there a well, always lots of Grizz there.
Once, later in the afternoon, I was going down into a canyon with a strong falling wind into my back. My goal was to do a “scent drive” on some elk I had glassed earlier and push them down canyon to offer my friend an easy shot. I had positioned him under a tree above the canyon before I left.
That was when I looked down and saw the unmistakable fresh tracks of Sow Grizzly and her cub.
So what now !
My identifying these as Grizzly tracks was 100%. In the wet mud I clearly saw the inter-toe webbing, same as polar bears. Grizzly and polar bears share the same old world ancestors. Black bear are from a different world, the New World.
I decided to continue down the canyon, Grizz or no Grizz. The falling wind would warn them I was coming,. Now and then I would blow my whistle, which would just aid my elk drive and of course I had my rifle and critically more important, I had the best bear spray.
I really wanted to have my friend who was much older than me and had a bad leg, to get his first elk.
Considering that I was in a red hot grizzle situation, here in order of importance, are four factors in preventing a bear attack;
#1. Bear awareness, applying situational knowledge and training which I had given myself at a five day Bear class at YNP.
#2. a noisy whistle
#3. Bear Spray, tested before going afield.
#4 a Firearm.
Bear Spray came out in the mid-1980’s. A decade plus before, I was wandering around the deepest back country of British Columbia Canada, where having a firearm, especially any handgun was a cross between a superb hassle and impossible. So no gun.
I followed every rule except when so hungry I ran yelling into a huge berry patch and scared them away.
There is reference to a book below by Steven Herrero titled “Bear Attacks Their Cause and Avoidance. This condensed his many years of professional study on the subject which was the basis for his getting his doctorate degree from the University of Alberta. That was written around mid 1980’s at about the same time Bear Spray came on the scene,
His latest version of the book, written in 2008 includes all of field data covering 175 bear incidents over the past 25 years on the effectiveness of bear spray. His co-researcher was Tom Smith another great bear researcher.
The final conclusion was 92% of the time using bear spray saw the person go unhurt and of course 100 % of the time the bear was unhurt. Using a firearm, only 67% of the time was the person unhurt, and of course the bear gets injured nearly a 100% of the time.
So using a gun first you have a 4x greater chance of being hurt than if you use bear spray.
When this study first made news, it was disappointing to see the hunting industry’s initial response. Basically, it was just a bunch of old Uncle Clem pro-gun stories from ages past.
Over these last two decades however, the hunting industry has gotten better acknowledging the ever-greater data since then supporting the effectiveness of bear spray. All this "Flim and Flam" about self-defense bear guns, however, is just "Flim and Flam" Do i carry a handgun in bear country, usually, but I always carry bear spray which is the overwhelming best for bear first self-defense.
Bear spray or gun, choose one, forget the gun. And if you have both use the spray first.
So back to, “I looked down and saw Grizzly tracks, what now????? I bet on the overwhelming best odds.
I took my rifle and shouldered it and with my bear spray in hand, safety off and proceeded down the canyon knowing the grizzly sow bear had gotten my wind and would be long gone. Another 15 minutes down canyon I could see her and her cubs tracks where she suddenly began running up and out of the canyon. She was long gone when I came by.
So how did the hunt go? My scent drive worked perfectly. The elk collected in line, and were walking away from “Smelly Me” and would go right through the 50 yard opening over which I had positioned my friend.
But there was no shot fired????
When I got to the opening, the elks tracks had past right there, a slow walking gait. I looked up under the tree where I left him, maybe 125 yards away, there he was with his rifle on his lap. I waved, no response. I brought out my binoculars.
He was sound asleep.
MR
The first time I saw fresh Grizzly Bear tracks and bears too, was in British Columbia.
That was 53 years ago. I wanted to experience truly wild country before it was gone.
So, with a pair of used Vasque hiking boots I bought in a pawn shop in Tucson, Az, a canvas Boy Scouts pack I named “Brownie” and a US Navy pilots knife, I went on my solo backpacking adventure across the Canadian Rockies, with no tent and no firearm
So many experiences back then!!!!
Years later, hiking in Mt. Wrangle/St Elias NP Alaska, I saw many Grizzlies, fresh tracks and still steaming poop.
Then hunting grouse with a Ruger Single Six .22 in the Chugach Mts. in Alaska my two friends and I saw old grizz tracks. My Alaskan friend said not to worry, all the grizz were down at the river raiding salmon wheels. He was right. We went down there with Plaster of Paris and made my best ever Grizzly footprint casts. The soft, wet river back soil was perfect for casting.
It is really easy to distinguish the tracks of a grizzly from a black bear and overall size can be either totally irreverent or absolutely conclusive. The tracks of a young sow grizzly are much smaller than an old boar black bear. The cut off point for black bear's front inter-digital pad is about 5 inches in width. For adult male Grizz/Brown bears, it is 7-9 inches.
The toe pattern of a grizzly are much straighter, a mild arc. Toes of a black bear really form a strong arc with the little toe dropping really low. Black bear claws are curved and close to the front of the toes. Grizzly claws are for digging, they can be real long , but when worn down from digging, they are short straight but do not make sharp stab marks in the soil like black bears claws. Also Grizz toes are huge and muscular with no space between them.
Lastly, 1.5 “ is about the max bore size for black bear poop. Grizzly poop can be way bigger
My lower 48 grizzly experiences began by my taking weeklong formal mammal tracking field classes through the Yellowstone Institute and then hunting in Wyoming’s Wind River Range. When hunting for high country antelope in mountain meadows surrounded by aspens in fall colors, and of course when hunting elk there a well, always lots of Grizz there.
Once, later in the afternoon, I was going down into a canyon with a strong falling wind into my back. My goal was to do a “scent drive” on some elk I had glassed earlier and push them down canyon to offer my friend an easy shot. I had positioned him under a tree above the canyon before I left.
That was when I looked down and saw the unmistakable fresh tracks of Sow Grizzly and her cub.
So what now !
My identifying these as Grizzly tracks was 100%. In the wet mud I clearly saw the inter-toe webbing, same as polar bears. Grizzly and polar bears share the same old world ancestors. Black bear are from a different world, the New World.
I decided to continue down the canyon, Grizz or no Grizz. The falling wind would warn them I was coming,. Now and then I would blow my whistle, which would just aid my elk drive and of course I had my rifle and critically more important, I had the best bear spray.
I really wanted to have my friend who was much older than me and had a bad leg, to get his first elk.
Considering that I was in a red hot grizzle situation, here in order of importance, are four factors in preventing a bear attack;
#1. Bear awareness, applying situational knowledge and training which I had given myself at a five day Bear class at YNP.
#2. a noisy whistle
#3. Bear Spray, tested before going afield.
#4 a Firearm.
Bear Spray came out in the mid-1980’s. A decade plus before, I was wandering around the deepest back country of British Columbia Canada, where having a firearm, especially any handgun was a cross between a superb hassle and impossible. So no gun.
I followed every rule except when so hungry I ran yelling into a huge berry patch and scared them away.
There is reference to a book below by Steven Herrero titled “Bear Attacks Their Cause and Avoidance. This condensed his many years of professional study on the subject which was the basis for his getting his doctorate degree from the University of Alberta. That was written around mid 1980’s at about the same time Bear Spray came on the scene,
His latest version of the book, written in 2008 includes all of field data covering 175 bear incidents over the past 25 years on the effectiveness of bear spray. His co-researcher was Tom Smith another great bear researcher.
The final conclusion was 92% of the time using bear spray saw the person go unhurt and of course 100 % of the time the bear was unhurt. Using a firearm, only 67% of the time was the person unhurt, and of course the bear gets injured nearly a 100% of the time.
So using a gun first you have a 4x greater chance of being hurt than if you use bear spray.
When this study first made news, it was disappointing to see the hunting industry’s initial response. Basically, it was just a bunch of old Uncle Clem pro-gun stories from ages past.
Over these last two decades however, the hunting industry has gotten better acknowledging the ever-greater data since then supporting the effectiveness of bear spray. All this "Flim and Flam" about self-defense bear guns, however, is just "Flim and Flam" Do i carry a handgun in bear country, usually, but I always carry bear spray which is the overwhelming best for bear first self-defense.
Bear spray or gun, choose one, forget the gun. And if you have both use the spray first.
So back to, “I looked down and saw Grizzly tracks, what now????? I bet on the overwhelming best odds.
I took my rifle and shouldered it and with my bear spray in hand, safety off and proceeded down the canyon knowing the grizzly sow bear had gotten my wind and would be long gone. Another 15 minutes down canyon I could see her and her cubs tracks where she suddenly began running up and out of the canyon. She was long gone when I came by.
So how did the hunt go? My scent drive worked perfectly. The elk collected in line, and were walking away from “Smelly Me” and would go right through the 50 yard opening over which I had positioned my friend.
But there was no shot fired????
When I got to the opening, the elks tracks had past right there, a slow walking gait. I looked up under the tree where I left him, maybe 125 yards away, there he was with his rifle on his lap. I waved, no response. I brought out my binoculars.
He was sound asleep.
MR
Last edited:
