Bears a problem in Wyoming?

[Hobie]

http://www.codyenterprise.com/news/loca ... 002e0.html

[Mich Hunter]

Just like wolf numbers out this way, there are more bears than what is stated to be. Both should be taken off the endangered list. There was just an article two weeks ago stating the wolf population numbers are very high, but for political reasons they were put back on the list. Now they want to spend tax payer money to spay, nueter and gas the wolves to control the population instead of hunting them. Same goes with the mountain lions out here in the Black Hills. They are taking out more deer up here than the hunters are. Some want to increase the nuber that are taken out every year, but you are bleeding heart kitty lovers like the Gov'c wife that says no.

[jnyork]

Entire situation totally FUBAR.

[Malamute]

There's been bears turning up in places they haven't been in generations. The recovery has been successful beyond everyones expectations. For years there's been grizzlies far beyond the range indicated on the official maps. It's time that they were returned to state management, and get the feds out of the mix. The state can handle it from here. They know how to manage game animals.

I have nothing against the bears, or wolves or any other critter. They do lend a bit of, how should we say, "interest" to getting out in the mountains and hills, tho they need to be managed as a part of the whole wildlife scene, not as a protected-at-all-costs eccentric element, at the cost of other animals and peoples interests. We havent been told all the parts of this story, nor how they are being managed. There's more than meets the eye, and press release.

They'd make more money by letting hunters deal with the problem animals.

[RDB]

The situation is interesting to me. For the last 40 years I have spent a good deal of the late summer and early fall in the Selkirks of N. Idaho and eastern Wa.

This summer it became obvious to me at least part of the issue with bear recovery there. In the '70s and '80s you never heard of and I never saw grizzly sign. Remote alpine area of course but after the big fires, salvage logging happened all over the area and new roads were cut. Grizzly bear that rely on the high country for range and food had simply dissappeared.

In '68 a couple of huge fires went through the area and burnt through to the duff, basically killing everything. So recovery was slow in coming, decades in fact.

As time passed grizzly sightings began to happen again in the mid '90s. The last consistant sightings had been in the 30's as the few bears that were there were hunted out in the 40s and 50s.

"Suddendly" the slide alders are 12' high again over much of the sub alpine terrain again. On every trip this summer I saw obvious grizzley sign where in the previous 30 years I had seen none.

While a fan of pepper spray I am a bigger fan of big bore handguns and lever guns for self defense with bears. In an area I never carried a gun and spent way more time in the field I now reluctantly carry one or the other and rethink where I want to hunt, leave gut pile and am careful were I camp. It is just a matter of time before there is a bear "incident" in the area I suspect.

I really appreciate having the bears back in the eco system but I have no intention of letting any of my family (or dogs) becoming bear bait either.

Major carnivors (or herbavories) living in a high traffic recreational area just doesn't mix well with our general concept of safe and fun.

Knowledge is power.

[BigSky56]

Fires and logging have brought back the bears by regrowth and forage/browse for all animals our deer elk have been increasing, till the wolves got a foot hold 3 years ago, the bears have learned to wait for the wolves to make a kill then go in and take it from them. Theres been GB sighted as far east as Ft Benton on the other side of Great Falls so now the bear biologists want to classify these as a subspecies the prairie grizzly never mind the were born and raised in the bob marshall/glacier complex theres to many bears for the area and they are looking for their own territory.
Know a rancher that had to dump a bear over on the east side of the blackfeet rez last year . Whats changed on the rocky mtn front to have this increase, one thing its not is more wilderness and roadless areas and no logging cause all the land east of the front is private.
Same around yellowstone more people and houses not wilderness or roadless yet the bear numbers have increased. Same story for the Panhandle/Yaak/Cabinets no new wilderness roadless areas more people and homes.
Bears and wolves are protected just like pedophiles they are going to increase till they allow hunting or the public gets its belly full and starts wacking them the bears and wolves I mean danny

[RDB]

"Same story for the Panhandle/Yaak/Cabinets no new wilderness roadless areas more people and homes."

Nope not the same story in the Idaho Panhandle. Less roads, less trails and more folage coming back to over grow what is still there. No major fires there in years. Logging curtailed and road/trail maintanance dismil at best or just non exsistant. A big fire would help all three. More folage and less trails and roads than in the last 50 years. Better habitat for bears, means more bears and a ever growing range for the bears as they get pushed out into human populated areas by their over population in the prime "wilderness" bear habitat.

I have no doubt we'll be hearing of and seeing more bears of all species in the next couple of decades in our area.

[RIHMFIRE]

"Erwin Evert, 70, of Park Ridge, Ill., was killed by an adult male grizzly bear on June 17 near Kitty Creek on the North Fork. The bear was waking up after being tranquilized by authorities, who'd left the area when Evert came upon the bear." I see a lawsuit here!

"a man, 48, of Grand Rapids, Mich., was killed and two people were injured when a 216-pound grizzly sow attacked sleeping campers July 28 at Soda Butte Campground near Cooke City

City folks just dont belong in the woods
probably did not police there camp for food....

We have lots of bear problems in florida....
so far no one has been killed...........yet

[Malamute]

The Soda Butte campground, where the guy was pulled out of his tent and killed and eaten (yes, that's what I said) has bear boxes for food. The investigation has shown that people were using the boxes, and there didn't seem to be any food atttractants in play. The bears did still have their winter coats on, and I believe seemed to not have eaten enough recently, but were not starving. The conclusion reported in the news at the time was that the bears simply acted in a predatory manor towards people, with no major issues to keep them from natural food sources.

Not saying you are meaning this, but I just want to comment. We often like to think there's a "good reason" that bears act predatory, or that we as people are somehow special and not subject to the natural laws and don't fit into the food chain. Sometimes we're proven wrong. Once in a while, a bear just decides, generally correctly, that a person is easy.

[BigSky56]

Theres more people in the woods these days than ever before what is limiting access is that a lot of roads are gated or kelly ditched thus vehicle intrusion has slowed which the US F&G has attributed to less mortality for the bears the old adage that bears dont like roads is bs they are like you and me they'd rather walk down a road than thru a alder thicket plus if bears dont like roads I wonder why F&G always put their traps along side them.
The biggest problem locals have is that F&G are releasing problem bears from glacier/hungryhorse/yellowstone then turn them lose up here and dont tell the locals you go out to the barn or chicken coop at night and your in a gunfight then comes the ticket anywhere from 2500 to 5000$ if its not a SD shooting.
The ESA trumps my personal and private property rights when it comes to wolves & GB I cannot stop them from killing my stock and if I go out to chase them off and they come at me its not a SD shooting if I dump them. danny