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I had an encounter with a grizzly just north of West Yellowstone last fall. We had a huge snow storm on opening weekend and I was trying to find friends who had

I had an encounter with a grizzly just north of West Yellowstone last fall. We had a huge snow storm on opening weekend and I was trying to find friends who had made camp in the Snowcrest range, and were severely snowed in. After a few days they decided to walk out and sent me a message over the satelleite phone where to meet them. They then left the satelleite phone at the camp with others, and headed to the meetup point. The meetup point was ~12 miles off the main dirt road, and I got permanently stuck about 10 miles in. I got out and hiked the rest of the distance through a couple feet of snow, along a creek bed with a large draw on my other side. Once I got to the spot, I waited for them, but they didn't show up. After two hours, I turned back (to get somewhere with signal if possible) and after about 1/4 mile, realized there were large bear tracks criss-crossed all over my tracks. I put my head on a swivel and after about a half mile, finally spotted the large brown bear, up on the draw (now to my left). It was about 200 yards behind me. It was cautiously following me, and we proceeded this way for probably another quarter mile. I was still at least a mile from my vehicle, and there were no humans around for who knows how far, let alone mobile considering how much snow we got. At that point, the bear started coming down the draw, and my nervousness turned into all out panic. I was shaking like a leaf and lost my nerve. I gave it a warning shot with my .357 and thankfully, it decided I was scary enough to not be worth the curiosity. The .357 has a 1.8" barrel and is unfathomably loud, so despite not being a great bear gun, it did the trick there. I do have a 10mm, but I had sent it up to hunting camp with my friends. My personal unscientific take, largelt biased from that experience is that we should kill 5-10 of the most human adapted bears every year, and not leave it to chance that they will ignore us. The article portrayed what's going on with livestock ranching, hunting, and tourism quite well, but it left out the fact that these bears are just getting less afraid of humans in general as interaction increases. It would be wise to select against that if we can.

dogman144 3y ago
That’s a great story, sounds intense. Even with out the bear that’s dicey getting stuck in snow in the backcountry. I hike with a gun for basically those scenarios. I stay fresh with a range but it seems that warning shots are mostly as far as it goes. There is a bad story of a hunting guide getting killed near an elk carcass though, either Dubois or Cody area I can’t recall. So it can def go south if they’re looking at you more deliberately. Glad you made it! Thanks for sharing! I’m on that side less often, more the Absarokas.
- COGlory 3y ago
  > That’s a great story, sounds intense. Even with out the bear that’s dicey getting stuck in snow in the backcountry. It was very intense, but in the end we all got out safely, thankfully. >There is a bad story of a hunting guide getting killed near an elk carcass though, either Dubois or Cody area I can’t recall. Mark Uptain is probably who you're thinking of. It's dubious that he would have died if the hunter didn't abandon him. Very tragic. Anyways, I'd much rather be on this side of the Absaroka's when it comes to grizzlies!
  - dogman144 3y ago
    Yes same person. Local papers tore up the hunter for leaving.
hutzlibu 3y ago
"but it left out the fact that these bears are just getting less afraid of humans in general as interaction increases." Isn't it also possible, that the interactions are increasing, because simply more people (without a clue) are going into bear territory? Otherwise yes, the bears should not forget to avoid humans.
- COGlory 3y ago
  Yes and no. While more people are going outside than ever before, the places that they're encountering grizzlies are places no grizzlies have been sighted in 80-100 years. When I first moved to where I live now, there were (and still are obviously) three mountain ranges. Two of them were commonly regarded as grizzly free. Not anymore.
- dogman144 3y ago
  Sort of disagree. Their territory is more so very remote wilderness than urban/rural borders.
  - hutzlibu 3y ago
    Yes, but adventure and wilderness is en vogue and I don't have any numbers, but I think the people trying out the wilderness is way higher than 50 years ago. In general I think it is a good thing, but the wilderness is not a wild park.
    - dogman144 3y ago
      Nobody is coming out to these wildernesses but yes that might change. There’s a big jump b/t National parks and hiking around Denver vs the designated wilderness areas where the bears are - Washakie, Absaroka/Bearooth, Bridger, etc. Locals and big game expeditions are common but it’s 2 hrs on a forest service road after 2 hours on US Highway after flying into a Regional airport connected from Denver to get out there. Yellowstone thankfully absorbs a ton of visitor traffic as well. Additionally, especially after urban Montana and CO’s challenges paired with existing ranch power, these areas aren’t getting developed any time soon. There’s a wall of public land and ranches surrounding the bear areas, in short. Yellowstone has bears but the risk areas where you’re legitimately entering their space are in the designated wildernesses.

dogman144 3y ago

That’s a great story, sounds intense. Even with out the bear that’s dicey getting stuck in snow in the backcountry. I hike with a gun for basically those scenarios. I stay fresh with a range but it seems that warning shots are mostly as far as it goes. There is a bad story of a hunting guide getting killed near an elk carcass though, either Dubois or Cody area I can’t recall. So it can def go south if they’re looking at you more deliberately. Glad you made it! Thanks for sharing! I’m on that side less often, more the Absarokas.

COGlory 3y ago
> That’s a great story, sounds intense. Even with out the bear that’s dicey getting stuck in snow in the backcountry. It was very intense, but in the end we all got out safely, thankfully. >There is a bad story of a hunting guide getting killed near an elk carcass though, either Dubois or Cody area I can’t recall. Mark Uptain is probably who you're thinking of. It's dubious that he would have died if the hunter didn't abandon him. Very tragic. Anyways, I'd much rather be on this side of the Absaroka's when it comes to grizzlies!
- dogman144 3y ago
  Yes same person. Local papers tore up the hunter for leaving.

hutzlibu 3y ago

"but it left out the fact that these bears are just getting less afraid of humans in general as interaction increases." Isn't it also possible, that the interactions are increasing, because simply more people (without a clue) are going into bear territory? Otherwise yes, the bears should not forget to avoid humans.

COGlory 3y ago
Yes and no. While more people are going outside than ever before, the places that they're encountering grizzlies are places no grizzlies have been sighted in 80-100 years. When I first moved to where I live now, there were (and still are obviously) three mountain ranges. Two of them were commonly regarded as grizzly free. Not anymore.
dogman144 3y ago
Sort of disagree. Their territory is more so very remote wilderness than urban/rural borders.
- hutzlibu 3y ago
  Yes, but adventure and wilderness is en vogue and I don't have any numbers, but I think the people trying out the wilderness is way higher than 50 years ago. In general I think it is a good thing, but the wilderness is not a wild park.
  - dogman144 3y ago
    Nobody is coming out to these wildernesses but yes that might change. There’s a big jump b/t National parks and hiking around Denver vs the designated wilderness areas where the bears are - Washakie, Absaroka/Bearooth, Bridger, etc. Locals and big game expeditions are common but it’s 2 hrs on a forest service road after 2 hours on US Highway after flying into a Regional airport connected from Denver to get out there. Yellowstone thankfully absorbs a ton of visitor traffic as well. Additionally, especially after urban Montana and CO’s challenges paired with existing ranch power, these areas aren’t getting developed any time soon. There’s a wall of public land and ranches surrounding the bear areas, in short. Yellowstone has bears but the risk areas where you’re legitimately entering their space are in the designated wildernesses.