WY Grizzly Kills One Man and Wounds Other

[Chad Orde]

Guys,
I just got back from WY bowhunting Mule deer for a week in the Tetons. This happened just 40 or so miles north of me. I was by the town of Alpine off the Grays Rd. in the Bridger National Forest just across the Snake from the wilderness.

Its a sad story and really hits home being a dad and having a love for the big woods.

Here are links to the story as is continues to unfold:

https://buckrail.com/injured-hunting-client-says-guide-saved-his-life-services-for-uptain-wednesday/

https://buckrail.com/game-fish-we-got-the-right-bears-one-was-sprayed-more-details-of-the-encounter/

https://buckrail.com/death-of-mark-uptain-by-grizzly-what-we-now-know/

[Terry Green]

I'm going to experiment, and 'merge' this topic with another one on the same subject....lets see what happens.....

[Ray Lyon]

Very sad in any situation, however five children lost their father-😢😢prayers and healing thoughts for them all.

[Roy from Pa]

This is so hard to comprehend.

Prayers for the family.

 

[Doc Nock]

This is so hard to comprehend.

Prayers for the family.

 

Yes, Roy, prayers for the family left behind, but "Hard to understand"...there was a line in one of the stories I read on MSNBC that stated 'not hard to understand as there has been increasing bear-man contact hours and the Apex predator has lost all fear of man... (paraphrased of course)...

I knew guides in MT living out there, way back in the 80's, who had many incidences with Griz and near any "park" with no hunting, the animals were far more dangerous.  Man has perhaps created this and My Deepest concern is that there may (MAY?) be those among the tree huggers who will think any hunter, "deserves what they get"...

While I fish guided in MT, I saw things people tried to do involving wildlife for pictures, including one oriental chap in Jellystone, trying to put his li'l infant girl on a wild buffalo to get a picture!  It rolled it's eyes and left --exit stage right... Thankfully!

After that, I stayed out of the park... I didn't want to see any more such and I saw more then that one...

People create this situation, then they kill bears till they find one that has clothing in it's stomach...

Sad on so many levels...

[Roy from Pa]

I agree Doc.

I was referring to how hard this has to be for the family to comprehend the loss of a Husband and a Dad.

[Doc Nock]

mia copa, then Roy...

Having spent time with the families of several guides, they grow into a sense of acceptance of risks and given this is a pretty rare occurrence, I don't expect they could have had much sense of expectation!!!  :(:(:(  but the article I read said it was relatively close to the park, and similar things have been happening on the Brown Bear island in AK where the sound of a gun shot is a dinner bell meaning EZ pickings...

None the less, this will leave a mark for a long,long time to come on this family... I surely hope they can find God's peace that passes all human understanding...

[Chad Orde]

My uncle ran an hunting outfitting in Cody WY back in the 70-80's and one of his guides dropped off a hunter and brought a second one to his spot. Then headed back to the first guy and heard shots fired he ran to the first hunter and a Griz was mauling him his guide killed the bear but it was to late he had killed the hunter. Game and Fish pulled his guide license for awhile because of it.

 We where hunting in Montana and my buddy and I lost a whitetail to a grizzly because it claimed the kill. I give them the space because they are the Apex but I always pack my 44 even when just going to the bathroom or making coffee in the morning. I also hang my food and try be as smart as possible. On the flip side I tip toe around the mountain with my recurve stalking deer and elk. Last week I could smell a fresh kill before I could see it, I flipped off the leather thong on my holster for sure.

Last I heard you could carry a side arm for protection in WY while bowhunting Im sticking with that because its not sensible not to.

Growing up in Northern MN the wolfs had no fear of us because there was no season on them. If you seen one they would just stare at you and then trot off not a care in the world. They would also try and lure my uncles German shepherds off the deck in the winter.

One time when I was bowhunting up by GunFlint trail I encountered one huge timber wolf made the hair on my neck stand up. Didn't see them allot but we all knew they where their.

Come on America 

[STICKBENDER98]

Chad, not trying to derail this topic, but your story about the wolves is spot on.  I can still see the look in the eyes of the wolf I encountered in  the UP of Michigan 3 years ago, it was the look of I could take you if I want to, but it just trotted away, and met up with a few of its buddies, the howls I heard shortly after still raise the hair on my neck.


Jason

[zwickey2bl]

I read this story on the way home from my recent Colorado elk hunt. Very tragic loss for this family, and I pray God will grant them peace and comfort as they make a place in their lives for this loss.

[Don Stokes]

In early July I drove back to Mississippi from Anchorage, AK. My GF and I saw eight grizzlys and numerous black bears along the Alaska highway. At one point a grizzly sow and three cubs were feeding along the roadside. We stopped for pictures, and an idiot from another car got out and sat on the ground near one of the cubs so his buddy could take his picture. The sow was within 15-20 yards, and I fully expected to see a mauling right then and there! People who live with grizzlys know better, but they are very unpredictable. My friends who live on a mountainside outside Anchorage are avid hikers, but they never leave their house without an air horn, bear spray, a massive handgun, and a big dog for distraction. The lady has been chased by a grizzly on one of her hikes, but thankfully she saw it far enough away to evade it. She interrupted its stalk of a cow moose with young. The moose are almost as dangerous as the bears. She's been chased by them, too.

[Jim Wright]

I worked on the Alaska Pipeline 1975-77 all at Prudhoe Bay except for the summer of 1976 when I worked on a number of "remote gate valve sites" through the Brooks Range. I have been around 12-15 grizzlies some of which had closed to within a few yards before I noticed them. I have photos of 8 or 9 different bears within 25 yards, mostly from inside a vehicle. I walked out of Shandalar Pipeline Camp early one morning and almost bumped into a big sow which was the closest I ever came to having a heart attack. With that said, I have never seen a bear display any aggression. This is in spite of personally witnessing many, many instances of people crowding them in order to get "hero pictures", attempting to get them to feed out of their hands and one moron I watched pelt a bear with first an orange then rocks to get it to trot off the haul road out over the tundra while following recording with a home movie camera , Bears certainly are capable of and do kill people occasionally and it is a tragedy anytime it happens. I find it a telling statistic however that no one was ever injured by a grizzly during construction of the Alaska Pipeline and it took years to build, peaked at around 20,000 employees and was more than 800 miles long and that adds up to a lot of bear/idiot encounters!

[Doc Nock]

Jim,

Taking nothing from your personal experience, but if I'm not mistaken, bears in AK are hunted and have some sense of foreboding when dealing with humans and....lots has changed since 75-77.  That was what?--- over 40 yrs ago...?

The article I read on MSNBC, again stated it was close to the park, and that such bears have not been hunted and Well-intentioned types fought the bear season in WY and thus, comparing hunted bears to non-hunted doesn't seem to be a good comparison... just one man's view...

Alas, the tragedy is that a person died, another injured and several bears were "euthanized"... hoping it was those who got a taste of human meat...

As one of our posters on TG's tag line says something about "wolves would find me stringy and tough with an Iris whiskey after taste" (or something close to that)

But a free lunch is a free lunch to an apex predator... Life is hard for all wildlife and as they age, as with some of us, finding victuals that are easier gets to be a necessity.

Prayers continue for those of the killed guide's family

[Jim Wright]

Dave, certainly no offense taken and what I posted was as you mention simply my personal experience. I would point out however that the Brooks Range during the time the Pipeline was going was an extremely remote area and the bears I was encountering had not been hunted and most definitely had no fear of people. Though illegal to do so they were regularly fed by people and I was very leery of them as I commonly saw people and bears only a few feet apart and save for the sow I almost bumped into I never allowed any of them that close to me. And I absolutely concur that what happened in WY. is tragic.

[amicus]

mia copa, then Roy...

Having spent time with the families of several guides, they grow into a sense of acceptance of risks and given this is a pretty rare occurrence, I don't expect they could have had much sense of expectation!!!  :(:(:(  but the article I read said it was relatively close to the park, and similar things have been happening on the Brown Bear island in AK where the sound of a gun shot is a dinner bell meaning EZ pickings...

None the less, this will leave a mark for a long,long time to come on this family... I surely hope they can find God's peace that passes all human understanding...

I have personally experienced this situation. Its freaking scary. Bears are different at different times of the year and in different places. Its in the fall that I think bears can be most dangerous. In the summer and spring not so much, lots of fish and other food to eat. I seen bear in the interior part of Alaska run for their lives when they get a smell of human scent. On Kodiak, its been my experience that bears are not afraid of man. A gun shot is a dinner bell to a lot of bears and I've seen bear cross human tracks and start to follow. They are both associated to gut piles. I think what happens and may be the case in WY. Is a Sow with an older cub comes in because of the gun shot, elk call, or what ever draws the bear in and a Sow coming for a meal can turn into a Sow protecting its  cubs in an instant. If you are on your knees gutting an animal and your gun is leaning on a tree or what ever a few feet away your in trouble. You will probably not hear anything until its almost to late. Then its the Grace of God that gets you back home. If you can see a bear coming from a distance then your rifle is fine for protection but if your in brushy settings where most deer go to die I think a pistol strapped to your body is your only hope.

[Al Dean]

Someone is killed every year or so around Yellowstone and Teton Parks.  In these times bear spray a must in these areas.