AWESOME bull! Like many others here, I day dream about bulls like that every day! Congratulations! I'm JEALOUS.
Originally posted by Randy Morin:
Some post kill notes. 8 days after killing this bull my partner was apporached within 13 yards by a very, very dominant agitated Boar Grizzly. My friend was sitting the same wallow and the bear apparently was still on the kill. Also, that day 2 black bears were observed in/around the kill/wallow area. About the same time 20 miles away a hunter was mauled severely by a Grizz. These animals are way more common these days than any official person will admit and many of them have no fear of us. They need to fear us!!!! We need to manage these bully's instead of turning a blind eye and looking the other way everytime someone is killed and/or scarred for life. IMO.
Kind of takes the fun out of the whole hiking in the dark thing.
I have to disagree with you a little here though. IMO, based on watching/hunting/working around griz in MT and AK, you will never instill enough "fear" into every griz to keep them all from defending gut piles/kills. Sure, some bears have more submissive personalities while others are more agressive, but still, defending a food source is a highly evolved and very important survival skill for them! I don't think it would be possible to hunt the "aggressive trait" into extinction without hunting the entire species to the same end. I think that all the evidence points this way... there are still "aggressive" bears in AK and Canada, even in heavily hunted areas.
With griz around, there will always be a risk to hunters, bowhunters in particular. It is a risk that I am personally willing to accept, along with the risk of hypothermia, falling off steep rocks, getting shot by a rifle hunter, falling on a broadhead, dying in a car or plane wreck on my way to go hunting, etc. etc.
I was out hunting blacktails yesterday and I saw three black bears and one HUGE coastal grizzly, all from less than 100 yards. I made a lot of noise on my way in in the dark (up a salmon-filled creek) and I was glad I did when I saw that big brownie on the same creek on my way out.
One of the black bears clacked his jaws at me after I jumped him out of a berry patch at 20 yards. He took one step my way, but I yelled at him in my "bad dog" voice and he reconsidered.
That brown bear's head is the size of my torso. He is in a heavily hunted area and he was 200 yards from the road. He has coexisted with people and evaded hunters for many years, but I still wouldn't want to startle him, particularly if he was feeding on a moose carcass.
But what can you do? I guess I figure the best approach is to always be as alert as possible while in bear habitat, to learn as much as I can about bear behavior, to take note of where bears are hanging out and when they are there, and to put hunting on hold and make LOTS of noise when necessary, like while hiking along a salmon spawning area in the dark. The more experience I gain with this, the more I realize it has to be LOTS of noise, just casual conversation doesn't do it. Whistling is worthless, I haven't found that bears pay any attention to whistling. I sometimes carry a small air horn while doing salmon escapement counts for work.
Hunters have dealt with this risk for thousands and thousands of years. I believe it is part of the wilderness experience.
Sorry for blogging here on your bull post, but you brought up a topic that I'm strongly opinionated on. Again, CONGRATULATONS, that's a great elk!
Topic: My SW Montana public land bull (Read 3404 times)
