Big Game hunting in Grizzly country

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Ardent said:
It gets a bit funny, for sure. Not a single person here is saying it can’t happen. However from having had far more exposure than the forum average, even to the dreaded mountain strain, my understanding of the risk has tempered massively. I used to believe what many here do, experience with them changes that. I never failed to take killing them seriously, they can do what they’re reputed to when under fear of death. The vast majority other days they’re just trying to eke out a living in often shrinking or modified habitat.

It’s a lot like surfers and sharks. It happens a few times a year, like bear deaths. But there’s no best shark defence chambering; that doesn’t stop us from getting in the water. Go outdoors, explore, hunt, even plan for bear encounters. But don’t base your entire hunt and rifle choice around that one quite remote factor.
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There will always be those with limited experience that insist on challenging those with the most experience. On this topic, that is your cross to bear but rest assured there are many of us that appreciate you sharing what you have learned through actual experience.
 
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49 (known) Grizzlies put down in 6 years in the East Kootenay. 36 of them by Joe Public. Looking at the massively inverted number with Black Bears it's clear the Govt is in denial about the dangers posed by the Grizzlies.

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It is common knowledge that the Mountain Grizzly is more aggressive than the fat, happy Coastal Bears. Just as it's common knowledge that the Yukon Grizzly is the smallest extant Grizzly.

The spatial distribution of (fatal) Grizzly attacks is clear.
 

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medvedqc said:
it is common knowledge that we do not know bears ...and behaviors and sometimes we re lucky ...
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Well, it's not quite that bad. There has been a lot of knowledge accumulated over many decades about grizzly bear ecology and behaviour. For anyone interested, I strongly recommend the following book by Stephen Herrero, a retired professor of ecology at the University of Calgary: Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance. My impression is that Herrero is considered the most knowledgeable grizzly expert in Canada.

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/bear-attacks-their-causes-and/9781493029419-item.html
 
For those interested in learning more about the grizzly bear, I might add one other excellent book on grizzly ecology and one I particularly enjoyed: Track of the Grizzly by Dr. Frank Craighead, one of the greatest bear biologists. The 12-year Craighead Field Study of grizzlies in Yellowstone National Park was a landmark wildlife study and provided a ton of information about grizzly life and behaviour. I strongly recommend it.

https://www.abebooks.com/9780871563224/Track-Grizzly-Frank-Craighead-0871563223/plp
 
I just celebrated my 80th birthday three days ago. Fifty-two years of my life have been in grizzly country, and a lot of that has been enjoying camping, fishing, hunting, and exploring with my wife and children, as well as guiding hunters, and the occasional research biologist or journalist.

We learned to respect the entire wilderness, not just the bears. Wind and water, darkness in thick timber, cold, and especially extreme heights and exertion, as well as others, all involve risk of some order.

We taught our children to be respectful, not fearing the inevitable encounter with bears of both species. I only ever had to kill one bear out of fear, and it fell from a single hit with a 130 gr Silvertip. It fell close enough that I reached out with my 270 and touched its eyeball to check for a reflex. One time in literally hundreds of trips and countless days to have it happen.

Having said that, I had two friends who spent their entire lives in our wilderness. Both were very skilled outdoorsmen and trappers, and taught me a lot. Ed Wilkinson was killed by a starving grizzly that should have been denned up, one late November. Ironically, his brother Jared was killed two years later in a car accident in Whitehorse. Think about that….

Margaret and I still head out into grizzly country regularly, although we no longer sleep under a fly.

Ted
 
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Ted I always appreciate your knowledge and experience, but not nearly as much as I appreciate how obvious it is that you are still madly in love with your wife after such a long time.
 
They make bears every year. I personally won’t take the chance that it’s probably just a bluff charge because someone on the internet said it would be.
 
Why not? said:
I just celebrated my 80th birthday three days ago. Fifty-two years of my life have been in grizzly country, and a lot of that has been enjoying camping, fishing, hunting, and exploring with my wife and children, as well as guiding hunters, and the occasional research biologist or journalist.

We learned to respect the entire wilderness, not just the bears. Wind and water, darkness in thick timber, cold, and especially extreme heights and exertion, as well as others, all involve risk of some order.

We taught our children to be respectful, not fearing the inevitable encounter with bears of both species. I only ever had to kill one bear out of fear, and it fell from a single hit with a 130 gr Silvertip. It fell close enough that I reached out with my 270 and touched its eyeball to check for a reflex. One time in literally hundreds of trips and countless days to have it happen.

Having said that, I had two friends who spent their entire lives in our wilderness. Both were very skilled outdoorsmen and trappers, and taught me a lot. Ed Wilkinson was killed by a starving grizzly that should have been denned up, one late November. Ironically, his brother Jared was killed two years later in a car accident in Whitehorse. Think about that….

Margaret and I still head out into grizzly country regularly, although we no longer sleep under a fly.

Ted
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Great post.
Happy birthday and be well my friend.
 
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