.338 Lapua... Weatherby Tac Mark..285 gr Hornady.
Recent grizzly attacks on Montana elk hunters
- Thread starter remingtonman
- Start date
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We have a hunting camp rite in the heart of where these attacks have taken place on the upper ruby since the late 50's . I have personally been hunting there for the past 30yrs . We see the grizzlies during the spring and summer but not during the hunting season . General season starts around the 20th of October but we normally hunt around the 7th of November till thanksgiving . Those of you that hunt this area , when do you think the bears start to den up? We don't hunt archery season and I would expect there would be more bears out during this time because we rarely see them during our hunting time!
Denning isn't a predictable behavior. It's conditional.
https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/denning.htm
I understand it being conditional, I was just thinking average timing . This season could have triggered the bears to ( panic ) due to somewhat unusual cold snaps and snow for mid to late September. In the last 10 years , we have had maybe 2 seasons that were somewhat normal for mid November. For the rest of them , the weather was in the 50's and 60's for daytime High's during mid November probably increasing the chance of a bear encounter. In the past 30 years prior to the last 10years , we had on average a foot of snow and lows at nite from -25 threw 20's
Not nessassarily ....if there were no people where the so called population problem exists, I'd be willing to bet there would not be a bear population problem to talk about.
Good read !
Troutslayer2
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 28, 2010
- Messages
- 755
It's a pervasive attitude out here in the west. A hatred of predators expressed with bumper stickers, billboards and in the comments section of any newspaper article about wolves/griz. I'm sure you've just absolutely never been exposed to these sentiments lol.
Daves762
Well-Known Member
How many people on this thread even live in Grizzly country? Seen one outside a park? Watch National Geographic?
So are you saying that because there is anti-predator sentiment out here everyone on this forum that supports grizzly management is for complete eradication?
Remingtonman I did not shoot.
I shot an elk up a mountain side and took one there the year before on the exact trail and getting up that hill side was tough so I put my rifle and backpack with my S&W 29 in it against a tree so I could get the elk and start back down.I was going to bring the elk down the hill(Almost straight up)and gut him on flat land next to a creek and thought I may need to gut him up there as he was big so just took my knife and when I got within 20 feet from my downed elk a grizz jumped out from some brush rock and attacked my elk.He bit it and peed all over it.I yelled at him and he ran down the hill and stopped about 3 to 4 feet from me and he yelled!I could smell his breath as he slowly got closer to me still growling and chattering with his teeth.Slowly coming closer to about 2 feet I slowly backed down the hill and let him have my elk.
I can still smell his breath!He was dirty and the whole area began to smell like bad bacon as he sprinkled all around the area.That musky smell is ingrained in my nose.
I smelled that same smell at Glacier Park a few years ago on a hike and told others that Grizz was close by.
The other incidence was a false charge where the female Grizz ran at me and veered off at the last minute.The whole false charge was 3-5 seconds it seemed.It took me longer than that to pull my S&W 29 out of the holster and raise it.I never would have had time to point and shoot!
She had cubs so I left the area.I have found great sheds there but will never go back.
Old Rooster
I shot an elk up a mountain side and took one there the year before on the exact trail and getting up that hill side was tough so I put my rifle and backpack with my S&W 29 in it against a tree so I could get the elk and start back down.I was going to bring the elk down the hill(Almost straight up)and gut him on flat land next to a creek and thought I may need to gut him up there as he was big so just took my knife and when I got within 20 feet from my downed elk a grizz jumped out from some brush rock and attacked my elk.He bit it and peed all over it.I yelled at him and he ran down the hill and stopped about 3 to 4 feet from me and he yelled!I could smell his breath as he slowly got closer to me still growling and chattering with his teeth.Slowly coming closer to about 2 feet I slowly backed down the hill and let him have my elk.
I can still smell his breath!He was dirty and the whole area began to smell like bad bacon as he sprinkled all around the area.That musky smell is ingrained in my nose.
I smelled that same smell at Glacier Park a few years ago on a hike and told others that Grizz was close by.
The other incidence was a false charge where the female Grizz ran at me and veered off at the last minute.The whole false charge was 3-5 seconds it seemed.It took me longer than that to pull my S&W 29 out of the holster and raise it.I never would have had time to point and shoot!
She had cubs so I left the area.I have found great sheds there but will never go back.
Old Rooster
I have seen 2 Grizzly's feeding on a gut pile in early November.
I went back a couple of days later and saw fairly fresh tracks.
Also Remingtonman after that grizz took my elk I started hunting with a 300 Weatherby Mag.That 30/06 killed many elk and deer just fine but after that Grizz confrontation it just seemed a bit too small after being that close to Grizz!
I know they have their place but death or being mangled or even a horrible memory is a high price to pay.Thats why I favor a season on them to keep their numbers lower.
After that I try to never hunt alone.
Old Rooster
I went back a couple of days later and saw fairly fresh tracks.
Also Remingtonman after that grizz took my elk I started hunting with a 300 Weatherby Mag.That 30/06 killed many elk and deer just fine but after that Grizz confrontation it just seemed a bit too small after being that close to Grizz!
I know they have their place but death or being mangled or even a horrible memory is a high price to pay.Thats why I favor a season on them to keep their numbers lower.
After that I try to never hunt alone.
Old Rooster
nmbarta
Well-Known Member
grizzly bears are cool, everyone likes them. Nobody said anything about killing all of them for goodness sake. There's nothing wrong with giving out a few tags and killing a few every year just like anything else. Grizzly bears aren't more special than any other animal, we just need to keep their numbers in check and give them a good healthy fear of humans. There are plenty of them around.
They get killed anyway, might as well let some of us do it legally.
It's not a hatred friend, it's about understanding what it's like to live with them and having some control of what they can do. People out here don't like legislators shoving a bunch of bs down their throats when they're out here living with them everyday.
The wolves are here, and now instead of going to prison for shooting one, you can legally shoot 5 every year......sort of makes sense when you think about it. The same can be applied to grizzly bears. Not that we can shoot 5 a year, but it would help bears and people if we'd take a good sized handful every year. Help the bears learn that people aren't snacks, and let some good law abiding citizens have some fun!
They get killed anyway, might as well let some of us do it legally.
It's not a hatred friend, it's about understanding what it's like to live with them and having some control of what they can do. People out here don't like legislators shoving a bunch of bs down their throats when they're out here living with them everyday.
The wolves are here, and now instead of going to prison for shooting one, you can legally shoot 5 every year......sort of makes sense when you think about it. The same can be applied to grizzly bears. Not that we can shoot 5 a year, but it would help bears and people if we'd take a good sized handful every year. Help the bears learn that people aren't snacks, and let some good law abiding citizens have some fun!
