The first bears of spring have left their dens and have started to move to the valley bottoms and southern exposures that have begun to green up. The first foods of spring typically begin with the lush first growth of tender green forbs and grasses. If they are lucky enough to find a winter-kill carcass, then they can put on weight more rapidly. If not, then many will continue to diminish in weight until late spring when the first berries of the summer will begin to ripen at the lowest elevations. Then begins their weight gain into fall. Right now, however, they are just getting their digestive tracks in gear and their shrunken stomachs up to snuff to begin taking in the large amounts of vegetation that is necessary to sustain them this time of year.
Recently, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took public comment on the recovery of grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Idaho Conservation League invited me to be a presenter for their webinar on the subject. The link to the webinar: Bitterroot Bears on Vimeo
I hope you, dear reader, will take time to view the video as we describe the conditions of the recovery effort and what needs to be done to recover bears. Also, I present some of the information within my book and give a few readings from my book. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for visiting my website!
I have enclosed my scoping comments to the US Fish and Wildlife Service on the Bitterroot recovery effort here:
Winter 2023-24
Alert! Idaho Conservation League is hosting a Webinar tonight March 14 at 7pm MT. I am an invited guest and will be giving a presentation on the Bitterroot grizzly bear recovery effort and talking about my book, Journey of the Bitterroot grizzly bear. Jeff Abrams from ICL will be hosting.
Here is the link: https://www.idahoconservation.org/event/bitterroot-bears-virtual-webinar/
Alert!! The USFWS is asking for public comment on issues over the Bitterroot grizzly bear recovery effort by March 18, 2024.
Two videos I created about grizzly bear food and habitat in the Bitterroot near where a grizzly bear was verified near Grangeville, Idaho, 2020.
Bitterroot grizzly bear habitat and food – YouTube
During winter, bear biologists catch up on paperwork they couldn’t get to during the active bear season. One such endeavor, that is now taking place is the effort to write an Environmental Impact Statement for the recovery of grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Don’t get me wrong, this will not take place only during the months grizzly bears are underground. It is a multi-year endeavor that begins now. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is getting public opinion on how to proceed with the recovery of grizzly bears in the bitterroot via online public input:
The USFWS is asking for public comment on the situation until March 18, 2024.
Fall 2023
Map of verified grizzly bear activity in the Bitterroot Ecosystem as of August, 2023. Courtesy USFWS.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has been judicially required to move forward with a plan to recover grizzly bears in the Bitterroot Ecosystem. The federal judge indicated that it was inappropriate to just sit on a 2000 decision by then Secretary of Interior Norton to do nothing in regard to the recovery plan and EIS the USFWS completed to recover the grizzly bear in the Bitterroots.
Because it has been 23 years since the EIS was completed, the information within the document is no longer up-to-date and needs revisions. The Service is moving forward with developing a new EIS and has hired a contractor to do the work. The USFWS of course will have to do the scoping, developing a preferred alternative, etc., but because of the small staff managing grizzlies, they cannot divert time and energy to this project. I see this as a good opportunity for a document to be written in a quicker fashion, hopefully almost as well as could be done by a team of agency biologist. Like the last time we wrote the EIS for the Bitterroot, agencies are reluctant to provide staff time for the project. The USFWS had funded half of my time as a state biologist in the late 1990s to participate in the EIS writing and development. IDFG is listed as a partner, but because they have not supported the recovery effort and have proposed to delist the grizzly bear statewide, I assume they will not provide much assistance. I can see them providing information about ungulate numbers and things like that and remain on the subcommittee. I wish it would be more.
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So, what is going on with all the apparent grizzly bear maulings and killings in self- defense?
This year there seems to be more bear conflicts than usual in and around Yellowstone and Glacier National Park. The papers are reporting them as soon as they happen, often with gory details. For instance, just today (October 4) the paper reported a hunter shot and killed a female grizzly in self-defense near Island Park, Idaho. Is there some explanation that might provide insight into this pulse in conflicts?
Bear biologists and bear supporters always ask the question- why? Was there a food shortage? Was the bear injured or sick? Was it food-conditioned? Was it protecting its food, cubs, personal space? Did someone act stupid with a camera? All these are functional reasons that precipitate conflicts and maulings, and are natural reasons for a bear to bluff charge, act aggressively, or even attempt to alleviate the threat by causing injury. There is also another reason, one that is most common in September: hunting. Archery hunters and those quietly working the hills off-trail, sneaking through thick brush attempting to kill an elk are particularly prone to surprising a grizzly or black bear at close quarters. Also, if a hunter kills an elk during September when bears are very active, bears will often find the carcass before all the meat is removed and packed out. This of course will create a conflict at the site between hunter and bear. We have written gobs of recommendations for hunters to reduce the chances of these negative encounters, but hunters are reluctant to change their behaviors and will often try to scare a bear off of their carcass, one the bear has claimed. Bears do not recognize state game tags and rules of possession.
Additionally, and probably most frequently, people misinterpret what a bear is doing. If a bear is charging, it usually is to scare you away. However, most people will not wait to see if it is a bluff charge. Archery hunters will carry handguns rather than bear spray as was the case recently near Island Park. Officers investigated and determined the bear was shot in self-defense. You cannot ask what the bear’s intensions were, only what the hunter perceived was happening, and what a reasonable person would think and do under similar circumstances.
Another reason for attack is surprise. Bears are very good at understanding what is normal human behavior, i.e. staying on roads and trails, traveling during the day, usually making noise. However, when humans travel off-trail or off-road, during dusk or low daylight hours, very quietly, this is not normal human behavior. It is not predictable. A quiet, safe place for bears to rest during August, suddenly may be overrun with hunters one day later on September 1 – the opener of archery season. We tell hunters to be aware of their surroundings, avoid areas with fresh bear sign, avoid areas frequented by grizzly bears. Still, hunters will be human and press their luck, most often without ill effects – but every now and again, they confront a surprised bear.
Some will say this is clearly the result of an over-abundant bear population. More bears mean more conflicts. Well, I suppose mathematically that is true, as the number of bears increases so would the number of conflicts, even if the rates are unchanged and human numbers remain stable. However, we cannot expect bears to continue to change their behavior because of continual encroachment upon their limited habitat. What was an undeveloped parcel of land last year might be a subdivision this year. What was a huckleberry foraging sight last year might be an active timber sale this year. These changes that impact the natural world are caused by us, not them. They are having their lands stolen by humans. They are doing their darndest to avoid us and live with us by predicting where we are and when we are active. We really need to evaluate what our impacts are on them, as opposed to the human centric way we treat our natural world, as a possession, our private rights.
Lastly, I will state the obvious. Human populations continue to grow in Idaho and Montana, and every fall we get inundated with nonresident hunters from every nook and cranny of humanity. Expecting a hunter from New Jersey to act like a grizzled local is expecting too much. When I was a game warden, I remember checking hunters on the edge of the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness who put flagging up to mark their trail like breadcrumbs, so they wouldn’t get lost. They never took the flagging down and the woods were riddled with orange flagging after a few days, I am sure confusing even them. They were from Pennsylvania and had never hunted where they couldn’t hear a door slam or car driving nearby.
The fall is a wonderful time to be outdoors. I just spent several weeks hunting elk and enjoying our backcountry in this beautiful state. I am giving my horses some time off before we head back out. I hope you, dear reader, and our grizzly bear neighbors have a wonderful fall and prepare appropriately for the coming winter.
Summer 2023
Should I switch from biology to politics surrounding the grizzly bear? Certainly, it is every bit as important in today’s world as bear biology, because it determines the future of grizzly bear survival more than anything else.
Governor Little and the IDFG commission have decided that grizzly bears really don’t belong in the largest wilderness in the lower 48 states. We should delist them everywhere they exist, because in the letter he sent to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, “they aren’t even a species” (see grizzly bear news on this website). They should be left to the state to manage because the feds in their view can’t do anything as well as the state can.
In my 30-year career working for Idaho Fish and Game, I worked diligently to recover grizzly bears and wolves so that the state could one day take over their management. The key word is “recover” the populations under the guidelines of the endangered species act and the grizzly bear recovery plan. The state of Idaho wants to bypass that sticking point and go directly to delisting. Why? Because it is difficult to do and because the west has turned so far back in time that bounties are now offered like they were in the 1950s to kill predators. The anti-predator sentiment in western government oversite has become rabid with venomous hatred for these incredible animals.
I know Governor Little personally, and I can certainly understand where he is coming from, and it isn’t from the love of predators. He is a sheep and cattle rancher, and his family owns millions of acres of Idaho habitat that is roamed by the large carnivores of the American west. He doesn’t like them. They interfere with his bottom line, and he’s in position as governor to do something about it. I am embarrassed to admit that I actually voted for him. I did so because I thought he might be more moderate toward issues than those running against him. He fooled me and many others as he cow-towed to the right beyond where i thought he might govern. I thought he might care about the natural resources like the cattlemen constantly say they do. I worked hard as the state’s wolf manager to make sure wolves didn’t impact their bottom lines by making sure we addressed issues quickly, and making sure when we couldn’t prevent a depredation, at least they got compensated for it. Now sheep dominate the Boise National Forest and wolves are a second-class citizen, not a recovered endangered species that millions of Americans love and admire. Grizzly bears are deemed too dangerous for Idaho, even though Idaho’s free-range cattle kill more humans than grizzly bears ever will.
Grizzly bear 399, the world’s most famous grizzly bear, emerged from her den on May 19 with one cub in tow. She is the oldest breeding female ever recorded in the Yellowstone ecosystem and thousands of people flock to Grand Teton N.P. every year to catch a glimpse of the famous bruin. She is so important to so many people that photographers come from across the world to catch a few images of her, and two books have been published about her. Tom Mengelson, a famous photographer from Jackson Hole, has chronicled her life’s journey and the 18 cubs she has produced. Biologists claim that she is responsible for 25% of the grizzly population in the park. So how could the state manage the grizzly population better than the feds? By issuing a hunting tag for her? One rug on someone’s basement floor has almost no value when compared to the joy and ambassadorship that she represents to millions of people.
The biggest mistake the states have made in regard to delisting grizzly bears was their almost instantaneous efforts to allow hunting immediately after delisting a few years ago. That was absolutely political and in no way necessary. It immediately caused the environmentalists to challenge their management in courts and cause them to be relisted. Perhaps grizzly bear populations in the Greater Yellowstone have achieved recovery level, but the threats to their population and inadequate regulatory mechanisms should, and likely will, keep them on the threatened species list for some time to come. If the states quit their damned blood lust disguised as “management”, then they could begin to reap the benefits of their long efforts to recover and delist bears. All anyone has to do is look at how the states are managing wolves to see how they would manage bears, and it ain’t pretty….
Winter/Spring 2023
Winter that never ends and spring that never begins –
When a bear enters the den in late November, its survival depends on the accumulated fat deposited throughout the summer and fall. The bear’s body makes a decision to become pregnant, or not, pending the body’s condition entering the den, even though breeding season occurred several months prior. This delayed implantation into the uterus is an evolutionary advantage to the bear based on costs of reproduction to the female. If the female is not in good condition entering the den, the fertilized egg that has been sitting dormant for months, will not implant and form a fetus. If it is in good condition, the pregnancy will happen with the assurances of evolution that the female is in good enough condition to survive the six months of denning and nursing.
What happens to bears during a winter like this- one that started in November and snow continues to accumulate at most elevations well into March? Well, hopefully, those bears that entered the den in good condition will emerge in good shape. There will be some, there always are, that will not make it to spring. They will succumb to starvation, disease, old age, injury, etc. while still in their den. Once out, they have to find food. Winters like this year with above average snowfall and below average temperatures, may delay emergence from hibernation for a few weeks. Bears will emerge by April and will immediately head to lower elevations and southerly aspects to find food. They will often be seen in higher densities around feeding areas at lower elevations where food becomes available first. I once counted 11 different black bears on a hillside along the Selway river one day in early May. As the spring moves toward summer, more food becomes available at different elevations and aspects, and the bears can disperse.
When will spring happen this year? March 1 is the meteorological spring, but March 20 is the solar equinox spring when the light of day equals the darkness of night. The height of the sun in the sky will mark spring for bears. Usually, snow will melt, and dens will no longer be a safe haven, nor will they be needed to stay warm. Bears will set forth, slowly at first, maybe spending a few days in and out of the den while their muscles acclimate to movement, and the long months of hibernation slowly leave their bodies. Males emerge first, then females without cubs or with older cubs second and third, and finally females with cubs- of- the- year.
The first few months of life outside of the den may well be the most dangerous for these young cubs. There is so much to learn in such a short time. The lessons of survival are harsh and unforgiving. This is why females with cubs are so protective; they have to be.
Let’s hope that spring arrives soon, and bears emerge in good condition, looking for a new home in the Bitterroot mountains.
Fall – Conflicts and Confrontations
Just a few months are left before entering their dens, and this is perhaps the most critical time for grizzly bears in Idaho and western Montana. The primary foods for bears – berries of summer- are dropping off the bushes as the first frosts of the year turn the huckleberry leaves blood red. Hunters are now spreading out through the forests in areas that, until now, had been quiet for young bears making a living in the high country. Mistaken identity is the primary source of grizzly mortality this time of year. Hunters think they are seeing a black bear usually, and on at least one occasion in north Idaho, a hunter thought he was shooting an elk when he killed a grizzly.
Grizzly bears are now looking for alternate food sources during the fall food- stress period. Bears will look for foods such as fall green-up vegetation, insects, late fruits and mast, and if lucky, a wounded elk or deer and/or gut pile. If they find a dead animal to feast on, they can convert the protein to fat in an incredible conversion rate putting on dozens of pounds. One grizzly bear we collared in British Columbia put on well over 100 pounds from late September until November by eating lost and wounded elk. We saw the old male on dead elk every time we radio-located him that fall. Once a grizzly bear finds a dead elk- they claim it. They will fight off other grizzly bears, black bears, wolves, and whatever walks their way, including humans. Also, hunters tend to walk very slowly and quietly while hunting, thus doing everything that enhances the likelihood of a grizzly encounter when in grizzly habitat. Several hunters a year have close encounters and are often mauled during these early fall hunts when bears are surprised or defend “their” kill. We recommend against hunters trying to scare a bear off a kill for obvious reasons, but still, hunters will try to do it.
When bears cannot find the foods that they need in the wild to successfully survive the winter, they will often turn to human garbage and domestic livestock for survival, thus causing conflicts at the borders of forest and human developments. Livestock at times, are just too tempting to avoid as grizzly bears occasionally take a calf or two during these food-stress periods.
Here is a link to a brochure I developed when I worked for Idaho Fish and Game about hunting or hiking in grizzly bear country this time of year. It has been updated to include the latest information about grizzly bear occurrence.
brochure-2020- hunting in grizzly bear country https://idfg.idaho.gov/sites/default/files/brochure-2020-hunting-in-grizzly-bear-country.pdf
Summer – a dangerous time for grizzly bears
The state of Idaho is witnessing staggering environmental changes, some wonderful, and some catastrophic. We are in the midst of a climatic reckoning, one that we all have to face but don’t want to admit we have to. Our winter and early spring were one of the driest in our history, then the skies opened up with a vengeance and late spring turned into one of the wettest on record. We were the northern most state in the western US experiencing catastrophic drought, and then experienced a staggering wet spring bringing our rivers to well above average flows, including historic flooding. Last week, Yellowstone National Park received record rainfall causing the park for the first time in its 150- year history to close due to flood damage. Roads and bridges were totally washed out closing the northern reaches of the park for the entire summer for repairs. Still, the biggest concern on our national news is not climate, it is the price of gas, the very item that is causing much of the disasterous weather.
But what about the bears and other wildlife? How are they faring during these extreme climatic events?
Thankfully, bears are some of the most adaptable animals in the world. They can survive extreme events and even a changing climate – if we let them. Our continued impact on individuals exploring new territory and expanding the species’ range, needs to be closely analyzed and evaluated.
Welcomed news reached me recently when IDFG officials verified the presence of another grizzly bear near Salmon, Idaho. This is at least the second one in recent years that I am aware of. Did the bear come from the Yellowstone ecosystem or from a wandering bear from northern Montana, or even Idaho? I haven’t seen the DNA analysis on these bears yet, but my guess is they come from the Yellowstone, the closest ecosystem to Salmon. What this means is that the Bitterroot mountains are indeed a linchpin to established populations in three ecosystems – the Yellowstone, the Northern Continental Divide, and the Cabinet-Yaak/Selkirk ecosystems. Bears are coming from all of the adjacent ecosystems into and near the Bitterroots. Montana bear manager Jamie Jonkel is working his tail off verifying new bear activity on the Montana side of the Bitterroots. Young bears and even older mature females are verified moving into and near the Bitterroot. This brings me to my concerns that we have not improved our acceptance and knowledge of grizzly bears enough to allow them to survive.
Recently, a young grizzly bear was killed in the Selkirk ecosystem by black bear hunters. They said it was self-defense. They had just killed a black bear, gutted it and were dragging it to their vehicle when a young grizzly bear approached them. The bear did not attack, did not run, did not lay its ears flat, did not display in any way aggressive behavior. It just followed a couple of bloody, stinky, meat hauling individuals. What the hell did they think the bear wanted? Why was that self-defense?
When I worked in grizzly country in Glacier Park and northwestern Montana, I had many bears follow me, especially young bears, and I wasn’t packing a couple hundred pounds of bloody meat at the time. A young bear will often follow people out of curiousity and to illicit a response. They are “learning sponges” and always testing the limits of their knowledge and experience, seeing what they can and can’t get away with. Not only was this bear a curious teenager, but there was definite food being dragged in front of him. We always tell hunters to not try to scare bears off of a kill, yet these guys were doing just that. IDFG doesn’t even require hunters to take out bear meat because it is borderline edible in some people’s views, yet these guys killed a grizzly to protect their meat. Again, the bear did not charge. It was following them, making them nervous, hoping they would drop their cache and leave, which THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE!! I am being very critical of the officers here because I know what they were thinking – it was a self-reported crime which often means the individuals were truly afraid or mistaken. Officers try to never penalize someone who is being honest. But holy moley, why not penalize someone for being totally stupid and illegal? At the very least, a message about bear behavior and what they did wrong was warranted!
As the former statewide grizzly manager for IDFG, I would have told the press that everything they did was wrong except reporting the event, which would have been unnecessary had they not killed the bear. If a grizzly bear approaches a hunter who is carrying out meat, the hunter should decide immediately that the meat is what the bear wants, not the hunter. Leave the area and leave the game meat there. Okay, some people will defend their meat by trying to scare a bear away. We always recommend against that for a good reason. It seldom works out well for hunter or bear. What they needed to be carrying was pepper spray. That would have worked had the bear approached. He was a young bear testing his limits. That would have saved the bear’s life and the hunters as well. Secondly, when the bear approached and it didn’t scare away by yelling, and they didn’t have bear spray, they needed to shoot in the air. If that didn’t work, then leave the bear on the ground and go away. IDFG would gladly have given them another bear tag for free. I would have bought them a damned steak dinner and applauded their good sense. Hunters, PLEASE, don’t be stupid! Identify your targets, give the bears a chance to live.
Be careful!
April – Bitterroot Ecosystem Meeting
I will post the minutes when they become available. The meeting was held in Kamiah at the new FS ranger station. Although it was held in person, the zoom facilities were operational, and most participants met via zoom. There were only two members of the public at the meeting, the rest were on zoom. I think being present allows you to ask questions and get answers that would otherwise be less impactful being read over zoom. I encourage members of the public to attend.
IDFG legal councel was present and provided the committee in executive session an update on the state’s petition to delist grizzly bears throughout Idaho. I was not allowed to attend. My take on the delisting is obvious – you cannot delist an animal that is not recovered. Grizzly bears are just now beginning to set foot in the Bitterroots and central Idaho. It is way too early to delist. Come on folks! Governor Little is just following his sheep herder heart and thinks predators are nasty little devils that need culling to make the ground safe for domestic livestock. I understand him and his thinking, but let’s not get carried away here governor! There are no sheep in the wilderness of central Idaho and that is where these bears want to be. Let’s let them be…
Den Emergence (March 30, 2022)
It is time. Even mothers with their first- year cubs are poking their heads out of the den, checking the weather and snowpack, and what the green-up looks like. Males have already begun roaming the avalanche chutes looking for carrion and winter kill along winter ranges, the first sprouts of green edibles, and anything that might be construed to be a food item for a hungry bear.
It has been to date a lousy snowpack winter in Idaho. It started off well, holding onto an above average snowpack until late January, then the drought hit. Very little moisture reached the mountains of central Idaho the rest of the winter and the snow turned crusty –icy hard, shiny to our eyes in the bright, cloudless skies. Cool weather helped hold the snowpack until mid-March, then the temperatures soared causing snowpack to melt a full 3 weeks earlier than normal. Is this the new normal or is it a drought that will pass perhaps next year? I fear that the weather extremes we are now seeing are here forever.
Warm and mild winters will be good for big game animals trying to survive the winter, and extremely hard on fish that need the cool melting snows to fill the rivers and lakes of the mountain west. How will grizzly bears fare? Food stress will be inevitable during drought. Heat will cause bears to avoid foraging during the mid-days when they normally would be, perhaps preventing sufficient weight gain for winter. Will starvation impact bear populations? Difficult to say but we know that when berry crops fail in the mountain west, cubs are not born. When a good berry crop prevails, cubs are born in a synchronous fashion leading to a birth pulse that allows a population to recover.
Food stress is only one issue with drought. Fires burning large acreages well beyond the historical average will cause migrations, social stress, and death in young or those incapable of avoiding these massive conflagrations that are becoming so common on western landscapes.
I think a grizzly bear is alive in central Idaho today that found his way here by following the scent trails of grizzly bears before him. Bears are finding their ways here and have for several years. They are mostly coming from the north, but bears are roaming around Missoula and the Bitterroot valley looking at the mountains that make the Bitterroot crest thinking- that could be home. Bears are here now, making a living in central Idaho and western Montana; they have not made their home here in decades. It is springtime in the Rockies — it is time to welcome our neighbors as they poke their heads out of their dens, some for the very first time. They deserve our help, our utmost efforts to just leave them alone. That is really all they want and need to survive here.
Winter
This year, cabin fever seems a little more severe than some years past. It is late January, and we are in the middle of another Covid virus surge. This time the Omicron variant is running rampant throughout Idaho. Today, Idaho hospitals just announced they are entering “crisis standards of care”– meaning they now are having to triage patients to rank their likelihood of survival in order to receive ICU care. I will be trying not only to avoid Covid, but avoid any accidents or physical injuries or disease, in order that I am not placing myself, or someone else in need of a hospital bed, out of luck.
Grizzly bears don’t care. Their survival has nothing to do with Covid or hospitals. It is all about the fat layers they laid down months ago. The winter snows fell hard and deep the end of December and first of January in the high country, the country grizzly bears call home. Mountains finally became enveloped with their winter cloak, insulating and hiding the recently dug dens that protect bears from the uncaring cold, and other unwelcomed intruders. Perhaps this year, a female will enter the Bitterroot ecosystem. As of November, a young female was being monitored south of the Coeur d’Alene River. Maybe she will head farther south this spring and follow the tracks of BB, bear 927, and the other verified grizzlies that made their way to the BE. Maybe she will decide to make these mountains her home. We can only wait, and hope… Maybe 2022 will be a good year for grizzly bears.
Fall
The snows are seemingly late to arrive in much of the Bitterroots this year, at least arrive and stick to the ground. We have had much welcomed moisture in the form of rain throughout Idaho, but snow is not sticking due to warm weather. This allows bears to continue to roam about the landscape looking for their last meals, some causing trouble along the way.
However, denning season has arrived for many grizzly bears and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. I imagine some are denning along the Bitterroot divide this winter once again. We wish them a good winter and possibly even a spring with a resident cub or two.
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It was great fun in October to visit the University of Montana again and speak to freshmen students thinking about a career in wildlife management. Approximately 150 students were in Dr. Erim Gomez’s careers class, and six or so came out to coffee following the class to further our discussions. I enjoyed meeting the young and enthusiastic students and hope my lecture gave them some inspiration and direction in their careers.
While there, I met with Dr. Chad Bishop, the head of the wildlife department, and spoke to him about the ongoing Bitterroot grizzly bear recovery efforts and my desire to work with him and his graduate students on future and prospective graduate studies. In addition to providing insight into historical perspective and current status and management issues, my wife and I think we would like to assist prospective students financially as well. Dr. Bishop and I will continue to look into these possibilities.
The Bitterroot Ecosystem Subcommittee met remotely on October 27 to discuss current status and direction of the team working in the BE. Included in the summaries was a preliminary review of a graduate student’s survey of Idaho residents in the Bitterroot area. Katie Shaw is getting an M.S. at the University of Idaho, and is looking into what local attitudes are toward Bitterroot grizzly recovery. Things haven’t changed much since developing the Environmental Impact Statement in the early 1990s. At that time, the USFWS hired Responsive Management (Dr. Mark Duda) to conduct a national, regional, and local survey of residents and their opinion of recovery of grizzly bears in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness. Surprisingly, there was strong national, regional, and even local support for recovery efforts with support declining the closer you lived near the Bitterroots. Katie Shaw found that locals still seemed to oppose reintroductions but were slightly more willing to support natural recovery. Locals always had an undertone of support and admiration for any grizzly bear that could find its way through the gauntlet of obstacles and impediments to establish themselves in the Bitterroot on their own.
Montana is seeing lots of bears trying to do just that, and Idaho has seen a few as well. Most of the documented bears seem to be coming through the forests between the NCDE and YE, ending up near the Sapphire Mountains and Big Hole area north or east of Missoula and the Bitterroot valley. From there, they could easily make their way into the Bitterroots if they can find their way across the landscape of ranchettes, cross the busy highway south of Missoula, and scurry up the slopes or draws of the Bitterroot Mountains. They are likely doing just that much more often than we are able to document. Still, the least obstructions probably lie between the Cabinet-Yaak or Selkirks and the Bitterroots.
The USFWS is attempting to identify movements of bears by using cameras and hair grabbers in likely corridors east to west and north to south. Because of the many security cameras out in backyards in Montana, bears are being documented in areas they haven’t been documented in decades. Because there are no subdivisions on National Forest Lands in Idaho, chances are pretty good grizzly bears are finding their way there and avoiding detection. We just have to wait and see. My guess is they are showing up on some hunter’s game cams and they are not being reported for fear of government regulations and potential Fish and Game hunting restrictions. One outfitter on the Bitterroot crest told me just that – that he had a photo of what he thought was a grizzly in the same area his camera photographed bear #927 in 2019, but he said he did not want to share it with me because “I am pretty sure my ideas about recovery and yours are quite a bit different.” I wanted to use the photo for my book.
Fall 2021
I will be presenting a video zoom chat with the University of Montana graduate students and faculty on Oct. 1 at 1PM,. I will be discussing aspects of the book that will most interest the group, mainly a brief discussion of the recovery effort but mostly how to engage the public to help them underst and the science. I will give a few readings from my book to illustrate that premise.
Bias confirmation is a real problem in today’s society. People seek out cherry picked facts or stories or news stations that support their opinions or beliefs (or political party) and become mired in misinformation and disinformation as a result. A biologist in today’s world needs to understand that emotions rule the average person and that science has to cross the bridge between fact and emotion and break down that almost impenetrable barrier. It becomes a very personal journey for most laypeople.
A biologist working for an agency – either federal or state, has to understand that the public will make or break even the best thought out proposal for action. Managers need to move an audience beyond the fear of change and bias, to a world of factual information as we understand it. That requires both the manager and layperson to break down barriers and move through the emotional landmines into a world of biology. It is easy to do when you are not so set in your facts that you cannot understand the emotions ruling others. It isn’t personal, it is professional. The manager and researcher today need to be not only a scientist, but also an empathetic listener, enthusiastic teacher, and junior psychologist, if they want their science proposal to amount to more than a research paper or plan collecting dust on a shelf. These same skills if properly mastered will move a scientific discovery, development or idea up a chain of command to action within an agency.
I will also be giving a presentation Univ of Montana freshman careers class on Oct 28, in person. I will be discussing how to move from being a wildlife enthusiast, graduate, and what to expect in the hiring and career hurdles ahead.
I am also giving a book reading/signing at the New Meadow public library in New Meadow, ID at 630PM on Oct. 26. I hope to see you there!
Summer 2021
May and June are incredible months in west as snow melts enough to allow for plants and animals to renew their promise to the world – the promise of regeneration, reproduction, and fulfilling their primary purpose of survival and passing on their genes. Successful species are the result of successful individuals acting together to sustain their health and safety. As we venture into the outdoors and once again witness the birth of our wild brethren, let us renew our promise to them, that we must preserve, protect, and perpetuate all wildlife for the benefit of the planet and all peoples.
We spent part of May travelling to Montana via the Lochsa River and Highway 12. We stopped at the Lochsa Lodge and had coffee with the new owners and introduced them to my book. Much of the book took place at the Lodge and surrounding National Forests. It was a natural setting and home for BB and his story, and the book is selling well there among the visitors who stop in for huckleberry pancakes, a Lochsa burger, or a sweet cobbler and experience the lush old growth forests of cedar and hemlock.
I met with the head of the wildlife program at the University of Montana and we discussed using my book in at least on class and having me return to UM in the fall for a lecture series. We moved on to Glacier National Park where the Park Service has cleared the way to sell the book within the Park’s concessions and visitor centers. Glacier is a natural home for the book as it was for me in my development as a biologist.
We continued the travel to Yellowstone to look for grizzly bears and their new young, but were maybe a little early to visit the park as many of the roads were still closed and bears still being careful by staying in the backcountry. We did see a few grizzly bears at great distances, and even got to watch a wolf chase a grizzly away from her den and pups. We were, however, disappointed that bear 399 had not yet been spending time near the roads at Grand Teton National Park.
We later witnessed another miracle of spring as we fished for chinook salmon on the main salmon river north of Riggins, Idaho. The water was low this year following a very dry spring, and what few salmon that crossed the 7 dams on their way upriver to Idaho were doing so faster than other years because of the low flows. We were able to fish with friends and by ourselves and bring home five wonderfully fat and silvery hatchery raised salmon. Because of their long migration needs and millennia of evolution, their DNA tells them to pack on more layers of fat than almost any other salmon – making them survive the journey and provide some of the best tasting meat in the world. I marvel at their tenacity to survive, swimming up to 900 miles into the high spawning grounds of Idaho, and hang on as the climate changes and we place all the “dam” obstacles in their path. Later in the summer when I visit the spawning grounds in Bear Valley or near Landmark and Stolle meadows, I have what amounts to a religious experience as I watch a salmon digging a redd or fertilizing eggs, so far from the ocean. I cry at their struggles and declining successes, and for what this says about us.
We demand cheap electricity and slack water for irrigation and barging for farmers when in fact none of that is necessary. It can all be mitigated. Instead, we watch as the chinook salmon smolts get chopped up and killed on their bloated migration downriver in the spring, taking weeks longer than what they were designed to do. They are being exposed to countless predators and humiliations because of the slack water pools behind the dams. We need salmon, Idaho needs salmon, grizzly bears need salmon, the world needs salmon. They are what connects us to the ocean and reminds us that we are part of an ecosystem and world that is all connected and in danger of catastrophic decline and dismemberment. Salmon feed us along with countless animals in the ocean, rivers, and land. All they ask from us is to let them fulfill their humble destiny – to die giving birth to the next generation. What good is cheap electricity if we kill our rivers and destroy connection with what amounts to the blood filled arteries of the planet. Salmon are the blood cells and rivers are the vessels that take them to where they need to be, and they keep our body and souls alive. We have many electricity, farming, and transportation options that don’t kill salmon. We must do what we can to fulfill our promise to the planet and return, with interest, what we have taken from the earth. There is no other option for survival – for salmon or for us.
Spring 2021
For those of you who may have read my last blog entry for March entitled HIBERNATION, I apologize for some of the political remarks I made regarding the Idaho legislature and IDFG Commission. Although they are both, in my opinion, in need of regular scrutiny and constant watch, I don’t want to digress too far into that realm, and I want to stick to the Bitterroot grizzly bear recovery in this blog. I strayed and therefore I deleted. I have opinions, and sometimes I need to write them down. But if it turns people away from my primary goal then I have gone too far.
With that said, we now are seeing grizzly bear activity on the landscape. I have yet to hear about any in Idaho for this year, but I know it is happening. It is happening as surely as the flowers are blooming, snow is melting, and birth is replacing death in the natural world. Grizzly bears live in Idaho. They live in the Selkirk Mountains and the Cabinet/Yaak mountains, they live in the Panhandle forest and St. Joe and Clearwater/Nez Perce forests, the Selway Bitterroot wilderness, and of course they live in Idaho near Yellowstone. Yes, my friends they live in the Bitterroots. Can we keep them alive? That is the question. We can if we want to, and that is the job of the agencies responsible for wildlife in Idaho. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the US Forest Service. They all have jurisdiction over this incredible species, so we need to ask them what they are doing. What are they doing to assure that grizzly bears survive and are protected in central Idaho? What are they doing to inform the public of their presence in central Idaho? What are they doing? Let’s ask them this simple question and hope that they are taking this task seriously. Ask them.
Fall 2020
BITTERROOT GRIZZLY SUBCOMMITTEE MEETS TO DISCUSS RECENT BEAR ACTIVITY AND DIRECTION (Nov 12, 2020)
I attended the Bitterroot subcommittee meeting on Nov. 12 via cell phone conference call. Most of the members of the committee and interested publics were able to connect via teleconference. I had just left my whitetail hunting spot in north Idaho and was returning home after having spent three unsuccessful days hunting the wily whitetail with my friend Jim Hayden, a retired IDFG employee and fellow carnivore specialist. I pulled into an IDFG habitat area along the Clearwater river just in time to connect to the conference call. I am glad I did.
The subcommittee discussed proposed research for the coming season which included DNA collection efforts in likely grizzly bear travel corridors, trail cams, and a PhD study on corridors and linkages to the Bitterroots.
These are all good and productive efforts to verify travel corridors that likely have been used since the 2007 grizzly bear that traveled south from the Selkirks. I described a likely travel route for BB, the Bitterroot Bear in my book the Journey of the Bitterroot Grizzly Bear published this year. Wayne Kasworm was able to download information from the radio collar of bear 927 that traveled to the Bitterroots from the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem last summer, and found a travel pattern very similar to the one I described in the book. His collared animal apparently crossed Highway 90 near St. Regis and Deborgia. Both of those locations had underpasses where the creeks crossed the highway. I theorized that these would be likely crossing routes because they offered a natural corridor a bear could cross without having to cross the actual highway. The radioed bear 927 had similar fear of the highway as my BB did, because it followed the highway east until it reached St. Regis and returned back down the highway to find a crossing to the south, which likely was the underpass. Wayne also described the area as having more natural habitat in the wider median strips where the bear crossed. If you drive past Deborgia and St. Regis, you will note this looks like a logical crossing route for wildlife without having to risk the dangers of crossing four lanes of highway. I suspect if they place trail cams and DNA hair grabbers near the sight they will find it a travel corridor for bears. We have found that bears leave scent markers, tree rub spots, feces, and other scent markers that allow other bears to follow their path. Now it is time for a female to decide to set up a home range south of the Highway. If that happens, I hope agencies do the appropriate measures of highway fencing and cleaning the baiting and garbage attractants in the area that would pose threats to traveling grizzly bears.
Additionally, Jamie Jonkel spoke of several new verified grizzly bear observations, photos, etc. on the Montana side of the BE near and in the recovery area. Also, J.J. Teare, the regional supervisor in the Clearwater region of IDFG, and incoming chair of the Bitterroot subcommittee, also spoke of a photograph from a trail cam taken near the verified grizzly photo from 2019 on the South Fork of the Clearwater that appeared to also be a grizzly. I have not seen that photo and don’t know who has, but Wayne Kasworm asked JJ to pass the photo along to him. JJ was surprised it had not been passed along to the normal verification team and said he would look into it.
I think the Bitterroot subcommittee is on the right track here and let’s hope that they are able to conduct the good research and management that these bears deserve.
NEW GRIZZLY BEAR ACTIVITY IN THE BITTERROOTS IN LATE SEPTEMBER 2020.
A friend of mine living in Lolo, MT sent me photos of a bear recently and asked what my opinion was of its species. It was clearly grizzly and all the biologists responded in kind. A grizzly bear was 5 miles up Lolo creek along Highway 12 photographed by a backyard security system. Several videos of the bear were taken and he was eating these mountain ash berries in one of them.
You can tell by the photo it appears to be another young male that made his exploratory excursion to the Bitterroots, similar to the story of BB in my book, The Journey of the Bitterroot Grizzly Bear. I hope the bear survives into the den and disappears before the elk hunting season gets underway in Montana. It is already underway in the Clearwater Region of Idaho, a short days hike for a bear. Just a few miles up Highway 12 from where this photo was taken, a young radiocollared grizzly was documented visiting the area last summer from July to October, 2019. He returned to the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem last fall to den. This bear may do the same thing or find a place to den in the BE. To my knowledge, the bear was exploring apples, mountain ash berries, and other natural attractants near a home along Lolo creek. I think the individuals were trying to keep a clean outdoors, so I hadn’t heard where or if the bear returned. I hope he does well, but again, grizzly bears are visiting the Bitterroot Ecosystem, and the agencies have not yet developed a management plan or protocol for grizzly bear management in the area. Hoping they go away is not a strategy.
WHAT IS IDAHO FISH AND GAME DOING FOR THE BITTERROOT GRIZZLY BEAR?
IDFG is the wildlife agency for the state of Idaho required to preserve, protect, perpetuate, and manage all wildlife for the benefit of the citizens of the state.
Idaho Code 36-103(b) states: “All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho, is hereby declared to be the property of the state of Idaho. It shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed. It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law permitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing, and trapping.”
For the most part, biologists and IDFG staff follow this law as a mission statement and as a religion. Biologists, officers, technicians, administrative folks, and everyone that works for the outfit believes they are doing good work for fish and wildlife, and the citizens and sportsmen of the state. That is why there is so low turnover at IDFG compared to other state agencies. They believe in their mission.
Enter grizzly bears and wolves. Two controversial species that make otherwise level headed and ethical outdoor recreationists and hunters turn pale. There are any number of reasons for this, but the fact remains that people tend to come unglued when they talk about wolves or grizzly bears. Unfortunately, that passes on to the IDFG commission– those individuals who are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the senate. They are rank and file sportsmen (no women), who have varied backgrounds but no biological expertise. That expertise by design was to be left to professional biologists and officers to make regulations to meet the Idaho Code 36-103(b) to preserve, protect, and perpetuate all fish and wildlife. Commissioners come from the 7 regions across the state and act like mini legislators beholding to their constituents. This is where it becomes dicey.
A commissioner listens to a crony from his corner fly fishing shop and the commissioner comes back to the commission meeting with a proposal that one guy with an opinion supports, and the staff then has to spend countless hours figuring out if the idea is a good one or why it isn’t, but then an opinion of a sportsman can weigh more heavily than that of a professional biologist. Although wildlife science is usually not cut-and-dried, biologists do their darndest to stick to facts and base opinions on all the data and experience available, including that of sportsmen. Commissioners spend many hours reviewing proposals, but it often comes down to what they think and what their buddies think. It once worked pretty well until opinions became more important than science. Now it seems that science is taking a back seat to opinions, and commissioners often bully staff. This is inappropriate for a professional science based organization.
This commission and director don’t seem to like grizzly bears (or wolves). They are trying to prevent grizzly bear recovery in central Idaho within the established Bitterroot recovery area. You heard me correctly. Not just preventing the reintroduction of grizzly bears, but preventing the natural recovery and dispersal of grizzly bears into and within the Bitterroot Ecosystem. Ask them how they are managing the Bitterroot…what they plan on doing should a grizzly bear show up or get in trouble?
Remember this: they can only succeed if we let them. IDFG is responsible for protecting our wildlife, including grizzly bears, and we have to make sure they remember this and act appropriately. They can and will if the sportsmen and women of this great state demand it. Make yourself heard….
WHAT ARE AGENCIES DOING FOR THE BITTERROOT GRIZZLY THIS YEAR?
From what I understand, not too much. Federal agencies are dealing with a presidential administration that is subverting science based resource management decision and environmentally prudent actions in favor of industry and extractive commerce. Idaho Fish and Game has been decidedly absent in the desire to protect and perpetuate grizzly bears in central Idaho.
When grizzly bears were delisted temporarily in 2017, the Idaho Fish and Game Commission decided to allow a hunt, even when only one animal could be killed to remain within the desired biological population parameters. This of course, along with a similar decision by Wyoming Game and Fish to immediately allow a hunting season on grizzly bears, allowed for environmental groups to successfully sue and halt the delisting.
Grizzly bears are a national treasure and viewing them in Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks are destination goals for thousands of photographers on vacation. Many professional photographers make a living off of photographing grizzly bears. Tom Mengelson, a famous wildlife photographer living in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, has sold untold thousands of photographs and books based on famous grizzly bear 399, a bear I also photographed in the article below. One grizzly bear tag was sold in Idaho to allow one hunter the chance to kill a grizzly bear in Idaho near Yellowstone National Park. One hunter would have received the benefit of the hunt. Undoubtedly, to most people grizzly bears are worth much more alive than dead.
I told IDFG leadership that rushing to hunt a grizzly bear in Idaho prematurely would play into the hands of the environmental groups poised to sue to relist. Of course delisting was controversial in the YE anyway, but delisting and hunting them immediately only played into the hands of those wishing to claim the states were incapable of managing grizzly bears. Only Montana held off on hunting them. Wyoming, of course is having population pressures and spending thousands of hours of manpower and hundreds of thousands of dollars in managing grizzly bears. They could probably use some hunting to manage populations spreading far beyond what might be considered optimal bear habitat within the Yellowstone and Teton ecosystems. Large buffers around the parks really need to be managed for grizzly bears with no hunting. Idaho, on the other hand, just wanted the chance to hunt them, for what reason I don’t really know. They were allocated one bear, one grizzly bear to kill. What is the point in that?
I refrained from being very critical of IDFG in my book, The Journey of the Bitterroot Grizzly Bear. I worked for IDFG for 30 years and enjoyed almost all that time. However, when it comes to managing large carnivores, IDFG and in particular, the IDFG commission has strayed from what the Idaho statute that governs the agency set out to do.
Idaho Code 36-103(b) states: “All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho, is hereby declared to be the property of the state of Idaho. It shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed. It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law permitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing, and trapping.”
It could be argued by legal minds of IDFG and the state, that one grizzly bear tag is considered management, and that only one bear taken will still preserve, protect, and perpetuate the species. However, the judge in the case and likely millions of Americans disagreed. It isn’t always about what is legal under the law, it is more often about how it appears before the public. Killing a grizzly bear that strays outside of Yellowstone National Park, or the Tetons, is not a visual the Department should have anything to do with. Idaho code, don’t forget, states “It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect, and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state“. Remember, that hunting and fishing of these species comes after you have provided for the citizens of the state by preserving, protecting, and perpetuating.” ” …and, as by law permitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing, and trapping”.
I am a hunter and have purchased a sportsman package every year they have been sold, which allows me to hunt or fish anything that is legal in the state. I think hunting can be an ethical way to connect with our DNA and the circle of life, and participate in that age old process of harvesting wildlife and fish to eat. However, I think the Department is straying from it’s legal and ethical requirements under law, to preserve, protect, and perpetuate wildlife, and provide for the citizens of the state, when they allow even one grizzly bear tag to be issued to kill a bear near Yellowstone.
Now, why on earth are they not supporting natural recovery of grizzly bears in the Bitterroots if they are required to preserve, protect, and perpetuate ALL WILDLIFE in the state of Idaho? The IDFG commission position statement claims that they do not support reintroductions of bears into the Bitterroots, and blame the protracted litigation on wolves that failed to allow the USFWS to delist wolves when they promised, as the primary reason for opposing grizzly bear recovery in the Bitterroots. Although I wrote extensively in my book about this issue, and why constant litigation by environmental groups shot the ESA and grizzly recovery and delisting in the foot, it by no means allows the IDFG to circumvent the law under which the Department was created. ALL WILDLIFE is to preserved, protected, and perpetuated. Not just the convenient species. Not just elk and deer. Not just those that provide a steady stream of income for IDFG. But ALL WILDLIFE. And that my friends is why IDFG is straying from its core requirements. It is selecting the good and bad wildlife and resisting recovery of grizzly bears in central Idaho, and paying another agency to kill dozens of wolves in north Idaho to protect deer and elk, even though no evidence suggests the effort is successful at anything other than spending money.
I know my little blog doesn’t reach enough people yet, but I hope that a few IDFG folks and commissioners read it and ponder what side of history they want to be on.
WHERE CAN YOU PHOTOGRAPH GRIZZLY BEARS? (June, 2020)
On Sunday, May 31, my wife and I traveled to Teton National Park to see if we could find bear 399 and her four cubs. I have never seen a grizzly bear with four cubs and thought it was worth the effort to see this remarkable bear. This bear has been a photographer’s dream since she was first born around 1996. She is now 24 years old and according to some accounts has produced 21 cubs, a real special female. We don’t own any special photography equipment, even though most people visiting the parks this time of year seem to be wildlife photographers carrying thousands of dollars worth of equipment. I own a Cannon 30x point and shoot that has traveled all over the world with me in my pocket. I can get pretty good shots if my lighting is good, the animal isn’t too far away, and my lens isn’t too foggy. No awards, but pretty okay shots.
TRAPPING A GRIZZLY BEAR IN THE TETONS OFF OF HORSE BACK, A TRAPPERS STORY FROM 1989. (published June 7, 2020)
Grizzly bears are still threatened across the west, but their populations have stabilized and are increasing into areas not previously occupied for many decades. The Tetons had been mostly devoid of grizzly bears until the late 1980s. My friends and colleagues working for the Interagency Grizzly Bear Team were told to go to the Tetons in 1989 to try and capture a grizzly. Signs of bears had been recorded east of the Park. I was working as a conservation officer in Powell, Idaho at the time and contacted my friends, Jamie Jonkel, and Mark Haroldson, and asked them if I could assist them in trying to catch a grizzly in the Tetons. They welcomed me for the adventure.
So I took my old truck and lab Niki and drove to the Tetons to meet up with my friends. We rendezvoused in a meadow at a trailhead where they had been camping. A Wyoming game warden was there with his horses. We had four horses, and they of course gave me the biggest, rankest one of the bunch. The game warden had gotten “Big Red” in trade for an old .30-.30 caliber Winchester lever action, and I know to this day, the guy that got the $100 gun got the better deal.
Big Red was a heavily muscled red sorrel quarter horse with a brain the size of a dime. All he saw was danger. A curry brush was a small vicious animal, a saddle blanket was a storm cloud, and a saddle was a cougar trying to get on his back. Just the kind of horse you wanted while trapping grizzlies. I asked Jamie why he didn’t want to ride him and Jamie said, “new guy’s horse.” Smart.
We started down the trail to check the traps they had set the previous few days. Their job was to try and capture a grizzly or two to place radio collars on them, find out what they did for a living, and where they went. Mostly, they were told to verify their presence by capturing a bear. We got to the second trap, maybe a mile or two down the trail, and man we had one!
The traps were cubby sets, a pile of logs set up in a cubby or small enclave which held the bait, usually a piece of meat like a road kill deer or something. In front of the entrance was placed an Aldrich foot snare — a spring loaded device that when properly set and triggered would throw a 3/8 inch cable snare around the wrist of the grizzly bear’s front foot. The other end was toggled onto a good sized tree that couldn’t be chewed down in 24 hrs by an angry bear. When improperly set or triggered, the snare might miss the foot entirely by sliding the cable under the bears foot, or worse still, capture the bear by a toe or two, not by the wrist. This was the dangerous part of the operation, checking on how well the bear was caught.
A grizzly bear when in a foot snare knows it is caught and in danger. A grizzly bear in a snare is very unlike any other animal in a trap I have ever caught. A black bear, for instance, when approached in a snare will often pop its teeth in warning, but sometimes try to climb the tree the snare is attached to, or hide behind a log hoping we wouldn’t see it. A grizzly, on the other hand, surmises that if he is going to live, he will likely have to kill you in self-defense. He does this by waiting in his dug out hole with only his eyes peering over the edge, similar to the way an alligator peers out of the water while waiting for its prey. Your job, as a trapper, is to get close enough to him to gauge his size and weight for the proper drug dose, and to see how well he is caught. If it is well caught, your job is easier. If it is a toe catch, you have to figure something else out –quickly.
Trappers have to work in teams because of this. One guy has the dart gun, loaded with the appropriate amount of drug based on the size of the bear. They do the best they can on the estimate the weight, but the drugs nowadays have a wide margin of error, so overdoses are very rare. The second trapper has the shotgun. They have to approach at angles to the bear, one person trying to get a good dart shot while the other trying to protect the darter should the bear break the snare. The bear then will wait until the trapper with the dart gun gets close before it makes its move. The trapper has to know if the bear is caught on the front foot well, or heaven forbid a toe, or rarely and what would be really bad — on a hind foot. The hind foot catch gives the bear extra distance and speed that could put the trapper within his grasp, or at least potentially injure the bear worse once he hits the end of the cable at full speed.
We have done the math, physics actually, on speed, weight, force necessary to break the cable. It’s a lot and usually we are well within the margin of safety, but every now and again, a cable has been known to break. Or a cable is jerked off a toe.
The grizzly bear is smart and cunning when he perceives his life is in danger. So he waits. He waits until the trapper gets close…then with the power and speed and roaring that sounds like a locomotive coming at you, makes his move, charging to the end of the cable. The cable holds, and the bear rolls over as he reaches the end. He gets up and charges again. Then he looks at the shotgunner, who has the gun at shoulder hoping the cable holds, and then charges him. By so doing, the darter has a side view and is able to shoot the dart at the shoulder, neck, or hind leg. You cannot hit him in the chest or stomach, for that would be as lethal as a bullet. The dart has to find its mark in the thick muscle, and the barbed dart with its .22 caliber charge then will excrete its contents in a split second while holding in place long enough for the drug to enter the bear’s system. Drugs and darts nowadays are designed differently than the old .22 caliber Palmer darts which are used less and less frequently by wildlife professionals. Newer darts are injected with air and dart guns are often compressed air propelled or CO2 propelled, and cause less trauma to the animal. But in 1989, the Palmer dart was the state-of-the-art.
Once the dart hits its target, the trappers back off to let the bear calm down, as well as to allow their own adrenaline to stop coursing through their veins. It is exciting, but if all goes well, it is over quickly, before the bear can injure himself or the trapper. The timer begins, and the trappers watch as the bear sits down, his massive head swinging side to side, saliva dripping from his mouth, and his eyes begin twitching involuntarily. Finally, he gives up and lies down. Still breathing heavily from exertion, he can no longer move his limbs. The trappers move in slowly at first, approaching from the rear. Bears have been known to fake being out of it, and will charge the trapper– so he has to be careful. The trapper will clap his hands to try to rouse the bear. If the bear does not roust, then the trapper will tap him with a long stick on the bear’s butt or toss a stone to test his level of anesthesia. If the bear is confirmed out, the trappers grab their gear and move in.
The trappers will check the bear for injury, remove the cable from the front foot, medicate if there is injury (serious trapping injuries are rare), and place a snare loosely on the hind leg to make sure they bear is still caught should he wake up before they are ready. Then the trappers will draw blood, take measurements, place ear tags, sometimes a tatoo, draw a small premolar tooth for aging, place a radio collar on the massive neck, make sure all the vitals are fine and eye drops are in place, and depending on the drug used, either administer the antidote, or pick up the gear and back off, waiting for the bear to recover enough to know it is safely recovered from anesthesia.
This is what we were doing, waiting for the bear to recover, when Jamie tells me, “Steve, you come with me. Mark and the game warden will stay here while the bear recovers. You and I will go check and pull the remainder of the traps.” I was fine with that, maybe we’d get another bear.
So, I mount Big Red, whose eyes were as big as saucers after seeing that grizzly charge the guys. Even though the bear was now sleeping, Big Red was not. His hyper- vigilance, which was already high before a grizzly entered the scene, made it now like trying to sit on a 1200 pound hummingbird. We started down the trail– me following Jamie–for another mile or two. Every time I got off the horse to pull a “danger bear trap” sign down, Big Red would do a side dance, a crow hop, and a quiver making a dismount or mount a short rodeo. So, I thought I would outsmart Big Red and rather than get on and off him, I would just work off his back. So, we approached a good sized meadow and a “bear trap in area” warning sign that was placed on a tree near the trail. I decided to pull the sign while sitting on Red, which I succeeded in doing– almost. I got the fiberglass tape off the bottom of the sign which had been wrapped around the tree to hold the sign in place. Then I reached for the top tape, which also was wrapped around the tree with about a foot or two of tape. But now I had plastic white sign on the end of two foot piece of fiberglass tape, with one end stuck to my fingers and the sign end flapping in the wind. Big Red jumped sideways when he saw the dangling sign fluttering just behind his head. When he jumped sideways, the sign fluttered more, and well you guessed it, the rodeo was on.
Big Red started bucking, and when he bucked the sign would flop at the end of my extended arm looking like a white banshee chasing us. I forgot to mention that Red had no withers; he was as round as a 50 gallon drum. The saddle rode evenly on his back only when I had even amounts of change in my pockets. And now, he was bucking like a rodeo horse, and I had one hand in the air flailing around trying to catch the sign, and the other hand hanging onto the reins trying to keep his head up. Then the saddle started to roll. It was rolling to my right, the side that I had my revolver holstered on my hip. I couldn’t stop the saddle from rolling so I looked for a soft spot to land, and tried to time my dismount when the horse was at the low end of his buck. I bailed just as the horses feet hit the ground, which was his lowest point, unfortunately on his upward trajectory. Before I got out of the saddle, I got flung into the air and then landed on my right side, hip first, right on top of my sidearm.
Big Red continued to buck in the meadow for awhile, as I rolled around on the ground moaning in pain, taking account of what I had injured. His saddle was now completely under his belly, and he was wearing himself out bucking. He finally settled down all tangled up. Jamie rode up to me, got off his horse, whistled while shaking his head and said, “man, I would have got off of him long before you did!”
We collected gear and I delicately limped while leading the lathered up and still excited horse down the trail, back to where Mark and the game warden were waiting for the grizzly to recover. When we approached the site, the horses started blowing and snorting. Nobody was there, but their was gear scattered everywhere, hats, drug equipment, a raincoat. No blood or bodies, so that was good. We led the horses past the trap site, picked up gear, then headed back to the trailhead to hopefully find our comrades. There was no bear or trapper to be seen near the trap site. Meanwhile, Big Red was even more jumpy, skittering sideways off the trail when a “road apple” otherwise known as a dump he took landed on his hock. He was afraid of everything by now, even his own dung.
When we got back to camp, our trapper comrades were there, somewhat disheveled, but in good spirits. Mark relayed the story: They waited for the bear to recover about 75 yards away with the horses, and they became worried when they couldn’t get him to wake up. They clapped their hands and the bear didn’t raise his head. The yelled at him and he stayed motionless. So they decided to mount the horses and approach the bear to make sure it was still breathing and okay. As they approached with the horses on full alert, the bear made his move. He had been waiting in ambush, and as the horses got close, the bear jumped, fully alert and charged them at full speed. The horses didn’t wait for a command, and the trappers didn’t have to give one — they just hung on as the horses turned inside out, and galloped at full speed away from the charging bear. The trappers held on for dear life, because if they’d fallen off the horses, they would have likely been injured or killed if not by being impaled by a stump, then surely by the bear. The horses leaped over blowdowns, galloping as fast as they could down the lodgepole pine choked forest trail . Finally, the trappers looked behind them and saw the bear had stopped chasing them. They reined in the horses to a trot, and then a fast nervous walk back to camp. There they waited for us to return, hoping we wouldn’t run into the upset grizzly on our way back.
It reminded us all that trapping grizzly bears off of horse back was not the easiest or safest way to catch a grizzly, and as it turned out, we were pretty lucky. We laughed about it, shook the dust off our crusty clothes and cowboy hats, and decided to roll into Jackson for a shower, a steak dinner, and a few well deserved drinks at The Cowboy Bar.
Ed. note: Trappers are well trained and seldom make mistakes. Horse trapping was not something that was done very often back then. Because of the novelty of the horseback trapping efforts, biologists learned quickly and safely handled hundreds more grizzlies over the following years However, horse trapping is still a rare effort.
Also, the horse in the story “Big Red” was a dangerous animal. He later kicked his owner in the face and seriously injured him. Although I made light of the horse and the story, it was a wrong horse to use in this situation. Trapping grizzly bears can be dangerous work, but injuries are more often caused by equipment, vehicles, and carelessness than by anything the bear does. Adrenaline stoked moments like the ones discussed above happened more regularly during the early days of bear trapping than they do now. It has become more of a science in today’s world and bears are safely and humanely handled without incident.
WHY ARE GRIZZLY BEARS SHOWING UP IN THE BITTERROOTS NOW?
April 23, 2020
Grizzly bears have been knocking on the door of the Bitterroots for many years. We have been trying to find and verify their presence there since the late 1980s. The last verified evidence of grizzly bears in the Bitterroots was way back in 1946, when Bud Moore, a USFS ranger in Powell, documented a grizzly bear track in upper Brushy Fork south of Lolo Pass. Since then, extensive efforts and research projects by myself and other state and federal employees to try and verify grizzly bears had been unsuccessful.
Throughout the 1990s, efforts were made by state and federal agencies to recover grizzly bears in the Bitterroot mountains of central Idaho and western Montana. The mandated effort to recover grizzly bears under the Endangered Species Act entailed extensive and intensive efforts by dozens of biologists and agency managers, as well as hundreds of interested members of the public, industry, and conservation groups. These efforts were chronicled in my recent book released in April 2020. In it I and discussed the intensive work by all of us to recover grizzly bears under an innovative approach that included collaboration between citizens and the government to provide much of the management authority to a group of citizens. This approach was eventually killed in 2001 by the newly elected president George W. Bush and his Secretary of Interior, Gale Norton, with requests and encouragement from Governor of Idaho, Dirk Kempthorne.
In the early 2000s, grizzly bears had been occasionally showing up close to the Bitterroot recovery area in Montana and north Idaho. But it wasn’t until 2007, when a grizzly bear was verified in the upper reaches of Kelly Creek in north Idaho, that agencies really took notice. Bears were making a comeback without our help. We just had to try to keep them alive.
Following the event in 2007, nothing much occurred or was verified within the boundaries of the Bitterroot recovery area until the summer of 2019. I finished my book in the spring of 2019, and told the story of BB (Bitterroot Bear), the grizzly bear that was found in the Bitterroots in September of 2007. BB was a non-radiocollared bear, so I had to create his journey from the Selkirk mountains near the Canadian border, to Kelly creek where he was discovered. I used my knowledge of that country, google earth maps, and the known behavior of grizzly bears to disperse, and how they would do it. I was able to map a likely travel route from north Idaho and described it in the book. I visited the site where BB was discovered in 2007 in order to finish my epilogue in the book, which had already been edited and was being laid out for design.
When I returned to Boise, I found out that 2 other grizzly bears had made it to the Bitterroots: one was a radiocollared grizzly that was tracked into the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness from the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem in northwestern Montana; the second was a grizzly bear that was photographed by a game cam a hunter had placed at a bear bait station near Grangeville, Idaho. The radiocollared bear that moved from the Cabinets followed a path close to what I had predicted BB would have taken, and crossed I-90 in likely the same underpass by a creek I had hypothesized BB took. When grizzly bears travel, they leave their marks. They rub on trees, urinate, leave spore and otherwise mark their route. It is very likely, that even after years of absence, a pioneer grizzly bear like BB could have discovered a route and left a “trail of bread crumbs” to be followed by subsequent bears.
Now that ecosystems are becoming filled with grizzly bears, young bears in particular strike out to find alternative home ranges through expansion of existing range. Young bears have always tried to avoid larger more dominant bears, and all the unoccupied habitat to the south of the Selkirks and Cabinet-Yaak would prove to be very appealing to a young grizzly bear attempting to establish a new homerange. This I believe is what is going on.
The Grangeville bear located in the early summer of 2019, very likely could have been there the winter of 2018-2019. Wayne Kasworm, the bear biologist who collared the grizzly in 2017, lost track of him when he dropped his collar in 2018. The bear could have followed a likely path to central Idaho, but somehow found his way to the west side of the Recovery Area, a very unlikely spot for a grizzly bear and not one I would have predicted. He may have denned in the area in 2018-2019 because he was found so far south. But a real nice surprise this spring occurred just a few days ago. A skier found a grizzly bear track in the snow a few miles southeast of Grangeville, and photos were taken by IDFG staff, and hair was collected. My guess is this is the same bear that was in the vicinity of Grangeville last summer, and he just denned locally and recently emerged from his den. This, as far as we know, would be the first grizzly to den in central Idaho in almost 75 years!
However, another photo was taken of a grizzly by a bait site near Newsome Creek, up the South Fork of the Clearwater, in the summer of 2019. Was it the same bear that was verified near Grangeville? Could be, it isn’t that far away. Grizzly bears can change their appearance dramatically when they put on weight, and when hair is wet, dry, in the sun or shade. But it could be a different bear as well, one that followed the trail south.
This is exciting news if you are a grizzly bear supporter! All grizzly bears ask for is a place to call home. They try to avoid people whenever possible. These bears would not have even been known about if it wasn’t for a couple game cams placed on bear baits. Nobody else reported them, they stayed out of trouble, and somehow, miraculously survived the gauntlet in their travels from north to central Idaho.
Agencies and governments opted for natural recovery rather than reintroductions back in 2001, and after 18 years, grizzly bears are now tenuously attempting the natural recovery preference set by state and federal agencies and much of the public. No matter your opinions on grizzly bears, government, or endangered species recovery, one has to respect and marvel at this incredible specie’s natural tendency to seek out and establish a new home in the largest contiguous wilderness in the lower 48 states — the “wildest heart” of the American West. They at least deserve the opportunity to try and make a living here, and we owe them that much. They are doing exactly what we asked them to do…find a way to get here on their own.
Journey of the
BITTERROOT GRIZZLY BEAR
WHEN YOU ARE IN THEIR REALM, grizzly bears don’t let you not think about them. They have a way of occupying your thoughts when every turn in the trail might be where you encounter the next grizzly. They have a way of hiding in the closet of your mind and opening that door in the quiet hours before you fall asleep. The sounds you hear at night just might be a grizzly rather than a deer licking the salt from your sweaty backpack. Fear, when controlled, is nothing but a whetstone to our senses—making them sharper and more capable. When uncontrolled, fear can dominate our imagination and actions, and limit our abilities to cope, to understand, to make good decisions. Because of their reputation as killers, grizzly bears can make you feel either fearful, or for some, more alive. You forget about the pain of hiking when your senses are engaged; you leave your world and enter their world of predator and prey. With honed senses and experience, fear is eventually replaced by alertness, thus allowing you to feel more at ease and more fully able to enjoy the realm of the grizzly bear.
These are the thoughts and words of a biologist who spent many years working with or near grizzly bears in Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, British Columbia, and Alaska—and eventually using what he learned in an attempt to recover grizzly bears in central Idaho. That recovery effort siphoned the knowledge, experience, and research from dozens of scientists and hundreds of citizens to try to bring grizzly bears back to a place from which they had been missing for more than 60 years. This story chronicles that unique recovery effort. It also brings to life the story of a real grizzly bear that found his way into the Bitterroot Mountains after a remarkable journey of self discovery. It is about the incredible physical and behavioral traits of grizzly bears and the tiring politics of environmentalism versus industry. It is about the hopeful and innovative efforts to seek common ground and work together to try and solve the puzzle of recovery. It is the story of how environmental pragmatism and purity became enemies. It is also my story—a biologist who spent 40 years working toward grizzly bear recovery, 30 of which were with Idaho Department of Fish and Game (IDFG).