9-22 SS Grizzlies and People
Being in bear country and you. Be prepared. Even if you are a hunter. Be prepared.
There has been a spate of recent bear encounters in the Northwest including a young lady who was on a bicycle ride in the evening South of Driggs, Idaho. She’s peddling along when out of nowhere comes a sow on a dead run. She peddled to safety but Idaho Fish and Game’s Greg Losinski hunters and their dogs. “Part of the problem is whether it’s a black bear or a grizzly bear, they are faster and stronger than we are. Often times we think we are plenty far away but we are not. They can cover that ground in a matter of seconds, particularly if there are some young involved that they are trying to protect, so again give there’s plenty of room. The other thing is if you are going to be out recreating in the area where there are bears, we really do encourage folks to have bear spray on them. In a lot of the recent fatalities, people did not have bear spray. We are not saying that they would not have been killed if they had bear spray but not having it at all was one of their 1st mistakes. The other thing is if you are recreating in the area where you have your dog, realize that most dogs are really trouble when it comes to bears. They will go after the bear and draw the bear to you rather than scaring the bear away. Some folks particularly in Montana, are seeing the bears out on the plains and we have had pheasant hunters with their dogs kick up a bear. Grizzlies are expanding their territory. For the most part when we are hunting for birds, we won’t have problems with dogs and bears, but in some places where we do allow the use of hound dogs to hunt bears, we are seeing problems because these dogs can’t tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear. A black bear will run and a grizzly will not.
