I hope you gave thanks to the good Lord above when you reached your truck.

I have not hunted in Western MT in years. There are plenty of elk in Eastern MT and no bears. The problem I see with bear spray is the wind. MT FWP site says it is best to deploy bear spray when the bear is down wind of you. Kind of like rolling the dice. In the mountains you hunt your way up in the morning with the thermals in your face. Some times the winds are strong. I think most of the bear spray would end up in your face or the bear would be to close for the spray to do you much good.
It will be interesting to see how may of these "incidents" we will see this year with the amount of bears we have. I know a couple of guys who have been mauled, one severely. Both say they never even saw the bear before the bear was on them.
It is turning into a crap shoot out there.

Do they call you negligent if you don't hang your food from a tree, the way the experts recommend?

As if there were trees big enough to hang food from, most places up here.

Jim

Every place I ever hunted had plenty of trees. I always used a nylon bag that my sleeping bag was in to hang my food. I always cooked at least a quarter mile away from my camp. One of the reasons I don't go over there any more is that I like to hunt by myself. Given the bear situation that is not a safe option anymore.

Well, they can call you negligent if they want. You have to prove them wrong and if their mind is made up that you did wrong, there is no instant reply to prove squat.

How many people gotta get hurt or killed before they put a season on them.? Save the animal's and the #%)) with the people out enjoying the great outdoors. Seems to be mentality, isn't it sad.

If I was to hunt over there again, which I won't, and had to shoot a bear in self defense I would make sure that I had lots of deep scratches on my arms and face and plenty of my DNA in the bears claws before i left the scene!

I was told one guy always hunts with a mule, he says they will run a grizzly off

^ Exactly and then I'm not sure they would beleive you. Those bear are more important then human life, and I agree with the rest of you about a season to hunt them.

Well about the only way we are going to see those bears come off the list is the same way the wolves came off.
When it starts costing FWP money in licensing fee's imo.
Until then hunt in pairs and be the fast one.

Tac 20
I shot a moose in the Lee Metcalf Wilderness area South East of Ennis MT in 1993. I pack in by myself for 7 days but I had an outfitter lined up to pack it out. It was a 18 mile round trip. The outfitter had enough firepower to stop an invasion. He said his mules were way to valuable to loose to a griz. I don't think any animal in the lower 48 could stand up to a mature determined griz.

The problem is not the bears. The problem is wildlife mismanagement. When Lewis and Clarke appeared in the interior, they ran into grizzlies and the bears would not quit. It was not about not enough firepower alone, it was about the Indians not being a fear source great enough to these bears. As more Americans appeared, they began shooting the more aggressive bears in numbers, which drove them by Teddy Roosevelt's time into the Big Horns and Yellowstone, producing a grizzly which avoided humans.

After USFW cleaned up the garbage dumps at Yellowstone, which had bred a passive class of bears, these bears once again had to become more aggressive to survive, and having bred out their fear of humans in garbage feeding, what resulted was federal protection for bears which began driving hunters off their elk and mule deer kills.
I once heard a Glacier area resident poo poo the Yellowstone grizzlies, as the Glacier bears were passive. He went to Yellowstone and was educated quickly in those bears were looking for a fight.
The Indians of Alaska used to hunt grizzlies off platforms on trails, and the bears would talk to themselves. They rarely had trouble with older bears, just the juveniles, who had something to prove. That is not to say a sow with cubs would not go postal.

From the reports on these attacks, this looks like an oversized cub with something to prove, or even a misidentified black bear in brown color phase, as people not familiar with bears are aware of only the biting.

Biblically animals that harm humans need to be put down. I just learned my neighbor was killed by an Angus bull today. The remedy is the one Theodore Roosevelt and John Boroughs advocated in the complete eradication of large predators off the established parks. That will by hunting license, re educate these dangerous animals to natural fear of humans. The President is moving on this in removing the wolf from the endangered list to make the world safe for pets, livestock and game again.
America has a vast problem in it must remove itself from the CITIES treaty, which has caused immense destruction of conservation. For example cormorants are protected, because there are few in Mexico, but in Minnesota, that vermin with pelicans are eating millions in dollars in stocked fish every year.
There has to be balance returned or what was wildlife management where people with licenses were the human protectors and arbitrators for wildlife.
As Teddy Roosevelt explained, the government can spend every tax dollar and no solution will ever be created. The only solution is releasing the public in self interest to solve problems. The solution is reducing the number of these protectionist regime officials and increasing the access of hunters, trappers and fishermen to restore the balance, by lowering licenses and costs of licensed hunts.
The majority of people would rather see herds of 300 elk than hear the howling of wolves over the carcass of elk terrified and hiding in the timber. I would hope our trapping leadership would join to restoring sound management policies again in every state.

Two friends of mine were attacked. Johnny McCoy was the pastor at my church and Gary Corle and his wife Sherry were friends of mine and Rhonda.

http://www.bpnews.net/11622/grizzly-mauls-alaska-pastor-6-hours-of-surgery-required

https://jesseshunting.com/threads/north-pole-pastor-recovering-from-bear-attack.12635/

Star Flakes You said a mouth full in your first paragraph . Until management goes back to removing the most aggressive bears in the population the number of aggressive bears is going to continue to grow .For a long time now we have been protecting grizzly bears in the Lower 48 under the concept that they are an endangered species . That is not factual but it is a great money raising ploy . As you state ,there has to be a balance but where there is money to be made by organizations playing on emotions the balance point get difficult to reach

Good point !! I suspect that's where your legal talents come into play

A couple years ago,an Ennis hunter got mauled by a sow grizzly and got her off with bear spray.Some time later,as he hobbled back to his truck,she tracked him down and mauled him again after he sprayed her again.A very tough guy and lucky to be alive.So much for bear spray.

They were from Minnesota. That will teach them.

Okay >>> Thanks Dirt.

I have a cousin that quit hunting there years ago because of the bears. He said it was not safe at all and always carried a side arm when bow hunting.

Last time I was in Montana, had to get my Barlow out...3 Grizzlies we’re injured.