grizz kills woman in Montana town.

people biking thru Montana stopped in a small town to set up tents for the night.....apparently a grizz came by but left and they stayed. Grizz came back and dragged a woman out of her tent and killed her....imagine that happening to you?

Long past due for real management of Grizzly bears in the Western U.S. These stories keep happening and it's getting ridiculous.

A little more information about the incident- https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/06/us/montana-grizzly-bear-attack-trnd/index.html

Why do these people not carry firearms for protection?

A lot of them are probably hippy granola types who think firearms are scary

Bet they think bears are scary now

Because they are completely ignorant and uneducated as to how practical people survive and live here outside of town.

I never go anywhere without real caliber protection. Or riding a horse in the outback.

My neighbors less than half mile away from me have driven home to face a big sow with two nearly grown cubs she was training to raid porches and outbuildings ....sitting in their driveway, glaring at them after running the dogs out into the woods.

Bears from my nearby Glacier Park have been flown over here , let loose, and either continue to pester cabins , or some even made the miles trip right back into the park.

Their homing radar is astounding....right up there with wuffs .

I have seen tracks in mud all around me on trails and service roads.

Mostly, they stay clear of humans, but sometimes....all it takes is one.

I don’t think I have ever seen a cyclist, you know with the pointy helmets that was packin’ Left Lane you might be on to something lol.

I take that back. I have seen some cops on bicycles.

a hard sell that pepper spray is more effective

they often anti gun

your more likely to see them build cages to sleep in

Sad to hear a woman lost her life. But I have to say I like that there are still wild places and wild things and dangerous things.

Now y’all got me rethinking my Western trip next Spring. How are they about breaking into trucks? Mainly the cab where I’ll possibly be sleeping?

I read on the internet that Grizzlies have adapted to the point they can pick vehicle locks.



Moosetrot

Ive heard they suck at it when 12 guage slugs are flying out the windows

This women probably had a high likely hood of food in her tent. And for a town like ovando situated next to vast wilderness area some bears are bound to start rummaging through the trash and get habituated to human food and smells. Thus, this bear undoubtedly went for the food and found more inside.

This happened to an acquaintance with a black bear in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Sleeping with food. Luckily my buddy rolled up while leading a mule train back to front country and the guy left with his life and scares on his head. You dont sleep with food. No cannon or spray will help you with that.

The studies are out mostly from alaska, that spray does lead to less deaths per confrontation but for where i hunt the wind would blow the bottle out of your hand let alone get the spray there, so the gun stays on my hip in griz country.

All that said it the price you pay living in the wild. I hope they open a season but towny bears will always exist and confrontation will continue. Calculated risk. Weigh the odds in your favor

I don't know how many are watching the Alone series this year with the contestants in grizzly country. I don't know grizzlies, but if I were spending time in that country I would sure feel better packing.

Bad news for the person killed but this is good news for us Montana folk. Lived in Montana a long time and heard of many people killed by grizz. Please don't move here as we have to many people already. I heard North Dakota is a good place to retire!

People want to enjoy the outdoors and nature. But when you are clueless/mindless yuppies from the city sometimes you can get more then you bargained for?? I bet there are some bikes for sale cheap.

Isn't this called "Natural Selection"?

Watched one go through a triple strand concertina in order to get to the mess tent area at hohenfels.

A person always needs to know the dangers present in an unfamiliar environment and take precautions accordingly if possible. We talk a lot about city folk not knowing how to stay safe in the wild, but us rural folk are in a similar situation if we have occasion to go to an inner city. Many city folk instinctively recognize the dangers from gang members or drug dealers via behavior patterns that rural folk may miss. Being unfamiliar with the inner city, we don't know the neighborhoods or areas to avoid to stay safe the way a resident of the city does. That always made me uncomfortable when I went to Philly to visit the son living there. Finally I convinced him to move his family and they now live in N.C. Two weeks before the move his car parked in front of their 1st floor appartment took a bullet through the rear window.

Outdoorsmen gripe/complain about COs, Wardens and Rangers, well guys here is good example of why some of these professionals are always concerned about the uneducated interacting with nature. The uneducated in the woods create the opportunity for issues with bears, lions, snakes, boars, coyotes, foxes and other critters (not to mention getting lost, hypothermia, water hazards, drowning and climbing big rocks for a selfie and falling off: oh lets not forget poor maintenance of camp sites causing forest fires). The COs do not worry so much about us out there as we are supposedly semi trained to stay out of trouble and have some common sense. Some even rely on us to point out the non educated. We know bear pepper spray is more like a condiment to a grizzly.

What happened is sad but will continue in the future. Survival skillsets to trappers and most hunters are second nature. We are fortunate to be able to enjoy the wilderness and the woods for a reason.

Stay safe out there and thank our professionals in the woods when you see them,, they deal with problems bigger than us every day.

If Timothy Treadwell taught is anything it is that they will eat you. Even if a human isn't their favorite meal or if a man is ignorant enough to think he has them figured out, it can and does happen.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
This

This is my take on it. There's not really many truly wild places left in the lower 48,places that are the same as they were for 1000s of years. Killing grizzly bears in wild places because those bears might hurt people would make those places not wild anymore, it's just be another place managed by humans for human reasons.

Call them pointy hat riders "woodpeckers "

The previous grizzly attack here in Montana the CNN reported on in this story isn't accurate he died from the injuries sustained from the grizzly bear that was protecting it's food source.

As for sleeping in the pickup cab , near Cooke City there were black bears that had thing's figured out if they seen a cooler inside the cab they'd rare up on their back legs and hit the roof and or side door glass with both front paws until the glass broke then climb inside grab the cooler and in some cases toss it outside and then dig it open .
Or destroy it inside the cab depending on the bears mood ha ha

Many campgrounds suggest or demand hard sided campers and no tents in them .

A portable electric fence around your camp is a good idea too .

The electric fence around a tent gave me instant ideas for a cartoon

After watching a black bear open up a car like a can of soda I don’t think a grizzly would even bother with locks

I actually heard about this a few days ago and my opinion is if a grizzly walks into camp and then leaves without trouble I am going to get out of that area just on the off chance it might come back, the simple fact he came into camp would in and of itself warrant getting out of the area because he has already shown a lack of fear and caution around people, and that’s a dangerous situation to be in

Sadly some people have no clue, sad someone had to lose their life because of it, equally sad is after the grizzly left the first time they were probably all excited about the encounter they just had

Gun or no gun. If your curled up In your sleeping bag sleeping In the tent and a bear decides It wants In. Your chances are pretty slim.

I look at it this way.

The wilderness is a place of beauty and raw carnage.

A gun may not help but I’ll take my chances. And if it’s nature or my family, nature can suck lead.

How would you like to be the folks living in that town the day the gubment decided their homes and businesses were now going to be in a grizzly bear ecosystem recovery area.?

This reminds me of people who go out into the country, then freak out and kill a snake when they see one. It's the snake's home.....the human is a visitor.

In Tim's case although an idiot for sure he had been fine until he brought a female with him who was having "lady issues" at the time of the attack. Bear came into to camp and left during I assume daylight hours. If on bikes more than likely not for the air sealed freeze dried food. I would bet that she was taken for that same reason.

I agree with that.

Yes, having griz in your area isn't all it's cracked up to be. Hunting restrictions in black bear harvesting especially. In NW MT, on into N Idaho, baiting or running black bear with dogs is restricted . Because of the dang grizzlies. In this area, there are wonderful colour phase large blacks, in every colour imagined...and you have to just stumble across them , or, if someone has apple trees on their private property, and is having problems with blacks breaking them up as they climb for fruit, is about the surest way to wait and find a nice one. Of course the locals know the woods, and the areas most likely to find spring bears in grass openings, or berry bush patches in fall . Like Alaskan bear hunts, searching along the shore in grass areas does work, but it still is chance. Places where baiting is allowed is the prime way to have a good choice of a large boar with amazing colour, to see sows and cubs , and judge size of the males much better.

I wish grizzlies here are managed the way Alaska , Canada and some other countries are.

My same thoughts anywhere ecoweenies decide to "reintroduce" dangerous predators and/or curtail trapping and hunting of those critters. Our forefathers had the foresight and commonsense to rid human-inhabited land of grizzlies, wolfs, mountain lions...

Even if they didn't eradicate them the remaining critters had a healthy fear of humans.

Not so much anymore.

Isn't the entire state of MT a grizzly bear recovery area now? Or did they open a season on them?

Absolutely right! A friend of mine went on a guided elk hunt. They shot two elk and the guide told them they needed to get the meat back to camp as soon as possible. Gunshots are like a dinner bell and alert bears who can smell blood for great distances. My friend asked if it bear came along before they had the meat out, could you shoot it?

The guide said if you do, you'd better have bear injuries and were acting in self defense to explain why you killed the bear.

I laughed loud enough that people looked at me... More than usual.

Mike

And for Lords sake, do not leave a fly rod laying around your campsite. I read on the Internet that more and more bears are taking up fly fishing.

Mac

Just remember to be careful where you pee in the dark!

Sleeping out in the open in grizzly country takes a bit of getting used to. It typically took me a couple of nights before I could drift off to sleep not worrying about bears. You see the little bivy tent in the picture, I spent fifteen days alone on that particular hunt. I had planned on being in there for ten days but the weather kept the plane at bay for five more days. That sucked. You see the iced over lake in the foreground? You can see the bear on the same lake. I shot it less than a hundred yards from my tent. I've slept in trees in grizzly country. I even spent a few nights barricaded in a sauna. I love grizzly country.

Cool story Bro!

Prolly a good thing you bagged a bear of you'd have gotten mighty hungry that extra 5 days

Seriously. I'll tell you that story sometime.

All kidding aside I am sure I would enjoy that

I've said it before on similar threads...Let "hunters" go with the wardens when there is a problem bear and let that hunter hunt that problem bear. Start with the trouble making bears instead of moving them. Just like the bison "hunts" back in the late 80's. Get on a list, if you can't go, they call the next on the list and so on. I'd pay to do it and so would a lot of others.

Posco
Your a braver man than me I think. I'd get on the worse bronc or rope and tie down the nastiest bull by myself before I'd EVER chose to sleep alone in a tent in grizzly country.

Happens all the time in Montana. Nothing to see here folks. Just move along.

Awesome, Posco.

They didn't find the bear. Don't worry, if it comes back those Ovando folks will take care of the problem and the feds and game wardens may never even know about it.

I’m not sure but I think the fine folks in Montana were the first to perfect the art of the three Ss
But when it comes to a mankiller grizzly shoot on sight and tell the G&F where to pick up their pet.
Sad deal for sure probably someone considered that woman family.
Definitely needs to be a little restructuring of the foodchain.

Large apex predators have no place in the lower 48 anymore. And that’s all there is to it.

And the only problem is concrete dwellers 1000 miles away, who are all experts on the matter, who never have to deal with the issue, dictating what should be done.

You should read some of the comments on Fakebook over this incident. Pretty easy to see why this country is circling the bowl!

Haul em all to NY and LA County. Let them deal with them since they think we’re the problem. Haul this man killer in to downtown San Fran since we shouldn’t kill it.

I didn't realize it at the time but I was a bit crazier than the average Alaskan. Maybe some of the other Alaska guys can chime in and show I wasn't an anomaly. I don't think you have to be crazy to go solo on bear hunts, maybe just a bit more driven or maybe you just can't find a partner. I was pretty driven.

This pic was taken on the Alaskan Peninsula. That's brown bear country. I didn't do any solo hunts down there. You can see the saltwater. We set up a base camp just off the beach. The bears would wander the beach every night searching to see what the tide brought in the day before. The twice daily tides would wash out the previous days tracks so you always knew what had wandered by in the night while you were asleep. The pic in my avatar is from one of those bears that wandered by in the night. That was made by one of the larger area residents. There were four or five salmon streams right in that area and there were plenty of bear taking advantage of it in the fall.

I did a 7 day solo SE AK brown bear hunt back when I lived there. Walking up salmon streams in the fall. SE is a jungle. Looking back that probably wasn't the smartest thing I could have done as everything was very close quarters.

I agree with you Sharon. My wife called me yesterday to let me know she ran into a griz while walking on the state land adjacent to ours. It was mid-day and she had a Bluetooth speaker clipped to her belt loop that was booming an audiobook. The bear was headed out about 100 feet away when she saw it. The speaker is a little obnoxious but its how we travel to make sure we don't surprise a grizzly. I keep six strands of electric fence wire around the house and pasture to keep them out. I'm glad we have them but they are far from threatened in this area and a little management wouldn't hurt. The management is all balled up in politics and I expect the current administration will obstruct any effort to provide management by means of a harvest.

The woman was 65 yrs old from Chico, CA traveling with a group of cyclists. There musta been others close I would think.

when that grizz has a taste of blood is blowing your rape whistle really going to do much.

I wonder what red tape is involved before F&G can go after the bear. In this instance the other folks in the party drove the bear off but the woman had already died. It could not have been long before the authorities were notified. Once the call goes in that a bear has killed someone it should not take long for dogs to be on that bear's trail. Not much reason for the bear to be able to get away unless bureaucratic roadblocks are being put in the way to intentionally hamper the process.

Current local news that I keep watch on every day says the search is still on for the bear. Choppers were videoed flying the grid around the area and outward in perimeter.

By now, the bear could be miles away, as the ground they can cover in one night is astounding.

That said, it was also in the report that the same bear had been rummaging around in camp a day or so earlier. So it is in a habit. They go in cycles of days , in circles in a given territory . So if they lay patient in quiet wait, it will probably be back, in the black of night.

This is almost funny. City people think bears are soft little stuffed animals and that wild animals are somehow pets for children to play with.

If your rape whistle has the bark of a 45/70 with huge hard lead or copper solids than I’m guessing you’ll be just fine.

Update....FWP killed a male griz this morning in the area, it's second raid of someone's property , on their chicken coop. The bear had exhibited the same habitual behavior in raiding another coop some time earlier.

It is felt that the bear is the same one they were searching for, and acting in signature behavioral ways around the same town and residence properties.

DNA is to be compared with the attack scene .

The report on local Montana news did not give the bear's age. A statistic I am always curious about.

They always come back if they are successful in pilfering food or breaking into peoples homes or outbuildings. Always.

I hope it was the right one and like you I would wonder why they don't report the age.

Age discrimination!

even if it was the lowly 30-30win or 35rem

they are actually saying 9, 40 and 45 are effective given the number of deputies who have faced off problem bears with their service side arm

really the cheap and easy to use 12ga with slugs is the most economical way to go , not always the lightest

As many bear as I have hunted, tracked, etc. I always told my wife not to blame the bear. I am in their domain, it is my fault not the bears.

GREAT FALLS — The Powell County Sheriff's Office said this morning that it received a report on Thursday evening from a resident who came home and found her door ripped off, and large claw marks were present. A short time later a male grizzly bear was shot and killed in the area.

Samples were taken from the bear and sent to a testing facility where they hope to make positive identification within a few days. The Sheriff's Office says this is likely the bear that was involved in Tuesday's attack in Ovando that killed 65-year old Leah Davis Lokan of Chico, California.

Well that stink's I was hoping they at least kill 2 bears

Sad deal for sure.

My rule of thumb while camping with bears is to always have a gun and a good light right next to your pillow.

One brown bear that would not leave was shot from the tent door one morning.

Here I live on the edge of the village. I get brown bears in my yard. Have to keep a gun handy in the summer at all times near the door. I carry when I go up the hill to check my bee hives or berry pick. Had a Brown in my bee yard last week pushing on a hive.

Barking dogs are a good deterrent. Keeps them out of the yard. (so far)

When we get too many or one causing problems in the village, They will get on the VHF radio and ask for volunteers to go on a hunting party in and near the village. All bears shot on sight. That works pretty good too.

I'd think bees wouldn't have a chance with bears around looking for a meal of honey!

I'm Glad they're there.... just Need hunting Management . It's A Need now, not a want.

Yea I keep a 10,000 v electric fence and two barking dogs near seams to deter them so far. Not for lack of trying. They got in one hive last summer thankfully no damage, he got shot at the neighbors. One pushed on one last week. I am waiting for them to try get into the chicken coup yet. they will get shot.

Well,we live in black bear country and when I'm in the woods Im in my domain,wherever that may be.I don't expect to be eaten by anything and I'll do whatever it takes not to be.If that means a bear eats lead that's too bad.I'm not going to cry about it.I can't imagine what it would be like living in grizzly country,or having the feds relocate a bear that was a problem in their park in your nearby woods.What I get out of this is people visiting the park are more important than the people who live outside of the park.When I worked in the Badlands I remember an article about reintroducing species back into the park,it said there were no plans to reintroduce the plains Grizzly.Smart move,can you imagine introducing them with the type of visitation that park gets,not to mention all the cattle ranches that ring the park?Theres places in Alaska and Canada where's there's plenty of room for them,I think anymore their time in the lower 48 has come and gone.

There's not alot of room for them in Montana, either, but the feds have forced them down out throats. More people killed by griz in MT this year than in AK, if that tells you anything. The folks living in badlands cheering the planting of grizzlies in montana should have to live with them a bit before they do any cheering.

The sad thing is all the terrible trouble I would have if I kill one .It is fine if no one sees you do it . Even if the folks that know you kill one totally agree with you killing it they would still spill it by telling others who agree .If you kill one pray that no one finds out . When these happen you don't really have time to check who might know . Believe me for sure these govie leos will harass you to the grave ,as you are just a common honest man . smith

I'm with you Red!

Keep shooting till you get the right one than do a few more!