Missing hiker in Montana found dead!

[Trailrider #896]

A man who went hiking with a friend, but later split up with him and went missing has been found dead, apparently after an encounter with a grizzly bear!    Having gone hiking in Glasier Park with my wife and a guide, about two week before Night of the Grizzly, and having gone hunting and seeing tracks of a mama griz and a cub going down the mountain in front of several armed hunters, praying we didn't run into her, I am telling you, when in Ol' Ephraim's country, it pays to be alert and really careful!  Black bear can be dangerous. But even a griz don't know what he or she will do until they do it! When dealing with a silver tip, the best medicine is a Silver Tip or KorLokt or somesuch!  Thirty caliber preferred, but a shortgun in .44 is also good medicine!

Stay well and safe, Pards!

[Pat Riot]

More proof that it’s better to be prepared than not. It’s a shame when things like this happen. 

[Mud Marine,SASS#54686 Life]

I live in the Grizzly country of farthest North Idaho. One of the guys that I talked into being a Scout leader in his retirement was the grizzly specialist with the Idaho F&G. All of the deaths from bears occur because of either stupidity or inatention or both.

Being bear aware and armed in grizzly country are the keys to remaining alive. It never hurts to also carry grizzly spray.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

[Jabez Cowboy,SASS # 50129]

I carried 3 different Rifles for backing up clients while guiding Grizz hunts over the years . a Weatherby in .460, a model 70 pre-64 in .375 H-H and a Marlin 1895ss with a 22 inch barrel in .45-70 stoked with 400 gr, Speer Hotcore RNFP bullets pushed out the bore at 2,200 Fps. 

 

Jabez Cowboy

[Trailrider #896]

Worst situation is encountering a sow with a cub, and inadvertently getting between mama and the cub!  Next is if griz thinks you are too close to its kill!

Remember, you cannot outrun a griz.  Just be sure if you are out with someone else, you can run faster than your companion!   

[Pat Riot]

A friend of mine is an avid elk hunter. He used to carry a .44 Magnum revolver on hunts in case of bears until the day he shot an elk and got about half his meat back to camp and found a couple of bears helping themselves to the other half of his meat. When he saw the bears he was approaching from downwind and they didn’t see him. He said it looked like it might have been 2 female adults and a large cub. He backed off and left them to “their” food. 
When he returned home he bought 2 1911 style 10mm pistols and got really good firing both. One he wore with two spare mags and one stayed at camp. He decided 6 rounds without a quick reload just wasn’t enough. 

Luckily he never had to test out it’s usefulness against a bear. 

[Grass Range]

I always carry a Ruger .41 Mag. I see those carrying different sidearms but under their coat. Mine is outside of my coat so I can get to it fast. I have not had to but have seen griz when elk hunting. The big thing is to be calm enough to get a good shot off or shots at a charging griz.

[Trailrider #896]

Been quite awhile since I've gone hunting...in griz country or anywhere else.  But when I hunted in Montana and Wyoming,  I packed a Ruger Flat Top .44 Magnum, worn on the outside of my coat, in a Trailrider Products #961 holster, with a thumbbreak half-flap, butt forward on my right (strong) side.  This provided security for the gun, with just about instantaneous access with either hand, using a cavalry (twist) draw with my right hand, or crossdraw with my left. Never had to get at it that fast.  Did use it to provide a coup de gras on a bull moose the outfitter had shot with a .300 Weatherby.

Did have an instance in Wyoming in a pack-in hunt, where we were just getting to sleep in our tents, when there was a ruckus near the cook tent, where we had hung some deer carcasses to cool out.  Next morning we discovered claw marks on two of the carcasses and black bear tracks around.  Didn't venture outside that night, but I had my Blackhawk handy, if needed.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

This is the second death in a week. A shed hunter (looking for shed antlers) was killed by a grizzly last week in Montana just north of Yellowstone NP.

I have seen quite a few of them while elk hunting in Wyoming and Montana. They get educated pretty fast. Hear a gunshot, that means a gutpile. I have a S & W .50 and I also carry bear spray. I have never had an encounter, but have had them come within a 100 yards or so while we were gutting an elk. That time the wind was blowing toward the bear and my guide sprayed bear spray up in the air and the wind carried some of it close enough to the bear that he smelled it and took off. We never leave a dead elk without quartering it and taking it with us. We always  have a couple of mule with us for packing out a kill.