Leupold BX-4 Rangefinding Binoculars

Grizz in the Big Hole

Thanks for posting this. I heard this secondhand from the guys involved. I was hoping there would be a write up as I couldn't confirm it. I was down there this weekend thinking this is one of the last places for griz to populate. I stopped hunting Ovando area just because of the number of bears out that way.
 
I'm a little surprised it's taken this long for them to make it over there. There's a lot of country for them to get lost in, and a lot of country for them to find trouble.

Heard from a buddy that his nephew was able to harvest a wolf with his bow in the W. Pioneers after calling the pack in w/ a cow call. Make sure you have your woof tags!
 
Grizz country has been dry in Wyoming so I wonder if they are really wandering for food this fall? Stay safe all.
 
Whether or not they've been there since we have doesn't change that that valley is grizzly country.

I think it's awesome they're finding their way back.
 
I did a 3 day archery hunt in 2014 a few miles North of where the article indicates the encounter was. We ran into a griz hiking on a FS trail late one night (around 1 AM). Everyone made good choices (griz went one way, we went the other) but it was a bit nerve racking. We hunted for 2 more days in a drainage and there was plenty of griz sign.
 
I saw a Grizz on July/2014, while backpacking deep in the Pintlers. I was too slow to get it on camera (it ran off immediately upon our encounter). I don't think many people believe that I saw what I saw. But there was no mistaking it :)
 
I have seen grizzly tracks in the Pintlers and in 2013 or 14 saw one in the Long Johns between Sliderock Mountain and Upper Willow Creek.It ran in front of the Jeep as we were driving out. I was 80% sure it was a griz, but if not it was a huge black bear. I made the intelligent decision to grab my bow and go find out. Broadside at 50 yards, I confirmed it was in fact a grizzly. In 2009 a grizzly got into my camp in the same general area.
FWP now acknowledges their presense and even has signs about them at Willow and Brewster creeks (Near Rock Creek).
This country is all fairly connective to the Big Hole.

I also met a bear hunter 2010/11-ish while I was bowhunting elk west of Medicine Lodge Cr, SW of Clarks Canyon Resevoir. He was doing some calling earlier in the morning and called a griz sow and cub into about 100 yards. And had the pictures to prove it. That country is basically the Big Hole's neighbor.
 
Randy11 said:
Whether or not they've been there since we have doesn't change that that valley is grizzly country.

I think it's awesome they're finding their way back.
Click to expand...

I agree Randy. Phenomenal habitat for them.

Are you channeling your inner hippy you bear lover?
 
Wasn't one of the biggest road blocks to a griz hunt the idea that the Yellowstone bears didn't connect with bears from the north? Sounds like a possible win all the way around.
 
3855WIN said:
Wasn't one of the biggest road blocks to a griz hunt the idea that the Yellowstone bears didn't connect with bears from the north? Sounds like a possible win all the way around.
Click to expand...

The connectivity issue is big for the NCDE & GYE populations and yes, this could help establish the data necessary to show genetic connectivity and get us closer to delisting of the NCDE population. Biologically, it's a good thing for bears. Socioloically, it's a tense situation for folks who will have to deal with living with the bears when they haven't in the past. Politically? The region will be represented by some good folks, so I don't see as much of the craziness that we saw with wolves during the past sessions as it relates to Grizz (although I do expect to see some dumb grizzly bear legislation).
 
A couple of years ago I bivy around in the North Big Hole. Up high where the white bark pine nuts were plentiful, Grizzly tracks and poop where all over. No doubt what I saw. Then there was one killed by a archer over on Mt Hagen a few years ago that no archer fessed up too.
 
It doesn't surprise me at all that grizzlies are using this area of the Pioneers, Fleecers, and Pintler ranges. There is some remote country in there and I bet this bear will have more encounters with hunters this upcoming fall. I just hope I'm not one of the unlucky hunters that loses an elk or worse. On another note I do see a lot of wolf sign the past two falls in one area of this region where I hunt.
 
JLS said:
I agree Randy. Phenomenal habitat for them.

Are you channeling your inner hippy you bear lover?
Click to expand...

The spirit of Brother Bear shall lead me to the majestic Moose's mountain.
 
Dad and I were fishing a backcountry stream just north of Gibbonsville, Idaho a few years ago when I came across a bear front paw track that I am almost 100% sure was a grizzly. The only thing that makes it less than 100% is that it was in some really fine, gravelly soil and I could only make out slight claw marks at the end of each toe. It was way too blocky and large to be a black bear track. It ain't really all that far from where all of this happened.
 
It makes sense that they are there. I know a lot of people like to believe that Grizzlies are not in the Bitterroots also, but it's all one connective ecosystem. I like being in country where I know bears live, but thankfully I've never had an encounter with one. Hope everyone has a safe fall!
 
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A friend of mine sent me a picture of this grizzly that unfortunately was hit by a car on Highway 83 up near Seeley Lake. Man he is big and black. They estimated his weight at about 600 pounds.

 
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