BEAR The American Black Bear inhabits forested areas, although it has become more common in suburban areas, as it's natural forage supply is destroyed by development and environmental factors...Read More View All Bear Tips

 

Grizzly bears are a magnificent symbol of the high western backcountry; and though they faced extinction in the mid-1900s, now grizzly bears are rebounding. Good biology and support for management programs by the public have combined to double the grizzly number in the last 25 years.

Biologists estimate that around 50,000 grizzly bears lived in the American west when Lewis & Clark conducted their exploration in 1804 thru 1806. But as the years passed, grizzlies were shot and poisoned and trapped. When they were listed as endangered in 1975, the grizzly population in the lower 48 states numbered only a couple of hundred animals.

But today, thanks to good management and a lot of public support, the grizzly population is climbing back, up to around 1,200.

Now this means hunters and campers and hikers have a greater chance of encountering a grizzly bear. Chris Servheen of the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service says everybody who goes into grizzly country should take along a can of bear repellent. He says this stuff really works.

“Biologists estimate that around 50,000 grizzly bears lived in the American West when Louis and Clark conducted their exploration from 1804 to1806. But as the years passed grizzlies were shot and poisoned and trapped. When they were enlisted as endangered in 1975 the grizzly population in the lower 48 states numbered only a couple hundred animals. But today thanks to good management and a lot of public support, the grizzly population is climbing back, up to about 1200. Now this means hunters, and campers, and hikers, have a greater chance of encountering a grizzly bear.

Servheen adds that everybody who goes into grizzly country should take along a can of bear repellent.

“Bear spray, which is a concentrated pepper spray, is a really good non lethal way to protect you from a bear at close range. And I always carry it, I always use it. And, it’s a lot easier to hit a bear with a spray than with a weapon. Its non-lethal, it’s non-lethal to the bear. It does neutralize the bear, the bears not interested in you if it gets the spray.”

“Plus it’s handy for other things, you know. If you meet some whacko in the woods or something like that, it’s the perfect thing to use on them to.”

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