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Want Grizzlies To Fear You? Hunt Them!
By Todd Helms
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/06/04/wyoming-grizzlies
“Not everyone buys the notion that grizzly hunting would make them fear people. That includes Andrea Zaccardi, the Victor, Idaho-based carnivore conservation legal director for the Center for Biological Diversity.
“Grizzly bears are solitary animals. They don’t live in herds like elk or deer or pronghorn, where when you’re shooting at them, and (when) they see one their own die, all the others learn of that danger,” she told Cowboy State Daily.”
Disclaimer: I am going to give you my 100% unvarnished opinion on this one.
Ms. Zaccardi is wrong. I have lived on Kodiak Island, AK and seen the effects of hunting on bears, not to mention having spent my entire life living in black bear country where they are heavily hunted. A hunted bear is a cautious bear and will avoid human contact as often as possible. Ask anyone who has hunted bears of any type, when they know they’re being pursued they become very adept at avoiding people.
Do states like Wyoming, Montana or Idaho have trouble with black bears attacking people or being aggressive toward them? Very rarely! Compare that to places like California where bears have little to fear from humans and you’ll see an inverse relationship. But back to my Kodiak example. . .
The giant bears of Alaska and Canada are dangerous, no doubt, but anyone who hunts them will tell you that they are shy as deer. My personal experience with those monster bears is that because they are hunted they know that humans mean danger. Period.
If the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are given the authority to conduct limited hunts for grizzly bears I can guarantee that grizzly bears will learn to give humans a wide berth, I’ve seen it firsthand.
What’s your take? I always love reading your comments.
Todd, I concur with your assessment. It has been my observation all over the world, that whenever an organism (Bear, Bird, Fish, or Man) is NOT at the top of the food chain, they learn to be wary of the thing that will bring their demise!
Science is nice up to a point but I have seen proof up here in alaska. There is nothing prettier than the sight of the south end of a grizzly running north with cubs!
Todd I agree with you and have been telling my friends and family that still live in Montana that very point for several years now. From growing up in Montana to living in Alaska last 30 years I see how the bears that are hunted react differently when they encounter people. Most of them will always turn and run or avoid people.