So far this archery hunting season, three grizzly bears have been shot — and two killed — by bowhunters wielding handguns in self-defense. Wildlife observers and hunters believe there will be more conflicts between grizzlies and hunters.
In northwest Wyoming, there seem to be more grizzlies than ever, said archery hunter Joe Kondelis of Cody.
“We’ve just got bears in places where in places where we didn’t have them before,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “And in areas where there have been bears, their density is pretty high.”
What’s more, bowhunters are doing “pretty much everything they tell you not to do in grizzly country,” he added.
Meaning, hunters are being quiet and trying to mask their scent. They’re also using game calls to imitate the squeals of cow elk, a sound that could be just as likely to draw in a hungry grizzly as it would a bull elk.
Grizzly conservationist Louisa Willcox of Montana agreed that bowhunting in bear country isn’t for the faint of heart.
“Archery hunting in that environment is dangerous because of the behavior of the hunters,” she said. “They’re sneaking around in grizzly country. So, they have to be that much more aware.”
Bowhunter-Bear Conflicts On Par With Last Year
Many big game archery seasons opened Sept. 1 and are still going strong.
Bowhunters in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho are allowed to carry sidearms to defend themselves against bears and other predators. They may not use the firearms to shoot the big game animals they’re after.
There haven’t been any reported run-ins between archery hunters and grizzlies yet in Wyoming this season, but the situation in Idaho and Montana is similar to that of last year at this time.
In Idaho, there were two incidents of archery hunters using handguns to kill grizzly bears in the Island Park region exactly a year apart, one Sept. 1, 2023, and other this Sept. 1.
During the attack this year, two bowhunters used handguns to shoot an attacking grizzly, which still managed to bite one of the men before it was killed.
Bowhunters killed one grizzly and wounded another in Montana on Sept. 9, according to the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).
Two hunters reported being charged by grizzlies in the Tepee Creek area north of West Yellowstone, Montana.
“The two hunters reported being charged by a sow grizzly bear with two yearling cubs. Using handguns, the hunters shot and killed the sow,” FWP reports. “The yearling bears also charged at the hunters, who shot at and injured one of the yearlings. The hunters were not injured.”
Wildlife agents searched for the wounded yearling, but didn’t find it, FWP reports.
Bowhunters Pile Into Grizzly-Free Zones
Possibly running into a grizzly has just become a fact of life in most of western Wyoming, said Kondelis, who frequently hunts alone during both the archery season and the later rifle season.
There seems to have been an “uptick” in the popularity of archery hunting in recent years, he said. But many bowhunters seem to be getting fed up with having to worry about grizzlies.
So, they’re going to places in Wyoming where there aren’t grizzlies, or at the very least the bears are few and far between, he said.
“You look at some of the mountain ranges where there’s not grizzlies, and it’s just loaded with archery hunters. People are getting tried of dealing with grizzlies,” he said.
Kondelis said that after years of going into grizzly territory, he’s getting somewhat weary of it too. But the upside is the solitude in areas where others might fear to tread.
“I didn’t see a single soul out archery hunting last week” near Meeteetse, he said.
Preference For Bear Spray
The number of grizzlies getting shot by bowhunters is disheartening, Kristin Combs of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates told Cowboy State Daily.
She added that she prefers bear spray to handguns for grizzly defense.
Grizzlies getting shot “keeps happening. It seems like more people are carrying handguns into the backcountry than there used to be,” Combs said.
She wishes that more bowhunters would opt for bear spray.
“If you have time to reach for a handgun, you have time to reach for bear spray,” she said.
The guns-vs-bear spray debate has raged for years and shows no signs of letting up.
It flared up again last October, when bear spray apparently failed to stop a grizzly that killed a couple and their dog in Canada.
Even so, some studies have indicated that bear spray can be highly effective in many situations. Some backcountry enthusiasts don’t see it as an “either-or” choice and instead opt to carry both.
Combs said he was also impressed by the advice of backcountry hunter Greg Weatherby of Idaho.
Weatherby told Cowboy State Daily that he avoids conflicts with grizzlies by taking simple steps, such as not hiking through dense brush or timber between hunting spots.
Are Hunters Leading Cause Of Grizzly Death?
At one time, grizzlies raiding garbage dumpsters and other easy pickings around settled areas was the leading cause of bears being killed in the Greater Yellowstone area, Willcox said.
That was the case in July, when FWP wardens shot and killed a male grizzly that was breaking into garbage bins and houses in the tiny Yellowstone gateway community of Gardiner, Montana.
In recent years, however, conflicts with hunters have apparently become the leading cause of mortality among grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone, Willcox said.
During the fall, while fattening up for winter hibernation, grizzlies used to feast on white bark pine nuts, she said.
But since the number of white bark pine trees has diminished, grizzlies have become more “meat dependent,” including seeking out carcasses or gut piles of animals shot by hunters.
That’s put hunters and grizzlies in more direct conflict with each other, Willcox said.
Meanwhile, whether grizzlies should be delisted from federal protection in the Lower 48 remains another hotly-debated topic.
Regardless of which side of that debate people fall on, they should be concerned about human-caused bear mortality, Willcox said.
“We are risking the hard-fought progress toward the recovery of grizzlies with the rise in human-caused mortality,” she said.
“Because of the low reproductive rates of grizzlies, mortalities will always be something will have to stay on top of and be vigilant about it,” Willcox added.
Had A Run-In Last Year
There are no easy answers to the conflicts between grizzlies and hunters, Kondelis said.
He recalled a run-in he had last year near Meeteetse while solo rifle hunting for elk.
He’d spotted some bull elk on a ridge, and was trying to close in to shooting distance.
“I was working my way up this ridgeline,” he said. “There was timber on the right and no timber on the left. I had the wind on my face. It was a great situation for moving in on those elk.”
Suddenly, he heard a crash behind him, and at first assumed he’d startled another elk that he hadn’t seen.
Then he saw the “ears and eyes” of a grizzly from behind a fallen tree.
As the grizzly emerged from behind the tree, Kondelis drew his pistol.
“I had my pistol trained on him the entire time. He kind of sat back on his haunches,” he said. “He ended up getting down on all fours and walking in front of me, staring at me, and then back into the timber.”
Kondelis said that served as a sobering reminder of what solo hunting in grizzly country entails, and that the tension between grizzlies and humans will continue to be a balancing act.
“These bears are going to be bears, that’s what they do,” he said. “And we like to go out into the woods to hunt and recreate, because that’s what we do.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
