Although often overshadowed by mighty grizzlies, Wyoming’s black bears are nothing to trifle with.
When Wyoming hunter Owen Miller killed a 400-plus pound black bear with a traditional recurve bow last spring – he was pleased and his fellow hunters were impressed.
But in Eastern states, black bears pig out on fresh crops, insects and other rich foods. That calorie-loaded diet turns them into lumbering tanks that would make Miller’s bear look puny by comparison.
“I saw a lot of 700-pound bears,” retired bear biologist Mark Jones of Buffalo told Cowboy State Daily.
To give some perspective of that size, 700 pounds would be considered big for a Wyoming grizzly.
Jones worked in bear research and management from 1992-2001, first with the University of Tennessee, then with the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission. So he’s seen his share of gigantic Eastern bears.
Dolly Parton’s Cousin Shoots World Record Bear
Jones still recalls the big papa bear that topped them all – an 880-pound monster shot by a North Carolina hunter in 1998.
Jones was out inspecting other bear hunters’ kills when he got a call that there was something he just had to come see.
“I got this call that this huge bear had been killed possibly a world record. And of course, it generated a lot of excitement,” he said.
He arrived to find a bear like none other he’d seen. It was taken to a nearby feed store, so it could be officially weighed on a certified scale.
As far as Jones knows, that certified 880-pound weight has never been topped by another black bear.
And the kicker was, the hunter was related to country music icon Dolly Parton.
“The guy that killed that bear is Dolly Parton’s first cousin, you can’t make this stuff up,” he said. “He killed it with a single-shot shotgun.”
Crops Make For Huge Bears
Jones visited Wyoming previously and moved here permanently five years ago.
The differences between Wyoming’s landscapes and those back East are significant, he said.
“This (Wyoming) is a dry, harsh landscape,” he said.
So, grizzlies and black bears here have slimmer pickings than eastern bears.
The wet climate back there gives bears plenty of natural foods, like berries and insects.
“Eastern bears were probably always bigger than bears out here,” he said.
In recent decades a rich array of crops gave eastern bears easy access to a calorie-loaded buffet.
“It’s soybeans, corn and wheat,” Jones said. “They grow those on rotation in a lot of states in the South.”
Farmers Don’t Mind The Bears
And so, about 50 years ago, bears started growing to super-sized proportions, with 600-pounders becoming common, and that trend shows no sign of slowing.
One might think that farmers in North Carolina would get sick of bears gobbling their crops.
But Jones said many farmers have found a way to make it pay off.
“There’s a rich tradition of bear hunting in North Carolina, going back at least 200 years,” he said.
And some hunters are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a chance to shoot a titanic bear. And that can more than make up for the loss in crops, Jones said.
Using hounds to pursue mountain lions is common in Wyoming, but it’s illegal to use hounds to hunt bears here.
In North Carolina, and many neighboring states, hounds may be used to chase bears, so that’s a popular hunting method there.
Other hunters hide in tree stands, or spot and stalk bears on the ground.
“I’d say it’s about 50-50. With about half the guys hunting bears with hounds and half hunting bears the other ways,” Jones said.
North Carolina hunters, like Ryan Williams, use hounds to track down super-sized black bears. (Courtesy Marta Williams) 
This 880-pound black bear, shot by Dolly Parton’s cousin in North Carolina in 1998, is the largest-ever officially recorded black bear. (Courtesy Robbie Norville) 
This gigantic grizzly-black bear hybrid was keep in captivity, more or less as a pet, in North Carolina in the early 2000s. (Courtesy Mark Jones) 
This gigantic grizzly-black bear hybrid was keep in captivity, more or less as a pet, in North Carolina in the early 2000s. (Courtesy Mark Jones) 
In Eastern states such as North Carolina, this massive, 650-pound black bear would be about average. (Courtesy Mark Jones)
Attacks Rare, But Sometimes Fatal
For the most part, people don’t worry about bear attacks in North Carolina and the surrounding region, Jones said.
With plenty of crops and natural food sources to stuff themselves, the bears are mostly contented and just leave people alone.
However, research indicates that while grizzly attacks tend to be defensive or territorial, on the rare occasions that black bears do attack, its usually predatory.
Meaning, the bear is actually trying to kill the person for food.
Jones said that during his tenure as a bear biologist, there were no documented attacks on humans in North Carolina.
However, just across the state line in Tennessee, there were two fatal attacks on separate occasions. A woman was killed in one attack, and a child in the other, Jones said.
“Our bears in North Carolina got hunted pretty hard. I think that’s one reason why we didn’t have any predatory attacks,” he said.
In Wyoming and across the Rocky Mountain West, bear spray is a popular option for defense against grizzlies.
In North Carolina, bear spray is practically unheard of, Jones said.
“It’s the South, man, everybody’s got a gun. They would laugh at the idea of bear spray,” he said.
‘That Bear Is Going To Snap Your Neck’
While hunting black bears is hugely popular in North Carolina, keeping them in captivity is illegal there, Jones said.
And that led to perhaps the strangest bear encounter he’s ever had.
One day in the early 2000s, he got a call from a game warden who was investigating a case of a black bear allegedly being kept in captivity.
The warden sounded “confused,” Jones said.
When he arrived at the scene, he understood why.
“I went to look at the bear, and it looked to me like it was half black bear, half grizzly,” he said.
“It was a gigantic bear, it had a grizzly hump, but no other grizzly characteristics. It was a really strange-looking animal,” Jones said.
“It was very large. And very gentle. He (the keeper) would get into the pen with that bear, and it would put its arm around his neck. And I said, ‘You’d better quit doing that, or that bear is going to snap your neck.’”
Jones and the game wardens took a sample from the bear to be tested for DNA. If the animal was, indeed, a crossbreed, its keeper couldn’t be charged, because the law applied only to purebred black bears.
It turned out that Jones’ inclination was correct – the DNA tests proved that the huge, gentle bear was a grizzly-black bear hybrid.
“I got a call from (grizzly expert) Chris Servheen. He said, ‘Where did you get that DNA? We’ve never seen anything like it,’” Jones said.
Servheen was the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s recovery coordinator for 35 years prior to his retirement in 2016. He remains a vocal supporter of grizzlies, and is one of the most prominent voices calling for them to not be delisted from federal protection in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
From what they were able to piece together, the weird hybrid bear had resulted from the cross-breeding captive grizzly and black bears in Georgia, Jones said.
Because the man’s bear wasn’t a purebred black bear, he wasn’t charged with a crime and was allowed to keep it, Jones said.
As he recalls, the bear’s keeper died a few years later – he’s not certain what became of the hybrid animal after that.
Respect For Wyoming’s Grizzlies
Since moving to Wyoming, Jones has enjoyed the state’s vast wild country.
Being out in grizzly country is different than being out among North Carolina’s blimpy black bears, he said.
Grizzlies demand great respect, Jones said.
“The black bears never bothered me, and mountain lions never made me nervous, but grizzlies make the hair on the back of my neck stand up,” he said.
“When you’re out there in grizzly territory, it makes you’re aware that you’re not at the top of the food chain,” he added.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
