More Grizzlies Than Ever Are Showing Up On The B Bar Ranch

TOM MINER BASIN, Mont. — Nick St. Peter backs his mud-splattered SUV with Colorado plates into a pullout along a dirt road running past the B Bar Ranch.

After a moody October day that swung from snow squalls to golden-hour rainbows, conditions looked perfect for the annual caraway root digging that brings grizzly bears out in droves.

"I look for a small black dot," St. Peter said, pressing his eye to a spotting scope. "And any sort of movement."

The avid wildlife-watcher has been making this pilgrimage for 15 years. He's counted more than 20 grizzlies at once in the nearby Reed Meadow, which isn’t far from the northwest corner of Yellowstone National Park.

"They'll look a lot smaller than even those cows," he explained, still glassing the meadow and shrugging at the absence of bears. They are out there somewhere, at least 40 known individual bears, who wander and hunt the meadows, willow bottoms, aspen groves and stands of evergreens. 

The B Bar sits at around 7,000 feet, and is an alpine Eden, holding water and remaining green through dry summers. On some parts of the ranch, it’s still lush all the way into autumn. 

On October evenings, grizzlies emerge from "the aspen curtain.” That’s what ranch staff call the wall of quaking aspens along the eastern edge of the rolling Reed Meadow. First, they're just specks. Then they grow bigger. Sometimes they lumber right up toward the parking area, hunting for roots less than a football field away. 

B Bar Begins

“My goal was to really share the experience,” Maryanne Mott tells the world in a recent promotional video posted by the tourism group Yellowstone Country. 

“I was learning and experiencing myself,” says Mott, describing her first encounter with the B Bar, flying over it in a Cessna in 1978. “Seeing the landscape and all the life that's in it was very special and I loved sharing that.”

Today, the B Bar operates as a guest ranch for group retreats and what it estimates to be the largest organic beef operation in Montana. 

Mott’s grandson, Jackson Stewart, is the marketing and sales manager for the B Bar. Three years ago, Stewart was selling software when he decided he was done pushing products he didn't care about. 

He drafted a job proposal for his grandmother and advocated for bringing "a current voice” to the ranch’s marketing. 

Today, at peak summer season, the B Bar employs about 20 people between the Tom Miner Basin headquarters and their winter range and beef operation down in Big Timber. 

The guest portion of the ranch hosts retreat groups with missions ranging from wellness to business strategy to conservation. Some of Montana’s most storied conservation groups held early, foundational gatherings at the B Bar. 

“This place was so magical, she thought that they could make a difference for groups who come visit here,” said Stewart, who sees the ranch as an educational space enchanting enough to inspire all kinds of big ideas. 

"It never ceases to amaze us how pristine this land feels and how we're related to all the natural parts of it,” said Stewart. “It’s not only working on it day to day, but how everything here will surpass us. We're just stewarding it for the time that we have the privilege of doing that.”

Ranching In Bear Country

The B Bar loses some cattle to predators, but Stewart said it's actually their smallest problem — behind cows mistakenly munching on poisonous plants like larkspur. Natural causes take some, with animals getting sick or breaking a leg. 

"We're not saying, ‘Oh, we ought to let our cattle live by any means necessary," Stewart explained. "It's actually the opposite. The bears have every right to be here just as much as we do."

Sometimes, the grizzlies take what they want. 

"A bear dug out a 10-foot deep carcass," after a cow on the ranch passed away, recalled Stewart. "That’s something we had to learn. Like, ‘OK, they're catching on. We need to change our practices.’"

The ranch also learned a thing or two about using fish emulsion as organic fertilizer when they tried adding fish hydrolysate to their center pivot irrigation systems to naturally fertilize the fields. 

"That was quite popular with the bears. So we stopped doing that immediately,” he said. 

Grizzly Country

Every group that visits gets the safety talk: Travel in groups, make noise, carry bear spray and don’t go on jogs alone. 

Bear encounters remain likely as more bears and more people are drawn to the Tom Miner Basin.  

Stewart remembered the time a fly-fishing guide on Tom Miner Creek had to defend himself from a grizzly. Once a hiker on Buffalo Horn Pass encountered a bear and just hiked up and over the high ridge separating the B Bar from the Big Sky area. 

"I feel pretty confident traveling here when I take precautions,” said Stewart, who avoids going out into grizzly habitat on windy days.

“The bear can't see you coming or smell you coming or hear you,” said Stewart. “Even if you're doing everything right, there's more likelihood that you startle a bear. And nobody — nothing — likes to be startled.”

Perfect Habitat

Why do grizzlies love this place so much? 

Start with geography: The basin sits wedged between Yellowstone National Park and the Porcupine-Buffalo Horn Wildlife and Recreation Management Area. As the crow flies, it's only about 20 miles to Big Sky — Stewart figures you could probably get there faster on horseback than driving around.

The basin offers everything a bear needs: reliable water even in dry years, habitat diversity from riparian willows to alpine meadows and lots of caraway roots. 

Caraway is in the carrot family and like other favored roots such as biscuitroot and sweetvetch, it’s something grizzlies will gorge on when building fat reserves for winter. 

It provides carbohydrates, fat and protein, while the mineral density — especially iron and calcium — supports physiological functions critical for the bears. 

"I think because of the lack of development here in the basin, animals are comfortable," Stewart observed. "I've seen grizzlies next to elk, next to cattle, next to horses all at once. And they're just doing their thing. They could care less about each other."

Guiding the ranch, said Stewart, is the belief that, “There should be a fair shake for all the animals. It's not just the cattle. We're taking advantage of the fertile grass to raise healthy animals so people can eat a good product at an affordable price. We don't want that to have to be at the expense of any animal."

Year-Round Magic

The B Bar's hospitality extends beyond the bear-watching season. In winter, they groom 15 miles of cross-country ski trails multiple times per week. Last year, a few hundred Nordic skiers discovered what Bozeman-area skiers know is increasingly rare — uncrowded, well-groomed trails at a reliable snow elevation.

"Even if there's a busy day for us, let's say 20 people are here,” said Stewart.

At least that many bear watchers often gather at the pullout along the road looking out at Reed Meadow. 

That’s where Audra Conklin rolls up with a friend, fresh off a plane from Florida.

"I said, ‘Let me show you," Conklin explained. "Why don't we have a little adventure on the way?"

Conklin runs Lamar Valley Touring out of Gardiner, Montana. As an experienced Yellowstone wildlife spotter who's built her business around finding animals for clients, she knows exactly what she's looking for at the B Bar. 

Her personal best? Twelve bears in one evening.

"Wildlife feeds me," she said matter-of-factly. "I educate people about animals and our connection to them. Ecology, this place. And it's just a thrill.”

Conklin sets up her scope and conducts a grid search across the meadow while focusing on spots where she's seen bears emerge before — particularly near that aspen curtain, checking for movement near the second fence line, scanning all the way to the ridges behind.

Sometimes bears slip into a low draw and move halfway through the meadow before popping up into view and coming into focus among the bear watchers with their mounted scopes. 

St. Peter spots what he describes as a healthy coyote, then decides to pack up his scope and head down the road to check if the grizzlies are frequenting the neighboring Grizzly Creek Ranch. 

He drives a mile down to scan the stunning property. An elk herd grazes on a low ridge. A striped skunk ambles through. Then he sees a collection of three tiny black dots. 

"I have one of them right here," he announced.

Through his scope, he's suddenly transported across the distance — watching a sow and two cubs digging and chewing.

It’s a scene repeated throughout October. Every morning, said Stewart, when he awakes in the camper where he’s staying by the Reed Meadow, “They are eating their breakfast right out there.” 

"In years past I've heard this is home to 40 resident grizzly bears,” noted Stewart. “But I think that number is much higher. Much higher.” 

David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.