Grizzly 760 came from Wyoming bear royalty linage as the son of Grand Teton National Park’s favorite, Grizzly 610, and grandson of the famed Grizzly 399.
He left a huge impression, though his life was brief. He was born in 2011, then relocated in 2014 and subsequently killed that same year, after stealing a hunter’s deer carcass near Clark.
The death of Grizzly 760 "pissed everybody off that year,” wildlife photographer Daniel Muscatell of Jackson told Cowboy State Daily.
A Polite Bear
Even among a lineage of grizzlies known to be highly visible and tolerant of admiring mobs, Grizzly 760 stood out as exceptionally mellow and docile, admirers say.
“This bear did nothing but roam around and eat berries,” Muscatell said.
Grizzly 760 was downright polite, wildlife tour guide and photographer Jeffrey Soulliere told Cowboy State Daily.
During a backcountry encounter shortly before Grizzly 760 was captured and relocated, Soulliere swears he saw the bear give him a courteous head nod, almost like a formal bow.
He did “this big bow down to let me know everything was OK. And then he just kind of ignored me, like I was a tree,” he said.
A black-and-white photo capturing the moment is prominently featured in Soulliere’s gallery, which recently opened in Jackson.
Wildlife photographer Deby Dixon remembers Grizzly 760 as a crowd favorite.
“He was just a sweetheart, such a docile bear,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
Grizzly 760, the grandson of Wyoming’s famed grizzly 399, had a reputation for being mellow and polite toward people. (Courtesy Deby Dixon Photography) 
Grizzly 760, the grandson of Wyoming’s famed grizzly 399, had a reputation for being mellow and polite toward people. (Courtesy Deby Dixon Photography) 
Grizzly 760, the grandson of Wyoming’s famed grizzly 399, had a reputation for being mellow and polite toward people. (Courtesy Deby Dixon Photography) 
Grizzly 760, the grandson of Wyoming’s famed grizzly 399, had a reputation for being mellow and polite toward people. (Courtesy Deby Dixon Photography)
Famous Linage
It used to be that bear fans had to go to Yellowstone National Park to watch grizzlies, Muscatell said. Grand Teton just didn’t have many of them.
That started to change around 2006, when Grizzly 399 started showing up near the roadside with her then three young cubs, Grizzly 610 and her siblings.
Grizzly 610 in turn has gone on to be a prominent mamma bear. In the spring and summer of 2011, she had three cubs with her, 760 and two other males.
Apparently, she’d given birth to Grizzly 760 and one of the other cubs. The third was adopted from Grizzly 399, Dixon said.
It’s not unheard of for female grizzlies to adopt each other’s cubs. A female spotted in Yellowstone with five cubs in tow in 2024 was thought to have adopted some of them.
‘They Were Nuts’
Grizzlies 399, 610 and their cubs solidified Grand Teton’s legacy of roadside bears.
Biologists say that’s a protective behavior on the mother bears’ part. Large boars (male grizzlies) sometimes kill young cubs but tend to avoid crowded areas.
So, the mother bears might have figured out that crowds can provide protection from marauding boars.
It turned bears into celebrities and caused people to fall in love with the grizzlies, Muscatell said.
“When they’re roadside and they're available, that’s when it becomes emotional. That’s when people get emotionally attached,” he said.
While roadside bears are adored by tourists, they’ve also caused headaches for park managers trying to keep people and bears at safe distances from one another.
A civilian “wildlife brigade” was also formed to help with that task, Muscatell said, adding that efforts weren’t always successful.
He saw uncomfortably close encounters between tourists and Grizzly 760.
“They were nuts, just nuts,” he said. “There would be people out of their cars and the bear is just 5 feet from them."
Dixon remembered similar scenes.
Even after Grizzly 760’s siblings moved away from the roadside mob scene, he lingered.
“He wasn’t one of those bears who saw the wildlife brigade coming in and ran off. He just kept doing what he was doing,” she said.
She recalled one instance in which “he was surrounded by people who were basically getting face shot photos of him,” she said.
Soulliere said Grizzly 760’s docile mood remained consistent, whether he was near the roadside or in the backcountry.
That’s not always the case, he added, noting that when he’s encountered Grizzly 610 in the backcountry, she’s been “grouchy.”
“The bears that are friendly on the roadside don’t necessarily behave the same way in the backcountry,” he added.
He still appreciates how calm Grizzly 760 was during their backcountry encounter.
“I could have continued for the rest of the day with that bear,” he said, but opted to leave and give Grizzly 760 his space after getting the photograph.
‘He Was Loved’
According to reports from the time, Grizzly 760 wandered south of Grand Teton in September 2014. Wyoming Game and Fish officials said that he was loitering around settled areas.
Wildlife agents trapped him on private land on Oct. 10, 2014, and relocated him to the North Fork of the Shoshone River, roughly 5 miles east of the east entrance to Yellowstone.
He wandered into the Clark area and found a deer hunter’s carcass hanging from a tree. The hunter tried to force the bear off the carcass but failed and called Game and Fish.
Grizzly 760 was captured by Game and Fish, and on Oct. 27, 2014, he was euthanized by lethal injection.
State and federal wildlife officials claimed the killing was necessary because Grizzly 760 had become too acclimated to human settlements and displayed dangerous behavior toward people.
The bear’s admirers didn’t buy that, Muscatell said.
What happened with Grizzly 760 was “the beginning of the hateful era” between wildlife advocates and the agencies, he said.
Regardless of the controversy surrounding his death, Grizzly 760 is well-remembered, Muscatell said.
“He was just a beautiful, well-designed big male bear that didn’t give a shit about people being around,” he said. “So, he was loved.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
