Dear editor:
I have a question about that super-sized black bear taken by a young hunter.
Could that dark brown, black bear be a grizzly bear or even perhaps a black bear grizzly cross?
Look at the claws in the photos. They are not retracted.
Black Bears have claws that retract like a cat, that is why they can climb trees.
Grizzlies have claws that don't retract, like a dog. That is why they can't climb trees.
I think Wyoming Fish and Game biologists should do an examination of the bear to determine the species before pronouncing it a huge black bear.
In case you think I'm some dumb old coot from South Dakota, where we don't have any bears, and don't know what I'm talking about, I grew up in Montana 50 miles from Glacier National Park and I spent many days fishing, hiking in the park and hunting the fringes of the park.
Sincerely,
Richard Alan Hanson
Oral, South Dakota
