Two experienced Wyoming outdoorswomen said a large black bear aggressively entered their camp in the Bighorn Mountains late Sunday and refused to leave, despite shouting, shining lights, firing a shot at its paws and four large dogs barking.
A second gunshot finally drove the bear away. The women, Shonna Kaye Dehl of Lovell and Maggie Bassett of Powell, retreated to their vehicles for about an hour.
Then they came out, grabbed their sleeping bags and headed to a cabin owned by Dehl’s family.
When they returned in the morning they discovered “the bear had come back and the night and had just completely ripped everything apart,” Bassett told Cowboy State Daily.
‘I Felt The Bear Hit The Side Of The Tent’
Dehl and Bassett are experienced campers, hikers and hunters. For several years, they’ve taken summer camping trips together in the Bighorns.
This year, they were camped on Fool Creek off Dayton Gulch Road with their dogs. Bassett has two German shepherds, and Dehl has a Labrador retriever and a German shepherd.
Bassett said they had just gone to bed in their tents when the bear came into camp at about 11 p.m.
“I felt the bear hit the side of the tent,” she said. “My dogs growled and I yelled, ‘Hey! Get out of here, bear!’ ” she said.
“It just hit the tent harder and I heard the tent starting to rip.”
Total Chaos In Camp
Bassett said she grabbed her flashlight and pistol and started to exit her tent.
She said her pistol is a .38 Special revolver “that is basically just a small, self-defense firearm” made to stop a human attacker, not a bear – but it would have to do.
“I fired a shot at the bear’s feet because I hoped that would scare it off, but it didn’t,” Bassett said.
By that time, Dehl was coming out of her tent with her flashlight and pistol. Her firearm, a 10mm semi-automatic loaded with hardcast ammunition, is much better suited for dealing with bears.
The campsite erupted into chaos.
“We were both screaming and yelling at it, being as loud as we could be,” Dehl said.
At first, the dogs were fiercely barking at the bear.
“That bear couldn’t give a crap about our dogs,” Bassett said. “They quickly understood that they were outmatched. They just went back over by the vehicle and waited quietly.”
Dehl and Bassett have both seen plenty of bears in the wild. And by their estimation, the bear was mature, large and most likely a boar, or male.
They added that because the bear was so aggressive, some people have asked if it was a grizzly.
There have been rumors of grizzlies in the Bighorns for years. But only one has been confirmed.
In April 2024, wildlife agents killed a grizzly bear that was attacking cattle near Ten Sleep.
Bassett is a wildlife artist and said she’s confident the bear was a black bear.
Dehl agreed that she got a good look at the bear in the light from the flashlights, and it was a black bear.
Shaking From Adrenaline
Dehl said that despite having the more powerful firearm, she hesitated to shoot because she couldn’t get a clear shot.
Bassett said she didn’t want to hurt or kill the bear. But because it just wouldn't leave, she fired a second shot “at it,” and the bear finally retreated.
She added that after her experience, she wants to get a 10mm pistol “like Shonna’s.”
The women likewise retreated to their vehicles and waited inside with their dogs.
“That’s one of those instances when you’re trying to recover from what just happened, and shaking with adrenaline,” Bassett said.
Dehl said she looked at the clock in her vehicle and it said 11:20 p.m. That means it had taken about 20 minutes to drive the bear out of their camp.
They waited for what felt like just a few minutes but was probably closer to an hour, she said.
“By the time we grabbed our sleeping bags, made it over to the cabin and got settled in, it must have been about 2 a.m. (Monday),” Dehl said.
Bear Never Got Food
They returned the next day and found their camp completely torn apart.
They searched for blood or other evidence they'd shot the bear but found none, Bassett said.
Dehl said that after posting about her experience on social media “to get the word out and warn people,” she and Bassett have gotten flack about what they should have done, or what they did wrong.
They said that amounts to armchair quarterbacking by people who weren’t there.
Dehl said they followed all the same bear-safety protocols they would have followed in grizzly country, including keeping a clean camp and their food securely stored.
“The bear never got any food out of this,” even when it came back and trashed the camp, Bassett said.
One lesson the incident taught her was not to rely on dogs for protection from bears.
“I think they would still protect me if a strange human tried entering my camp,” she said.
She and Dehl noted that while their dogs didn’t confront the bear, they at least didn’t make the situation worse by trying to cower between their owners’ legs, as dogs sometimes do during bear attacks.
The dogs’ behavior matches extensive research into bear incidents involving dogs by bear biologist Tom Smith of Brigham Young University in Utah.
Smith previously told Cowboy State Daily that dogs will sit and watch during bear incidents rather than trying to fight the bears.
The exceptions are specially bred and trained dogs, such as Karelian bear dogs, which can drive away bears.
Dehl said that after their ordeal, she and Bassett are “rethinking” their approach to camping, and might stick to cabins and hard-sided campers.
Game And Fish Search
Dehl and Bassett said they reported the incident to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
In a statement emailed to Cowboy State Daily, Game and Fish confirmed that an incident had been reported Monday afternoon.
“Within an hour of receiving the report, three Game and Fish personnel were responding to the scene to investigate and begin setting traps. Four traps were set in the area. Signs were placed advising the public of active trapping taking place,” according to Game and Fish.
Game and Fish agents spoke to other campers in the area who didn’t report any bear conflicts.
“The personnel remained nearby overnight to monitor the traps. The traps were left in place until the morning of July 8. No bear was captured and no further incidents have been reported as of this afternoon,” according to Game and Fish.
Warning signs are also posted in the area, advising campers to secure food.
“Unfortunately, the warning signs indicating that bear trapping was taking place in the area were removed by unknown members of the public,” Sheridan game warden Jesse Niemeir said in the statement.
“This could have created a safety issue for other members of the public who did not receive notice of bear trapping taking place. Additionally, it’s possible that by spending time in the vicinity of our traps, these individuals may have interfered with our ability to successfully capture this bear.”
“We need the public’s cooperation in situations like this,” he added. “This includes reporting any conflicts as quickly as possible to Game and Fish, Forest Service personnel or a local law enforcement agency.”
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
