Montana grizzly advocates say it should be mandatory for hunters and trappers to carry bear spray in grizzly country — a move they say will make people safer and save bears from being shot.
A coalition of 19 Montana organizations and 46 individuals Tuesday submitted a petition to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission to require carrying bear spray, much like hunters are required to wear fluorescent orange.
Similar petitions were filed in Wyoming and Idaho in 2019, but those efforts failed.
The push for mandatory bear spray touches on the debate over whether a firearm or bear spray is better for stopping a grizzly attack.
Another point of debate is how many grizzlies can be killed without imperiling bear recovery in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.
While grizzlies are not hunted in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, it is legal to kill one in defense of human life.
Alternative to ‘Going for the Gun’
One of the petitioners, Mike Bader of Missoula, said the intent is not to forbid hunters or trappers from also carrying handguns for bear defense if they choose.
But making bear spray mandatory would be no different than wildlife agencies requiring fluorescent orange or requiring that boaters wear life jackets, he told Cowboy State Daily.
“We’re looking at the facts of the matter. And the fact is, hunting and trapping significantly increase your chances of having an encounter with a bear,” said Bader, a grizzly ecologist and former Yellowstone National Park ranger.
Trappers might use meat or other bait that can attract bears, he said. And hunters move stealthily, often through thick cover and at dawn and dusk.
Mandatory bear spray would give them “another alternative rather than going for the gun first” in case of a bear encounter gone bad, Bader said.
There has been a steady increase in the number of bears shot and killed by hunters claiming self-defense, he said.
That adds to the grizzly death toll, which could threaten bears’ full recovery in the Rocky Mountain West, he added.
An important element of full grizzly recovery is robust genetic exchange between subpopulations, such as the Greater Yellowstone population and Montana’s Northern Continental Divide grizzly population, Bader said.
Requiring bear spray would help protect grizzlies, but human safety should remain a priority, Bader said.
“Of course we want to stop bears from getting killed. But the primary thing, just like with hunter orange or life vests, is that it’s a public safety thing,” Bader said.
“All of the wildlife agencies encourage bear spray,” he added.
Game and Fish Stresses Education
Petitions were filed in 2019 to mandate bear spray for hunters in Wyoming and Idaho, Kristin Combs, executive director of Wyoming Wildlife Advocates, told Cowboy State Daily.
The petitions were rejected, she said.
Then-Game and Fish Commission member Peter Dube said bear spray should be encouraged for anyone venturing into Wyoming’s backcountry.
However, “I don’t think it needs to be a requirement,” he said, according to notes from the commission’s July 19, 2019, meeting in Rock Springs.
Game and Fish Director Angi Bruce told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday that the department emphasizes education regarding safety in grizzly country and how to properly use bear spray.
“We have discussed this option (mandating bear spray) with our commission in the past and decided, rather than making it mandatory, that we would prioritize providing education and outreach, as well as providing free bear spray and training,” she said in a text message.
Mandating bear spray also isn’t something the Game and Fish Commission could have decided on its own.
It would have required action by the Wyoming Legislature, Bruce added.
Game and Fish hosts bear safety seminars around Wyoming. Participants are invited to test their bear-spraying skills by going up against Robobear.
Robobear is a wheeled contraption with a facsimile of a bear mounted atop it that can reach speeds of 20 mph or more as it charges.
Won’t Fly With Hunters
Guy Eastman of Cody has hunted numerous times in grizzly country and told Cowboy State Daily that he acknowledges the value of bear spray.
Even so, he doesn’t favor making it mandatory, and the idea “isn’t going to fly with the hunters,” said Eastman, who represents the third generation of the outdoor multimedia family.
“It’s one of those things that sounds good on paper. But the actual logistics of implementing that, monitoring it and babysitting people to carry it — that’s a whole other issue,” he said.
Also, even when hunters are carrying bear spray, they might see the rifle in their hands as the best first option if a grizzly charges them, Eastman said.
“You think you’re going to set your rifle down and reach for the bear spray? No. There’s going to be a ‘boom,’” he said.
Eastman added that he thinks the number of grizzlies killed defensively by hunters will never come close to the number killed by wildlife agencies for such things as attacking cattle.
Some argue that opening a hunting season for grizzlies in Wyoming wouldn’t affect human-bear conflicts. Others claim that it would make a difference by making grizzlies more fearful of humans.
Eastman takes the latter view.
"We’re not arguing over whether bears are going to die. Bears are going to get killed. We’re arguing over who is going to do it (hunters or wildlife agents),” he said.
Bruce recently told the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee that Game and Fish agents are likely killing more grizzlies than hunters would during grizzly hunting seasons.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
