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October 16, 2009
Hunter Shot by Friend During Struggle With Grizzly - 7
by J.R. Absher
Authorities near Cooke City, Montana are continuing to investigate an incident in which a hunter accidentally shot his companion in the middle of his struggle with an attacking grizzly bear on Saturday. Both hunters survived the bizarre incident. The boar grizzly, estimated to be more than 20 years old, was not as fortunate. Officials with the Montana Fish Wildlife and Park and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have not released the names of the hunters involved, but said they discovered no negligence and the shooting is officially ruled as accidental. A joint investigation conducted by the Park County Sheriff’s Department determined that the two hunters were tracking what they believed to be a black bear near Cooke City at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Upon entering a thicket of very dense, 6-to-8-foot second-generation pine their quarry—which turned out to be a grizzly—jumped one of the hunters. “He was yelling at his partner to shoot the bear,” Park County Sheriff Allan Lutes told the Powell (Wyo.) Tribune. The newspaper reported that the first shot (from an unspecified gun and caliber) struck the hunter in the arm. Follow-up shots proved fatal to the bear. The sheriff reiterated that the shooting was accidental and the incident was the result of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Simply, said the sheriff, they never saw it coming “Bam! There he was. I don’t think they had a heads-up the bear was that close,” said Sheriff Lutes. |
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Comments (7)
If my friend shot me in the arm while saving my life, I'd thank him & say hey, what's a little lead between friends? I'm glad this turned out OK. I guess this could have been prevented if they knew the difference between a black & a grizzly track, but I don't either so I'll give them a pass on that.
it sounds like these guys were rookies.ive hunted black bears and they are quiet and very fast when they want to be.they thought big slow and dumb wrong assement!animals dont get that old from being slow or dumb.i would say they were very lucky!
Sounds like they were too caught up in tracking and getting a bear when they should have been thinking about the outcome when they meet up with a bear. Going into the dense thicket wasn't a good idea. They were probably next to each other tracking rather than have the one guy track while the other one watched out for the bear. When you are looking down at the ground at tracks, you don't see what is going on around you.
I've lived in the wilds of Northern Michigans Upper Michigan most of my life and seen several hundreds of black bear tracks, as well as seeing them in Canada and a lot of other states I've visited or lived in my earlier years. However when I saw my first grizzly tracl and the many others I saw in Alaska there was no mistaking them for a black bear. These hunters were either very inexperienced or just wanted to shoot a bear very much, any bear. Walking into heavy close cover on the tail of a bear (any bear) does seem to point at the very inexperienced or even dumb-dumb status. Anyway after rambling on I can say I'm glad they survived their hunt, but it's a shame they killed one of our few remaining lower 48 grizzly bears.
The number of armchair quarterbacks on this site never ceases to amaze me. Sounds like the two guys are lucky, not "rookies" or "inexperienced".
If you have ever had occasion to track a grizzly or even a black bear with your rifle when they are going full blast you come to realize just how fast they can move. Brother, that rifle barrel is swinging mighty fast. I can only imagine how fast the action was during the encounter described. No blame on the shooter. Fair to say that even at such a close range it was one hell of a scramble and tough to make a clean shot.
dneaster3, I am equally impressed by the knowledge, common sense answers and homespun philosophy that is posted on this forum. Personally, I don't mind the armchair quarterback stuff- hell, my hunting stories get better over time. Any good story can be made better with some embellishment.. hunters probably invented the tall tale. Fortunately, all my stories have 'some' basis' in fact .. my shotgun and gear is stack at the front door and I am heading out. My Retriever knows what's up and is laying by the gear to make sure she doesn't get left behind. My brother was checking an oilfield location yesterday and managed to set up a goose hunt!! That is called combining work and pleasure. As long as the armchair quarterbacks aren't doing all their hunting from the bar, what's the harm?
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If my friend shot me in the arm while saving my life, I'd thank him & say hey, what's a little lead between friends? I'm glad this turned out OK. I guess this could have been prevented if they knew the difference between a black & a grizzly track, but I don't either so I'll give them a pass on that.
it sounds like these guys were rookies.ive hunted black bears and they are quiet and very fast when they want to be.they thought big slow and dumb wrong assement!animals dont get that old from being slow or dumb.i would say they were very lucky!
Sounds like they were too caught up in tracking and getting a bear when they should have been thinking about the outcome when they meet up with a bear. Going into the dense thicket wasn't a good idea. They were probably next to each other tracking rather than have the one guy track while the other one watched out for the bear. When you are looking down at the ground at tracks, you don't see what is going on around you.
I've lived in the wilds of Northern Michigans Upper Michigan most of my life and seen several hundreds of black bear tracks, as well as seeing them in Canada and a lot of other states I've visited or lived in my earlier years. However when I saw my first grizzly tracl and the many others I saw in Alaska there was no mistaking them for a black bear. These hunters were either very inexperienced or just wanted to shoot a bear very much, any bear. Walking into heavy close cover on the tail of a bear (any bear) does seem to point at the very inexperienced or even dumb-dumb status. Anyway after rambling on I can say I'm glad they survived their hunt, but it's a shame they killed one of our few remaining lower 48 grizzly bears.
The number of armchair quarterbacks on this site never ceases to amaze me. Sounds like the two guys are lucky, not "rookies" or "inexperienced".
If you have ever had occasion to track a grizzly or even a black bear with your rifle when they are going full blast you come to realize just how fast they can move. Brother, that rifle barrel is swinging mighty fast. I can only imagine how fast the action was during the encounter described. No blame on the shooter. Fair to say that even at such a close range it was one hell of a scramble and tough to make a clean shot.
dneaster3, I am equally impressed by the knowledge, common sense answers and homespun philosophy that is posted on this forum. Personally, I don't mind the armchair quarterback stuff- hell, my hunting stories get better over time. Any good story can be made better with some embellishment.. hunters probably invented the tall tale. Fortunately, all my stories have 'some' basis' in fact .. my shotgun and gear is stack at the front door and I am heading out. My Retriever knows what's up and is laying by the gear to make sure she doesn't get left behind. My brother was checking an oilfield location yesterday and managed to set up a goose hunt!! That is called combining work and pleasure. As long as the armchair quarterbacks aren't doing all their hunting from the bar, what's the harm?
Post a Comment (200 characters or less)