Fatal Bear Attack in Montana
 

Grizzly. I’ve ridden near Ovando twice but never camped in the area. It’s on/near the GDMBR. Sad.

https://helenair.com/news/local/griz...me-top-story-1

I see that's just west of Lincoln, MT (home of the Unabomber) where I took a town break while hiking the CDT, just south of the Bob Marshall Wilderness. I saw four grizz in "The Bob" on that trip, two were way too close. This tragedy hits close to home for me. I've hiked through there twice and bike through there once.

I’ve only come down 83 from Bigfork, stopping for the night both times in Seeley Lake, and then taken 200 to Missoula. Another article I read says she was on an “overnight trip.” Don’t know if it meant that literally, but it’s possible she rode up there from Missoula for the night. It’s been really hot in town for at least a week. Good way to escape some of the heat.

Tragic.
I stopped hiking in the Rockies decades ago because I ran into far too many grizzlies.

wow & she was with a group of other ppl

how would someone legally defend themselves from Grizzly bears which are federally protected as a threatened species in the lower 48 states?

I'm not sure of their status as threatened, but if one needs to defend oneself in a life threatening situation, one should do what is necessary. That includes killing the aggressor, if need be.
This is not, of course, legal advice, since I am not admitted to practice in Montana. It is just a general statement of general principles.

To me it is unclear if she was with (i.e., riding with) other people or just camping amongst them. Ovando is on ACA's Great Divide Mountain Bike Route and is also easily reachable from Missoula in one day. (About 50 miles from downtown.) My understanding is that there is a lot of cycle camping going on in the area. Would make a nice getaway from the 90-100+ degree temperatures they have been having for probably 2 weeks or more.

I do believe it's legal to defend yourself against threatened/endangered species. Even in national parks in bear country you are permitted (and even encouraged) to carry bear spray. Spent 7 days in the backcountry of Glacier. My guide had a big can of it attached to his belt. When we were below the tree line I made him walk in front. Saw 5 moose but no bears. I've seen more bears in New Jersey (2) than I have in Glacier (1). :lol:

^
Never know what you will come across in Jersey.......:eek:

Best known practice is pepper spray. There are legal problems crossing national borders and boarding airplanes with pepper spray.

If you buy pepper spray for the first time, buy two cans and practice with one. It's readily available in trail towns along the northern Rockies, in the US and Canada. Every single hiker I saw on a recent trip in Alberta had pepper spray.

I hiked the Appalachian Trail through NJ and I saw a few black bears there. Frankly, they worry me more than grizz. They're more accustomed to people and there are a lot more of them (both bears and people). There have been more fatal bear attacks in the Eastern seaboard states than in the US Rockies.

There are definitely a good number along the AT in NJ, especially in the lower part through Worthington State Forest. The second one I encountered in the state was at the campground along the river there, only a couple of miles from the AT. Small cub walked up from the river and right across my path as I was riding back to my site from the bathhouse. Mom was nowhere to be seen. Maybe I had just missed her.

A few years ago, farther north in the state, a group of young people were hiking and encountered a bear. They followed it, taking pictures. That apparently made it feel threatened and it went after them. They split up. One of them was later found mauled to death. The article I read made them sound inexperienced with the outdoors. Judging from their behavior, that sounded accurate.

BTW...Amusing story in the AT in NJ. Was car camping at Worthington. A friend and I were doing the Sunfish Pond Loop hike from the campground. Got up to the AT and were making our way along when we heard rustling in a large group of bushes a bit off the trail. Worried that it was a bear. It was definitely something larger than a rodent making noise in the leaves. My friend stats speed walking away, leaving me to figure out things. About a minute later a guy stands up and was clearly pulling up his pants. When you gotta go, you gotta go.

And just last month a young girl was attacked in Great Smokey Mountains NP as she slept in her hammock at a backcountry campground. Her family claimed to have taken all the necessary precautions.

this was interesting
https://bebearaware.org/deploying-bear-spray

Hope she used undergrads to conduct the experiments. What a work-study job that would have been. Me? I worked in a cafeteria. :D

“In the mid-1980s Carrie Hunt, a graduate student at the University of Montana, conducted experiments to see what may stop a charging grizzly bear.”

oh I missed that part. was too busy scanning for hiking with a bell, which I didn't see

There have been articles suggesting bells are not loud enough and that the sound frequency may be too high to be very effective. Before I spent a week in Glacier’s backcountry I had to watch a video. Pebbles or coins in an aluminum soda can was one suggestion. Talking to you companions was another. We did the latter.

In any event, I’m assuming this victim was asleep at 3:30 am, but maybe not.

Bears are common here but Cougars are the real danger.

I do a lot of work on cruise ships. Cougars are a danger there as well.

Rode by this in Montana in 2019. Too far to climb for a date.


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...4157a2f71.jpeg

I don't think that's a true statement. Here's a list of fatal bear attacks (all species) in North America. There have been a lot more in Wyoming & Montana than in the east, plus some in other western states. Lots in western Canada and Alaska, and a few in eastern Canada, too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._America#2020s

Since I last checked in 2008, when I hiked the AT, there has been a spate of fatal grizz attacks in WY and MT. If you look at this map, you'll see a fair number in the east though, nearly at parity with the US Rockies. There are still enough in the east to make me respect the eastern black bears.

Bear spray is surprisingly effective on Brown bears. Barring that, a 12 gauge with slugs is pretty good. 18" barrel with full stock would be first choice, pistol/shockwave grips carry better but are substantially more difficult to shoot accurately.

Looks like she was camping next to a couple and they all had food in the tent which they removed after the bear approached them the first time

https://www.kpax.com/news/western-mo...ly-bear-attack

not blaming the victim, this is the news report.

this piece points out that under the endangered species act it is legal to kill a grizzly in self defense or defense of others which makes sense

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/07/u...k-montana.html

ive been cornered on a ledge once by a mountain lion

Passed through Ovando on the GDMBR, we camped somewhere out of town, not in any campground. Only saw one bear on the trip, a grizzly in Wyoming.
Everybody here carries pepper spray, hiking and biking, but luckily have never had to use it.
There have been two grizzly fatalities in Alberta this year, both near Water Valley, northwest of Calgary. One was perpetrated by an older malnourished female, who was later trapped and put down.
The other was a female with cubs. Both ocurred to single individuals walking or running on a trail.
Pretty scary stuff.

"Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6"

And she was a nurse.
https://www.chicoer.com/2021/07/07/c...ar-attack/amp/

I think I'll stay East, dodging the great white sharks ...