Bears as Predators ~

[brotherbear]

The Great Bear Almanac by Gary Brown.
The American buffalo ( bison ) shares much of its range with grizzly bears, but there is minimal conflict between them. A grizzly bear normally does not attack a bison, for it may be the loser. "The bear had two holes in it... all the bear's ribs on one side were broken," relates George Laycock in The Wild Bears, describing a dead grizzly bear, "...the buffalo came up winners."
"Upon examination it was found that both sides of the grizzly bear were badly battered and bruised to a bloody mass and the left side of the animal was punctured between the ribs by a hole one and a half inches in diameter," described Joe Way in Paul Schullery's Yellowstone Bear Tales. "The immediate area around the carcass was well torn up giving evidence of a severe struggle between the bear and some other beast. There were many large buffalo tracks which had cut up the ground in an arc around the carcass and there were several patches of buffalo hair."
"A veteran hunter in Dakota once watched a huge male grizzly attack a small herd of buffalo cows protected by five or six bulls," related Wayne Gard in The Great Buffalo Hunt. "As the bear approached, the bulls closed ranks and lowered their horns. When the bulls charged, the bear struck one of them so hard with his paws that he broke the back of the bull, killing him instantly. But the other bulls used their horns so effectively that soon the bear crawled off with mortal wounds." Reply