Humans and bears - Wild encounters

[brotherbear]

Man Meets Grizzly by Young and Beyers.
A man who spent a lifetime in the mountains and observed many grizzlies, Charles Hedrich, was convinced that when man encounters a grizzly in the wilds, what results - violence or indifference - depends very much upon the immediate previous experiences of the bear. As an illustration, he told me of two forest rangers riding out of Jackson's Hole up Hoback Canyon, who suddenly heard a tremendous turmoil of growling and whining and crashing of brush on the hillside above them near a side hollow. They halted to listen. Soon there came rushing down the hollow and into the road a huge grizzly bear. When the bear saw the horsemen it rushed toward them with fierce growls and "houghs." The rangers turned their horses, and raced down the canyon road, because, being unarmed, fleeing was all they could do in this situation. After chasing the horsemen for some distance and failing to overtake their horses, the bear stopped and went up a side ravine. The men halted, waited a bit, and then, curious as to the cause of the bear's behavior, retraced their tracks to where they first heard and saw the bear. They rode up the little flat from which the bear had burst upon them. There they saw the ground torn up, the brush and grass crushed, and much hair and fur strewn around. From this they concluded that two grizzlies had met there and decided to settle an old grudge and had fought until the one, perhaps an old grizzly, had been beaten and driven away. The old bear, full of anger and humiliation, saw the two rangers and decided to take out his revenge on them. Hedrich says that the actions of a grizzly are very much the result of recent experiences: if he has had a good sleep or a good meal of berries or meat, he will go about his business and harm no one. If aggravated, he responds in kind and with telling force. Reply