I've been around grizzlies since I was a little kid, and saw how their attitude around people changed very quickly after Montana lost it's hunting season in the early 1990's.
Have also been around them considerably in Canada in areas where they're hunted, and where they're not. There is a world of difference in their behavior. Have had to put two warning shots at the feet of a bear in a part of British Columbia that hadn't had a season for several years--because the bunny-huggers were convinced there weren't enough bears for a season. Aside from the encounter with the bear that required a couple .300 warnings, had another bear try to come in while my guide and I were butchering my moose. Didn't have to shoot, but would have--and ended up finishing the butchering with my rifle slung under my chest, so it was handy.
A hunting season in Montana would make a BIG difference in bear/human encounters. Would it totally prevent bears hurting people? No, it would not, but nothing would totally prevent that short of totally exterminating them, and that isn't going to happen.
I also know ranchers along the Rocky Mountain Front in Montana who've had to deal with grizzlies, including one who had several calves and sheep killed by a big boar. Luckily, the boar was fitted with a radio collar, so it was easy for the USFWS to give it a "Weatherby injection." I also jumped a grizzly while hunting pheasants in the Flathead Valley in the late 1970's with my black Lab, which was interesting, though luckily nothing serious occurred. Have also run into them many other places in Montana, Alaska and Canada, both when hunting and not. Have slept many times in a tent with my rifle right beside me, because grizzlies were hanging around camp--including nosing outside the tent at night.As I stated on a previous post on this this thread, have been bluff-charged twice in one morning by sows with cubs while on Kodiak Island. I have hunted them in Alaska twice, killing one, and would like the chance to hunt them again here in Montana.
My post was meant to explain the various realities of a grizzly season in Montana, as related to dens on the plains. Apparently since I didn't say we should wipe them all out you interpret my attitude as "romantic." I've been considered a pretty good communicator with the written word for a few years now, but apparently my skills failed me.
