Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Guide and hunter mauled, guide missing

I seldom open a thread after page 5......now I remember why.

What a chit show.

Looks like there may have been another one on the border of MT/WY...

No kidding Ha! ^^^^^^^^^^

Killer griz never slowed charge Bear spray likely not deployed until after initial attack, officials say. By Mike Koshmrl Sep 19, 2018 Updated 6 hrs ago 2
Uptain Fatality Map Buy Now

Uptain grizzly death Wyoming Game and Fish Department large carnivore biologists Mike Boyce, Brian Baker and Dan Thompson keep their heads low as a helicopter descends at a staging area near the Buffalo Fork River. Minutes later, the trio of biologists were inserted onto the slopes of the Teton Wilderness’ Terrace Mountain, tasked with checking foothold shares that were set to trap the pair of grizzly bears suspected of killing hunting outfitter Mark Uptain. MIKE KOSHMRL / NEWS&GUIDE Facebook Twitter Email Print Save The grizzly bear that caused tragedy high in the Teton Wilderness never let up from a full-bore charge before hitting the Jackson Hole outfitter she fatally mauled.

When the approximately 250-pound sow bruin first came into view, pounding downhill out of a clearing, Mark Uptain was removing the head of a four-by-four bull elk for his client, Corey Chubon.

It was Friday afternoon, and the elk’s four quarters had been removed without any sign of bears. Chubon had killed the elk with an arrow the day before, but the hunters didn’t find the carcass until Friday. Even so, the hunters saw no sign grizzlies had touched it.

The sow grizzly, in other words, was not coming back to claim her meal. Her 1 1/2-year-old male cub was nearby, but ultimately he was watching from the outskirts and wasn’t being threatened. Nevertheless, she was not bluffing.

“It just came on a full run,” said Brad Hovinga, who supervises the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Jackson Region. “There was no hesitation.”

Even for grizzlies, which are inherently protective and aggressive animals, this is unusual behavior.

“A female with a yearling attacking in this manner, I’ve never dealt with that,” said Dan Thompson, Game and Fish’s large carnivore chief.

The now-dead grizzly, around 10 years old, was in good shape, with plenty of fat and nothing outwardly wrong.

Chubon, who did not respond to repeated requests for interviews, provided the above account to Wyoming Game and Fish investigators. The Florida man, who was on a guided Martin Outfitters bow hunt with his father, relayed his recollection to Game and Fish at length on several occasions.

As the bear first hit Uptain, who carried bear spray in a hip-slung holster, Chubon went for a Glock that his guide had left with their gear a few yards uphill. For some reason, he could not get the handgun to fire. When the female grizzly diverted her attention away from Uptain and toward the Floridian, he tossed the pistol to his guide. Evidently, it didn’t make it to Uptain, who was a lifelong elk hunter, small-business owner and family man.

Within moments, the bear turned back toward Uptain. Chubon, whose leg, chest and arms were lacerated by the bruin, ran for his life. His last view of Uptain, which he relayed to investigators, was of the guide on his feet trying to fight off the sow.

In an interview with the Orlando, Florida TV station WKMG, he described Uptain as his hero.

“I’m just extremely blessed and fortunate to have made it out of this situation alive,” Chubon told WKMG.

Bolting from the chaos, Chubon huffed it uphill to the duo’s horses, mounted one and rode uphill to a ridgeline near the crest of 10,258-foot-high Terrace Mountain in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. Amazingly, he caught a signal to phone authorities, who flew in to rescue him. Teton County Undersheriff Matt Carr, who was among the first responders, said the call out was a feat in itself.

“I’m not quite sure how he did that, because there’s no cell service out there at all,” Carr said. “That’s something we could not duplicate when we were there on the scene.”

Using the description from Chubon, searchers in a helicopter were able to locate the elk carcass that caused conflict around 7 p.m. Friday. There was less than an hour of daylight left, and the call was made to suspend the search until sunup Saturday.

“We ran out of flight time,” Carr said. “Helicopter restrictions don’t allow us to fly past a hard-and-fast time. And by that point, we couldn’t get ground teams in. The risk to the rescuers was far too great at that moment.”

It will never be known exactly what unfolded between the grizzlies and Uptain after Chubon left the scene.

When Carr and Game and Fish wardens Jon Stephens and Kyle Lash arrived at the quartered elk early Saturday morning to continue the search, they initially assumed that a drag mark heading downhill was from Uptain. Later, investigators discovered this was the slick left from the elk’s gut pile.

“It was confusing, because there was blood and struggle and debris from the elk dying,” Hovinga said. “There was a blood trail from the wounded elk coming in. On the scene, it was difficult to determine whose blood was whose.”

The gut pile drag mark heading downhill drew searchers attention away from where Uptain had died 50 yards uphill from the elk carcass, in a grove of timber. The nature of the 37-year-old’s fatal injuries and lack of a drag trail uphill suggest that he was able to walk after the initial attack, about 50 yards, but ultimately was killed by the grizzlies near where he was found.

“From the nature of his injuries, his death was pretty instantaneous,” Teton County Coroner Brent Blue said. “His fatal injuries were fatal instantly. He wasn’t going to be walking after the fatal injury.”

Bites to Uptain’s head likely ended his life, Blue said. Although there was massive trauma, his body was intact and showed no signs of having been fed upon.

At some point during the struggle, Uptain was able to douse the adult sow with bear spray, which has a high probability of thwarting an attack.

“When we were looking at the [adult female bear’s] head,” Hovinga said, “we could smell it, and we could feel it.”

Hovinga was quick to point out that bear spray was not put to use at the time of the initial attack — perhaps because there wasn’t time.



“We feel that he deployed that bear spray sometime after the initial attack, but before he succumbed to his injuries,” he said. “A lot of people have said, ‘Well, he sprayed the bear, and it didn’t do any good.’ We can’t say that. We can’t say that bear spray wasn’t completely effective.”

The discharged canister was near where he died, not at the elk carcass downhill. The thrown firearm was found uphill of the bull elk’s scattered remains, but downhill and distanced from Uptain’s body.

After locating Uptain around 1:15 p.m. Saturday, Teton County Search and Rescue, Game and Fish and citizen search teams that grew to about 30 people flew out and rode out on horseback.

Game and Fish large carnivore biologists set out three leghold snares concealed in cubbies in an attempt to livetrap one or both of the grizzlies in the overnight hours. Aboard an airship that clattered overhead Sunday morning, they could not see if it worked. But after unloading from the chopper late Sunday morning, Thompson, Lash, Stephens and Game and Fish colleagues Brian Baker and Mike Boyce could make out bawls that told them they had captured the cub.

“Based on the vocalizations and the different tones, we knew we had a younger bear,” Thompson said.

The worst-case scenario was trapping the cub, with mom running free. That’s what happened. The quintet of biologists and wardens, four of whom were armed, chose a path in the relative open in the effort to gain a vantage point of the trap. The sow heard them coming.

“She appeared on a full charge,” Thompson said. “When she visualized five of us standing there, she paused for a second. We had guns up. There was a question, ‘Do we take her?’ I said take her.”

A barrage of gunfire ended the life of the grizzly that killed Mark Uptain. Her stomach was “full of elk meat,” one indication that told the Game and Fish folks that they had killed the right bear. Paws with pads and claws that matched tracks left at the scene the day before further corroborated the connection, and DNA evidence has been sent to a Laramie lab to cement that the right bears were killed.

The cub, about a 150-pound animal, was sedated before Thompson made the call to kill the sow’s dependent as well. His primary reasoning was that Uptain’s injuries suggested the cub was not a passive bystander.

“That yearling was involved in the attack,” Thompson said, “and was a contributing factor to his fatality.”

Asked if there were lessons to be learned from the fatal attack, Thompson said there was no “overt” wrongdoing or decisions made that belie best practices for hunting in grizzly country. Game and Fish’s large carnivore chief also stood behind his decision-making.

“I’m 100 percent confident that we removed the target individuals, and I’m also 100 percent confident that was the right thing to do,” Thompson said. “She was teaching an offspring that killing humans is a potential way to get food. We’ve had 10 other human injuries [from grizzlies] in the past couple years, and we haven’t attempted captures in those situations because of our investigations and the behavior of the bear.

“This was completely different, dangerous behavior,” he said. “It’s not something we want out there on the landscape



From: Franzen

19-Sep-18

Private Reply

After reading this you have to know that Uptain was one tough Hombre.

You also have to know the several absolute idiots that posted here on this thread and they don’t need naming.

Sounds pretty brutal.

."....As the bear first hit Uptain, who carried bear spray in a hip-slung holster, Chubon went for a Glock that his guide had left with their gear a few yards uphill. For some reason, he could not get the handgun to fire. When the female grizzly diverted her attention away from Uptain and toward the Floridian, he tossed the pistol to his guide."....
Any word on why the gun would not fire? First I've heard of this.

Your question? Let’s just sit back and watch all of the all knowing “pros” pontificate for us.

Well it wasn't cause the safe was on, I'm going to guess there was not a round in the chamber. All the more reason for a big revolver.

I'm guessing the Floridian was flustered during the bear attack and couldn't figure out how to shoot the gun in all the excitement.

How can ANYBODY not know how to shoot a Glock?

Gross oversimplification and generalization.

Standard issue for ADF&G bear control is a 12 gauge with Brennekes. They penetrate.

Do you have any idea of what you’ve started with this post? Grins.

Maybe he had never shot one before and in the excitement, he didn't think to work the slide to make sure there was a round in the pipe? Either he thought tossing the gun to Uptain was the best thing or Uptain told him to throw it to him or he simply wasn't thinking right with all the excitement.

I still don't understand how the guy could ride away while the guide was fighting off the bear?

You just posted the below posting on the other bear attack thread:



https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...ly-attack-in-the-beartooths#Post13141924

My question for you, will you now include yourself as one of the ”several absolute idiots that posted here on this thread and they don’t need naming”, you just stated above, for making fun of a bear attack victim while safely behind your computer in the safety of your home?

P.S. You're not a tough Hombre. Uptain was.

I don't. So, let's get the ball rolling so I can find out.

Piss poor arrow job. Lol

Off all things this thread has encouraged me to keep the 44 Mag.

Condolences to the mom and five kids.

I don’t have to prove / verify anything to anybody anywhere here on the internet, and if you’re so mentally challenged that a rejection like this upsets you to the point you will continue to stalk and harass me here….carry on with humiliating yourself. It’s free popcorn eating entertainment to me, and any other intelligent professional killing time here.

I don’t need to create some persona here on the internet. Sad you feel the need to.

Don't know. Don't care. I'm not into the soap opera games played in these forums by the mentally deranged.