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Jim Shockey wrote a great article on Facebook regarding the woman and child killed by a bear. Maybe somebody could put that here.

I read it...and agreed with most of it. However I didnt understand his " rules of engagement" comments. He seemed to be making a big deal about that. Problem is he is totally wrong.
In Yukon you can kill any bear that is threatening life OR property. Period. Even while guiding. I know because not only have I done it a few times, but I have talked to Fish & Game about it. They told me that as long as you feel threatened, or property is threatened, you can kill the bear. Last time I had to kill one in defence I killed a sow and a cub. All fish game wanted from me was a simple statement. I had to skin the bears and give them the hides as well but that was it. We've run a remote fishing lodge here in Yukon for 30-years and I have been told by numerous conservation officers over the years to not take any chances, especially where clients/kids are concerned. Their advice has always been to kill any bear that you feel is acting aggressive. My only point is that they are very lenient on this issue so Im not sure why Jim Shockey was making such a big deal out of it. He made it sound like it was illegal to kill problem bears and that is simply not true. After reading his article myself and a few others couldnt help but wonder if he was doing some damage control.....He does have a cabin on the same lake where the lady was killed. Maybe he is worried someone will say the grizzly was hanging around because it was used to finding game hanging at his cabin?? Im in no way insinuating he is responsible in any way....he isn't period. But I can see how some might try that angle.

He is right about the grizzly population increasing though. In the last 5-6 years I've had to kill 3 grizzly bears while guiding, and had problems with a few others.

I knew the trapper that had that same trapline back in the early 90s, way before Jim was there. He also had a grizzly come in one winter and he killed it.

I wish we could kill grizzly bears that we're doing property damage down here.

Children look for permission. Men act when it benefits to do so. Why are you wishing for permission, like a child?

Let me know how well that works for you in front of a judge.

DLOP here in Alaska as apparently in Yukon. Just make sure you can reasonably justify it.

One guy a few years ago saw a brown bear walk through his yard. He grabbed a rifle, followed it out away from the yard, and killed it, because he "was afraid for his children's safety".

That was not "reasonable" for a DLOP in that instance.

Me, I always figured when it came to bears around the yard (frequently) and my kids, the bears were on their own!

Guys used to say that in oder to qualify as a DLP the bear had better have a bullet hole in its chest ( to prove it was coming at you)....This isn't the truth however. I asked that question directly, and was told you were in the clear as long as you had a reasonable explanation of why you felt threatened. When our kids were younger out at the lodge I had more than one CO tell me to kill any bear that came into the yard, as he would rather deal with a dead bear than a dead kid. I didnt need him to tell me that because I would have anyway, and did on occasion over the years. To me it wouldnt matter what the law was, if a bear acts aggressively Im going to kill it period. I would take that to court any day. Tim Sundles has a good writeup about this on his website and I agree with him completely.

We now have two KBDs and a bear doesn't have a chance with them around.

if bears are in my yard ever again ,it will be S.S.S., my wife now understands me.

Shockey was just explaining between the lines how simply having a bear with no fear of humans is not enough to just kill it. He has too many watching him specifically to dare do such a thing.

Keeping wild things wild is a really good idea.

If a bear has you stuck in a tree. try to pee in it's eye ,this takes practice because bears have tiny eyes. but if you pull it off you can say you did something impressive before you died...

"Judge, since I couldn't take the bear to court, and I couldn't have him arrested, I had to take more drastic measures to stop the property damage."

Having a bear just pass thru your yard doesn't qualify as reasonable justification to most judges. It wouldn't and hasn't to me..and I have bears around all summer long.

In Alaska, if a bear takes over your kill, that isn't either. Even tho that might be technically considered "property", F&G and the judge won't see it that way, unless the bear charges.

Las, if a bear takes over your game animal...Will F&G issue you another tag, if you had notched it? 😎

Negative and the law states you may not shoot a bear under the idea the game animal is not yours until you get it out of the woods because it is not yet your property.

Whoops, did not read your post before answering.

I know a guy who has direct knowledge of bear autopsies by a state office in the lower 48. I won't get specific about relationship/details here but he says that even if you shoot a grizzly 5 times in the ass you should make sure it has one in the frontal area before leaving it...

BTW, there are far more being autopsied than you hear about. There are many grizzly poachings, a lot more than I would have imagined.

"And yet, knowing that people in rural areas would die, savaged by grizzly bears, because of their decision, they enacted the law anyway. Enacted the law to remain in their position of power?"

From Shockey's post.

Dead (or even many live) rural people don't vote for urban populists, so the latter don't give a rip. "What does it matter, now?"

I've been thinking about this on and off all day. My neighborhood bears are "good bears". These are browns (coastal type Griz) , not blacks. They mostly stay out of sight, and seldom create a problem, and then it is almost always due to human stupidity. BTDT, and have had the footprints on my deck, truck bed, a torn up kennel, tipped over BBQ, and 7 foot distance night-view through a glass patio door to prove it. My next door neighbor (100 yards away) had repeated problems while he kept a pen of fowl, while at the same time I was experiencing no problems (once I got a little smarter...but sure, I'd like to keep chickens or pheasants myself - ain't gonna happen). Once time I Iooked out the bedroom window in a hard rain just at deep dusk to see a lump under the bow of the boat. Binoculars showed a 2 or 3 year old asleep out of the rain. No problem... nor one for the last 15 years or so.

As long as both sides know and abide by the rules, it is fine. And that was Jim's point - once a bear, or population of bears, begin to show - for want of a better word - disdain- for people, that/those bears need re-education, and nothing re-educates like a well placed bullet. Even for the remaining live ones. (Too bad we cannot apply that across the board for our own species).

Bears are smart. And people have the responsibility to keep them "honest" where habitats overlap.

My most impressive (to me) encounter with a bear was in my back yard, about which I've posted before. A couple cubs of the year tried to "make friends" with my Lab. I think they were sincere, being young, playful, and stupid... Before they ever came out of the woods, the sow was telling them to get the hell back where they belonged. They didn't listen, the little bastids! We backed 180 degrees around the house to the front door, at which time the dog was on his own, once me and the garden trowel were safe inside. First in the retreat was me. 20 feet in front of me was the dog, barking furiously while backing up. 20 feet from him were the cubs, 30 feet from them was the sow, who very, very, very carefully avoided eye contact with me, all the while cussing out her kids.

I fetched the '94 and stepped out on the deck above the sow, at which time she let out a squall and beat feet for the trees. The cubs followed. The dog continued to bellow for several minutes (like I didn't know....).

Like I said, I have "good bears". . But I never forget that it only takes one.... I trust bears (circumstantially) more than I do people. More predictable. They don't lie... bluff.. sometimes. Lie, no.

When we first moved into this home in summer of '88 we were advised of a sow with triplets who habitually wintered just over the hilltop. (In season, bears bed on the ridge-top here, and fish the river at night - some summers as many as 10, including cubs). We saw the sow with cubs several times, just passing through the 1.5 acre yard. She was never a problem, and apparently raised her kids, including two subsequent sets of twins, to abide the rules. When she was poached out of season, and her radio collar thrown in the river, I would have had little problem getting up a neighborhood lynch party if we could have identified the SOB responsible.

Good neighbors are hard to come by.... bad neighbors should be eliminated.

I'm not that picky about species.

Thanks for the info Las and Yukon—nice to hear from boots on the ground.
I got the impression from Shockey’s rant that he could sell more grizz hunts if he had the tags.
We only have Black Bears here locally, granted i understand they are not as dangerous but it isn’t smart to just ignore them. We too have good bears and bad ones. Because of some recent attacks there is very little consequence to killing one. You’re supposed to notify the MNR but many don’t.
We have lots of wolves here also, trapped locally and shot on sight by many but you rarely see them, they’re smart and wary and very hard to hunt specifically. More a target of opportunity than anything.
The wolves I’ve seen in Minnesota and Wisconsin, not shy at all. Some are downright disdainful of people.