Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Old Fart Killing Federally Protected Grizzlies

This day and age change out the barrel to a different caliber

you must have nerves of steel....bob

I don't know about Canada, but I do know from a whole lot of experience that if you shoot an animal with no witnesses and the bullet exits and most importantly you do not approach the animal or talk about it you are home free. Doesn't matter if it's on your property. Just tell them "I don't want to talk about it". Next tell them if that is their bear or cougar or whatever to get it off your place.

That would apply to a large number of crimes, but alas most people can’t.

A couple of points here. If he didn't want bears around his place, he would have been wise to not bait them in. He is a poacher, plain and simple. If the bear had been trying to tear through the door, or menacing his livestock, he could probably have gotten away with shooting it. I know he could have here. Baiting the bear in and shooting it from the house is a little less defensible.
I have shot a cougar on my place, behind the corral. Fish and Wildlife came and looked at it. The CO looked at me and said, "We're not going to charge you". I said, "No [bleep]. I had the right to shoot it". No more was said.
If we have a bear around, black or grizzly, I warn the campers to take care, watch their dogs and kids, and that's about it. I should probably have shot the last black bear that was in the yard, but the timing was bad, and I didn't have time to cut him up (we were leaving on a trip).
I do think we should re-open the grizzly bear hunt, just to keep them honest. On the other hand, if one is a danger or aggressive, we can shoot it. I almost always carry a weapon of some sort when I'm out and about. I've been on a few walks where I have seen more grizzlies than I have elk.
Here, in British Columbia, we are actually allowed to bait deer, elk, and sheep, but we are not allowed to bait predators (I don't think coyotes count). I have even heard the opinion stated, if you know where there is a carcass, whether it is a bear kill, winter kill or whatever, you are not allowed to hunt over that carcass, as that would be considered baiting. I would dispute that. If you put out a pan of dog food and some corn and molasses, that's baiting. If you do it in your yard, still baiting. The old guy from Troy is a poacher. On top of that, he's a stupid poacher. He deserves what he gets.
Dwayne,
I'm quite familiar with the area. I ride my motorcycle down through Libby, through Troy, then up the Yaak River, through Yaak, and over to Rexford and home. I've fished up the Yaak river, from Yaak, and down the Yahk River from Gillnockie. Good fishing on both sides. I've seen both species of bear often and am prepared for them. GD

I can't quit pin down the age, but, at some point my mind goes from:

"Well, that guy needs to learn a lesson about poaching/right and wrong"

to:

"At least the guy is still out there gettin' after it."

I suppose some of that also depends upon if poaching has been an ongoing life-long endeavor for that person.

Still out there gettin after it????

From a shooting room on the side of his house? Over bait piles?

OK, yep

He was born around 1943 and probably lived in Montana all his life. You can bet that he wasn't raised to look kindly upon bears rummaging around the place. I know times have changed but it is not like he shot somebody.

You can bet they aren't putting an 80 year old man in jail. I am not sure what I would do if even a black bear became a regular visitor to my back yard. Any time I moved a nuisance animal he became a nuisance in the place I moved him to or he returned to where I picked him up.

Montana is changing. Last year there was a hue and cry to lock up that poor girl Amber Rose that shot a Husky dog thinking it was a wolf. It was like 9 miles off the highway out in the boondocks and huskies do look somewhat like wolves.

Is a grizz that comes off nearby National Forest a "nuisance animal" when it comes to check out a bait pile placed there to attract animals?

VarmintGuy is a baiting sonovabitch based on him showing his ass in this thread.
No doubt his 80 yr old ass hauling out grain and treats.

Plain and simple

I keep trying to come up with a good reason to have grizzly bears in proximity to human interests....

I say good job! Maybe we should send a couple down to your place to hang out, Slum.

I put out feed for deer, birds, and squirrels like a lot of country people do. We have an outside cat that patrols for mice on the carport and protects the feed bags. Real often we have to dispatch a raccoon which we donate to a colored neighbor. The problem with bears and hogs is they will eat anything available and if left unmolested they can get very brave. Alligators are also an issue down here.

greydog;
Good morning sir, I hope the last Saturday of the month finds you all well.

Thanks for your take on the subject at hand, I was very much hoping you'd do that.

As well, I was more than "fairly sure" you were very familiar with that area.

We've got more and more grizzly sightings on the mountain behind the house and just like the wolves, are adjusting our behavior accordingly.

Like you, I just don't head up the hill for any reason without packing something that makes noise anymore.

I should note too that nobody seems to even raise an eyebrow over that part, perhaps because we can nearly always be hunting for something as the seasons overlap nicely.

Two springs back we were headed up for a load of firewood and had stopped our pickups to talk to a chap we'd met earlier that year when he was doing some long range target shooting. As we chatted a young RCMP Constable roared up in one of the Ford SUV type cruisers and asked if we'd seen some particular vehicle, which we had and told him when and where.

He thanked us, said something about the folks with the vehicle in question being nogoodniks and we should be careful. Buddy, bless his BC redneck heart, says to the young Constable something like, "Oh we're hunting too so it's all good" and the Constable just chuckled, gave us a thumbs up, thanked us again and left.

Oh, this isn't uncommon anymore for us lower down on the logging roads out here as there are crackhead squatters on pretty much all of them in the south valley.

Makes for some very interesting encounters some days, but so far nobody has been shot over it, though a couple squatters did have a run in with a grader operator either 2 or 3 years back.

Thanks again for your take, I do appreciate it.

All the best.

Dwayne

I keep reading this bear was Federally protected, but there were no Feds protecting it.

Probably the dumbest fugging post ever on the fire. Fact.

No you are

Talkin about Black Bears—I read somewhere once long ago that bears don’t starve in the den—they wake up and wander and generally starve in the Spring. That’s when they need their fat reserves cause they don’t burn much just sleeping. I used to run a bait line for Spring and fall hunts and had a few baits going all year on my trap line. 3 different times I tracked bears in mid-winter and all 3 times was after a berry crop failure —which happens here with some regularity.

. Bingo.

Bawahahahaha, Bawahahahahahaha.. Thought it would “bounce off “… I’d love to know what bullet he used….