Grizzly Deaths Linked to Bears’ Hunt for Food

The high number of grizzly bears killed by humans this year can be attributed to hungry bears seeking out hunters’ camps for food, a biologist told a conference of state and federal officials here.

The crop of white-bark pine nuts, a favorite grizzly food source, was poor this year, and bears have had to look elsewhere, said Chuck Schwartz. Many wandering grizzlies have been introduced to hunters and bad habits.

“Bears know about fall gut piles,” Schwartz said. “They learn that there is a reliable source of food there, and they are taking advantage of it.”

In addition, Schwartz said people left garbage and food scraps at as many as the campsites checked by officials in the Gallatin National Forest, and bears tend to visit about half those camps after people leave.

“The bears are learning,” he said.

Meredith Taylor of the Greater Yellowstone Coalition said the problem is evident after a snowstorm: “You’ll see the trail of tracks going from camp to camp like beads on a string.”

Of 30 or so grizzlies known to have died in the greater Yellowstone area this year, at least 16 were killed by hunters.

“We can expect to have bad years,” Schwartz said. “We know these [bad years] are food related. . . . We see higher rates of kill when white-bark pine is bad.”

The multi-agency committee discussed several ways to address the problem, including publicity about food-short bears, hunter and outfitter training, and requiring back-country travelers to carry pepper spray, which hunters could use to drive bears away rather than killing them. No proposals were endorsed.