A rancher near Choteau, Montana, caught video of six grizzlies strolling across his calving lot behind his barn late Monday, and said there were as many as seven bears on his property that night.<\/p>\n
The next morning, rancher Neal Collins said agents from Montana Fish, Wildlife &\u00a0Parks hazed as many as 10 grizzlies out of patches of brush across the road from his place.<\/p>\n
Collins said no people or livestock were attacked by the bears on his place, and FWP used non-lethal \u201ccracker\u201d shotgun shells to scare off the bears.<\/p>\n
A \u2018Herd\u2019 Of Grizzlies<\/p>\n
Sparky Wallace, a friend of Collins who also lives near Choteau, somewhat humorously described the group of grizzlies as a \u201cherd.\u201d<\/p>\n
A group of bears is actually called a “sleuth.” Or sometimes, an older term, a \u201csloth\u201d\u00a0is used to describe a gathering of bears.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He told Cowboy State Daily he and some of his neighbors have had encounters with multiple bears, as the number of grizzlies out on the prairie has steadily increased. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Chad White, a bear management specialist with Montana FWP, said the bears on Collins\u2019 property were probably a \u201ccouple of family groups that have been hanging out in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meaning, they were likely two related adult females such as \u201ca mother and daughter\u201d and their cubs, White said.<\/p>\n
The Choteau area has been busy with bear activity this spring and summer. The bears wander from the Rocky Mountain Front onto the prairie along the Teton River, which flows past Choteau. <\/p>\n
The bears might be feeding on green vegetation and other natural food sources, then taking shelter in brush patches.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt may be that he (Collins) has the natural shelter for day bedding and they were traveling around the area,\u201d\u00a0White said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
White said the FWP bear manager responding to Collins\u2019 call told him as many as 10 grizzlies fled once the hazing stared.<\/p>\n
FWP personnel fired cracker shells into the brush where the bears were holed up. Cracker shells fire a small explosive charge with a delayed fuse, designed to explode in the air and ward off predators such as bears and wolves.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe six or seven bears in the family groups ran off in one direction, and two or three more ran off in another direction,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not known where the other two or three bears might have come from, White added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Alarm Barks<\/p>\n
Collins said he was first alerted to the bears\u2019 presence Monday when one of his dogs started frantically barking at about 9:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got this one dog that\u2019s supposed to be a cow dog, but she\u2019s really not,\u201d he said. \u201cShe was just barking, barking, barking. She barks on occasion, but not like that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he stepped outside to investigate and saw a \u201cflash of a bear.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, he immediately went back into his house, shooing the dog inside with him.<\/p>\n
A camera he has mounted on the backside of his barn caught video and photos of the bears.<\/p>\n
\u2018You Get Immune To It\u2019<\/p>\n
Collins\u2019 ranch is about 35 miles out on the prairie from the Rocky Mountain front.<\/p>\n
Grizzlies are usually associated with mountain habitat. However, they were originally a Great Plains species, and were driven into the mountains as the West was settled.<\/p>\n
Grizzlies have been growing in number and expanding their range in Wyoming, Montana and Idaho in recent decades. In Montana, they\u2019ve been pushing ever-farther onto the prairies.<\/p>\n
Collins said his father was in his 70s before he ever saw a grizzly anywhere near Choteau. But the bears have become a common sight of late.<\/p>\n
When asked if having the bears around worried him, Collins said, \u201cI suppose, but you get immune to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even so, he\u2019s not happy about the growing number of prairie grizzlies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere here, even though I don\u2019t want them here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In Wyoming, grizzlies attacking cattle is frequently listed as the leading cause of human-bear conflict.<\/p>\n
Collins said he hasn\u2019t lost any livestock to bears yet.<\/p>\n
“Even so, they sure don\u2019t help them (the cattle) even if they don\u2019t kill them,\u201d\u00a0he said. “They move through the cattle herd and stir them up.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bird Hunting Gets Wild<\/p>\n
North-central Montana is a bird hunter\u2019s paradise. And in decades past, grizzlies would have been the furthest things from bird hunters\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n