An Overview of Grizzly Bears in the US and Canada

Click to enlarge. See how the Grizzly Bear range has receded in the modern era.

At the moment, Grizzly Bears exist in Montana, Idaho, Washington and Wyoming in the contiguous US. One was recently photographed in the northern Cascades in Washington in what was an amazing photograph.

They are very common in Canada and Alaska. A friend of mine in Alberta told me that Grizzlies are so common up there that they are very nearly regarded as pests. However, the Alberta government has listed the population of 700 bears as threatened.

British Columbia has a huge population of over 16,000 bears. This number is down considerably from the 25,000 bears present at contact. There are 25,000 grizzlies total in Canada in British Columbia, Alberta, the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Ontario and the northern part of Manitoba.

In 2007, a Grizzly was shot to death in the Selway-Bitteroots in Central Idaho. Previously, the last Grizzly in the Selway-Bitteroots was a confirmed sighting in 1946. There had been sightings of Grizzlies in the Selway-Bitteroots since the late 1990′s. There are other Grizzly populations in Idaho, including 40 in the Yaak portion of the Cabinet-Yaak and 105 in the Selkirks. The North Cascades population in Washington is estimated at only 10-20 bears.

Endangered Species Act protection has been removed from the bears in the Yellowstone region, but a lawsuit by conservationists caused a judge to reinstate protections. They have a population of 550. In the Northern Continental Divide in Montana, a larger population of 750 bears exists.

There are 32,500 Grizzly Bears in the US in total, but 95% of them are in Alaska. Therefore, Alaska has a population of ~31,000 bears, and there are 1,470 bears in the rest of the US.

The Grizzly Bear formerly ranged through the western and southwestern US.

There are ongoing sightings of Grizzly Bears in Colorado, especially in the Southern Rockies near the New Mexico border in the San Juan Range. If it exists, the population may be small (10-20 bears) and inbred. There was a confirmed sighting by a PhD biologist in the headwaters of the Navajo River in the San Juans in 1989.

A possible Grizzly Bear was sighted in La Manga Pass near Conejos in 1995. There was another possible sighting in the same area near Manassa in 2003, and a possible female was seen in 2000. That is only 7 miles north of the New Mexico border.

Another possible Grizzly was seen on Table Mountain near Creede around 2006-2009. The last confirmed sighting of a Grizzly in Colorado was in 1979 when a hunter was mauled by a bear in the San Juans.

A probable bear was recently sighted near Independence Pass east of Aspen. In addition, probable tracks were seen in the Routt National Forest just south of the Wyoming border in 2010. There may be regular sightings in this area. A bit to the east in the Bull Mountain region southwest of Cheyenne, possible grizzly sign was seen in the mid-90′s.It’s possible that bears may drift down from Wyoming onto the Routt.

A Grizzly Bear was killed on I-80 in Utah in the early 80′s, though this was never acknowledged by wildlife officials. Tracks have been seen recently in the Book Cliffs of eastern Utah.

A subspecies, the California Golden Bear, was hunted to extinction. The last bear was shot in Tulare County in 1922.

Another subspecies, the Mexican Grizzly Bear, is probably extinct as it has not been seen for some time. By 1960, there were only 30 bears left, and only four years later in 1964, it was regarded as extinct. Rumors continued of bears seen in the Yaqui headwaters region.

In 1969, a naturalist organized an expedition there with no success. A recent journal article examined a skull of a juvenile bear shot in Arroyo del Oso in Sonora, Mexico in 1976 and determined that the skull was that of a Mexican Grizzly Bear. Residents of the region say that bears matching the description of Mexican Grizzly Bears continued to exist in the foothills of the sky islands of Sonora and the rest of the bear’s former range in 2007.

A joint-US expedition to Mexico in 1980 found tracks, other Grizzly Bear sign and one sighting of what the experts determined was a Grizzly Bear. 32 years later, it is not known if Grizzlies persist in Mexico. However, mammalogists feel that they continue to exist in the Sierra del Nido in Chihuahua at the very least, and they may persist in Sonora also.

Why Has No Hunter Ever Shot and Killed a Bigfoot?

This is the classic question that is used by Bigfoot skeptics to deny the existence of Bigfoot.

Actually, it’s a dumb question, because the answer is supposedly no, no one, hunter or otherwise, has ever shot a Bigfoot. But it’s not true. As I will show, humans have shot and killed Bigfoots 36 times in the last 182 years. Humans shoot and kill Bigfoots on average of once five years.

Bigfoots Shot Dead by Humans

Unknown date: Klakas Inlet, Southern Alaska. In far southern Alaska on Prince of Wales Island, a Bigfoot was reportedly shot and buried at the mouth of a stream on the north side of the inlet. Reported in the Bigfoot Track Record.

Unknown date: Sonora, Mexico. Rich Grumley reported that a hunter shot and killed a Bigfoot, then buried it.

Date unknown, modern era: Location unknown. A wealthy hunter reportedly shot and killed a Bigfoot, then paid a taxidermist to stuff it, and it’s presently on display in a ritzy country club on the East Coast. Reported by Ray Crowe.

Unknown date, modern era: Yankton, Oregon. Near the Colombia River north of Portland, a hunter shot a Bigfoot four times between the eyes and killed it. It rolled off the road. The man came back 24 hours later, and the body was gone. There was a set of three tracks, possibly a family group – a male, a female and a juvenile. Reported by Ray Crowe.

Unknown date, modern era, Amboy, Washington. Near Mt. St. Helens, a hunter reported that he shot and killed a male Bigfoot on an old logging road. Upon hearing that there was a $10,000 fine for killing a Bigfoot, the hunter hung up the phone on the researcher. Reported by Ray Crowe.

June 20, 1829: Okefenokee Swamp, Georgia. A team of hunters set out in an attempt to track down and kill a Bigfoot in the swamp. After tracking for two weeks, they were set upon by the Bigfoot one night. The men opened up with all their guns, but it seemed useless. Five of the men were killed by the Bigfoot, who then tore all of the men’s heads off. The surviving men opened up on the Bigfoot, finally killing it. Reported by Augusta Chronicle, March 12, 2000 – “Hunters Told of Swamp Creature’s Attack.”

1855: SE Oklahoma, Choctaw Territory. Bigfoots had been raiding Choctaw settlements for some time, mostly stealing crops. But then they started stealing human children, apparently to kill and eat them, and the Choctaw had had enough. A party, organized by Joshua LeFlore, set out to get the Bigfoots. They tracked them to a mound where the dead children were that the Bigfoots had been killing and eating. The Bigfoots were covered in hair and smelled bad.

The search party’s horses all reared when they saw the Bigfoots. LeFlore emptied his pistol at a Bigfoot, but it was useless, and the Bigfoot ripped his head off. The rest of the team opened up on the Bigfoots with elephant guns, aiming at the head. Two Bigfoots dropped. The final Bigfoot was finished off with a hunting knife. The party makes a fire and burns the Bigfoots on the fire. 3 Bigfoots were killed in all.

1856: Ohio or West Virginia. Possible Bigfoot skeleton found with bullet holes in its skull. Reported in the Bigfoot Track Record.

July 4, 1884: East of Yale, British Colombia. In the Fraser River Region, railroad-men from the British Colombia Express Company’s train’s stopped their train when it seemed that someone was asleep near the tracks. A juvenile male Bigfoot woke up, barked, and started to climb up a steep bluff. The workers decided to chase him. One got up above him on the slope and dropped a rock on the Bigfoot. It disoriented him enough that they were able to get a rope around him, capture him and put him on the train.

They named the Bigfoot “Jacko.” Jacko had bruises on his head and upper body, and they assumed that he had gotten too near the edge of the bluff and had fallen over and landed, stunned, near the tracks. Jacko had been seen in the area where he was captured recently, but residents thought he was either a bear or a stray Indian dog.

Jacko was 4’7 and weighed 127 pounds and was covered with shiny black hair. He was extremely strong. Jacko did not communicate other than making half-bark, half-growl sounds. He was fed berries and milk. There are conflicting reports on what happened to Jacko. Some reports said he was taken into Yale where a man made a pet of him. Other reports said that Jacko escaped from the train before it got to Yale.

There are reports that soon after, a Bigfoot matching Jacko’s description was shot and killed in the same general area by a group of men.

There are other reports that say this whole matter was a hoax, but I believe it was true. For one thing, John Green received a letter from Adele Bastin, whose mother remembered that people in town continued to talk of Jacko long afterward. The best analysis of the case was by Myra Shackley. Reported by The Colonist of Victoria, British Colombia, July 4, 1884.

1900: Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. An Eskimo shot and buried a Bigfoot. The Eskimo came out of the forest onto the beach and was met face to face with a Bigfoot. He opened fire and killed the Bigfoot. He and two other Eskimos then buried the Bigfoot on the beach. Reported in the Bigfoot Track Record.

1905: Gardner Canal, British Colombia. On the coast of central British Colombia, a Bigfoot was reportedly shot and killed, but there are no further details. Reported on the British Colombia Scientific Cryptozoology Club website.

1921: Terrebone, Louisiana. Hunters killed a Bigfoot and dumped the body in an old well. Later a skeleton was found in the well and taken to the Tulane University anthropology department, where it disappeared. The anthropologists were not able to identify the skeleton and were mystified by it.

This is probably one of the best verified cases of the killing of a Bigfoot. After the skeleton was found in the well, many of the local college boys from Terrebone and Tulane University came around and took photos of it. Residents of Terrebone said that for many years afterward, as the college boys grew up, many of them still had photos of the Bigfoot skeleton.

Unfortunately, 90 years has now passed, but someone ought to go track this down and see if we can find any of those old photos. The skeptics will reject them anyway, but it would be nice to have them. Reported in the Bigfoot Track Record.

1924: Ape Canyon, Washington. Near Mt. St. Helens, miners shot and killed a Bigfoot, which fell off a cliff into a river below. Other Bigfoots retaliated and bombarded their cabin with rocks. There are reports saying that Ape Canyon was a hoax, but I don’t believe that. Reported by Fred Beck.

1928: South Bentnick Arm, near Bella Coola, British Colombia. On the coast of central British Colombia, George Talleo shot and killed a Bigfoot. He left the scene and did not come back. Reported by the Sasquatch-BC website.

After 1937: Green River, Washington. In the Cascades east of Tacoma, a hunter saw a bear grubbing in a log and shot and killed it. Turned out he had killed a Bigfoot. Feeling that he had shot a “hairy man” (a human being), he buried it under a pile of rocks and never told anyone until he confessed on his deathbed. Reported by Datus Perry.

1940: Southeastern Missouri. Jared Sparks killed a Bigfoot (he described it only as “like a gorilla”) that had been killing horses and cattle by tearing them apart. Disposition of body unknown. Reported by John Keel, Strange Creatures.

Fall 1941: Near Basket Lake, Manitoba. A 17 year old boy hunting out of season shot and killed a Bigfoot that he thought was a moose. He left it in the forest because he thought it was human and because he was hunting out of season. He went back sometime later, and the body was gone. The old man who shot this Bigfoot as a boy was recently extensively interviewed by Dr. John Bindernagel, PhD in wildlife biology. Bindernagel felt that the man was telling the truth about killing the Bigfoot. Reported on BFRO site.

1943: Georgia, near the South Carolina border. A Bigfoot was shot and killed by a shotguns, hit with 60 bullets after it was tracked by a group of men because it was killing sheep and calves by tearing off their legs. The reddish-brown Bigfoot was buried on the outskirts of town. Reported by Rich Grumley.

1953: Alder Creek Canyon, Sandy, Oregon. East of Portland, a hunter shot and killed a Bigfoot, then buried the body. Reported by Peter Byrne.

1958-1960: Overton County, Tennessee. Bigfoot stealing chickens was shot dead by the owner of the chickens. They drove it around the area to see if anyone could identify it. No one had the faintest idea what it was. Disposition of body unknown. Reported by Mary Green.

196o: Whiteface Reservoir, Minnesota. A hunter shot and killed a Bigfoot, then put the body on ice and displayed it for awhile before replacing it with a plastic replica. The famous Minnesota Iceman story. Well documented case of a dead Bigfoot that was actually on public display for a while. It was examined by PhD scientists who said it was a real corpse and thought it was a “Neanderthal.”

The owner was very afraid of being prosecuted for homicide so he replaced it with a dummy and sent the real body packing. Then he changed his story multiple times, apparently out of fear of prosecution. The real Iceman is probably still with the estate of Jimmy Stewart.

1960′s: Douglas, Oregon: In the Cascades west of the Umpqua National Forest, a farmer shot a Bigfoot and then somehow managed to take it back to his house, where he left it outside. Other Bigfoots then came that night and retrieved the body. Reported in the Bigfoot Track Record.

1965: Kitimat, British Colombia. On the coast of central British Colombia, a Kitimat man shot and killed a Bigfoot near town. He was trying to drag the body away when other Bigfoots came out and tried to attack him. He barely escaped to his canoe. Reported on the British Colombia Scientific Cryptozoology Club website.

December 1967: Teton National Forest near Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Two college students from Marshalltown, Iowa – Lyle Bingaman and Mike Burton – shot and killed a Bigfoot, thinking it was a bear. They were terrified that they had killed a human being and that they would be prosecuted for murder, so they left it where it was and didn’t talk about it for a long time. Reported by Peter Byrne.

1968: North of Carson, Wyoming. Three men were hired by a rancher to kill a Bigfoot that was killing his cows and sheep by tearing off their legs. Afterward, the body was picked up by a government helicopter and taken to a research facility in Almogordo, New Mexico to be autopsied and studied. Reported by Ray Crowe. Government coverup.

After 1968: Alabama.  The same man involved in the Carson, Wyoming case above shot another Bigfoot later on. This time the government found out about it and was angry that he killed the Bigfoot.  Reported by Ray Crowe. Government coverup.

After 1969: Clark, Washington. Near Mt. St. Helens, a man shot and killed a Bigfoot, then tried to sell it, but stopped when he thought it might have been illegal to kill the Bigfoot. No further details. Reported in the Bigfoot Track Record.

1970: Spokane, Washington. Grover Krantz reported that a hunter shot and killed a Bigfoot.

June 1976: Baltimore, Maryland. As unlikely as it sounds, a Bigfoot was reported here in May 1976. Police were called, and K-9′s initially refused to track it. Finally, the dogs tracked it to an interstate tunnel. A police officer then saw it run under the interstate. The next month, US army personnel were called out to deal with the Bigfoot. Reports indicate that soldiers captured or killed the Bigfoot. No further information. Reported by Rick Berry, Bigfoot on the East Coast. Government coverup.

January 1976: Elm Creek, Texas Panhandle. Three men shot and killed two Bigfoots. The first one charged them, so they shot it. Then another one charged them, so they shot it too. They dropped both Bigfoots, a male and a female. They buried the bodies down by a nearby creek. They were afraid they would be prosecuted for homicide. Recently told their story anonymously on a radio show.

January 2000: Honobia, Oklahoma. The Siege of Honobia.  Bigfoot apparently shot and killed as part of a group that was raiding and harassing a rural residence. Other Bigfoots apparently carried off the dead Bigfoot. Two senior and well trusted members of the BFRO were there that night shooting guns at the Bigfoots and witnessed the killing. Reported by the BFRO site.

November 12, 2003: Lafollette, Tennessee. A Bigfoot had been killing peoples’ animals. A goat and cat at the very least had been killed. A woman called the sheriff, and they came out with a team of deputies and told everyone to get their pets indoors as they were going to eliminate these animals. They tracked the Bigfoot and shot it dead over the next hill.

There were sirens wailing, and the Bigfoot screamed as it was shot. The woman left the scene. People saw a black body (the Bigfoot) lying in a field the next morning. Ten minutes later, it vanished. Planes flew around the area night and day for two weeks. Many locals reported that there had been a hostile Bigfoot in the area and they were trying to appease it by leaving food out for it so it would not kill their animals.  Reported by Mary Green. Government coverup.

August 2006: Slim Buttes, Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. A Bigfoot that had been named Chiye-tanka was shot and killed on the reservation. It was later given to the School of Mines to study. They sent it back and it was given a ceremonial burial by Lakota elders. Reported by Ray Crowe. Government coverup.

Conclusion

From 1829-present, a 182 year period, 36 Bigfoots have been shot dead by humans, hunters or otherwise. Humans shoot and kill Bigfoots once every 5.1 years, or about once every 5 years. In most cases, after the Bigfoot was shot, it was simply left in the woods where it fell. In some cases, it was buried. In the modern era, people who shot Bigfoots were often afraid to talk about it for fear of being prosecuted. They often thought that they had killed some sort of a human being and would be prosecuted for manslaughter or homicide.

In recent years, government officials seem to be taking the bodies away after Bigfoots are shot dead. There is a possible government coverup occurring in recent years, since 1968.

In the future, humans will continue to shoot and kill Bigfoots in North America. In order for science to make use of these bodies, the legal question regarding shooting a Bigfoot to death needs to be resolved somehow. Otherwise, people who shoot and kill Bigfoots will continue to abandon them or bury them in the woods.

Bigfoot organizations should establish procedures about what to do the next time a Bigfoot is shot and killed. Probably the best plan would be to say that the organization is willing to accept any Bigfoot shot dead, no questions asked. The person could then donate the body to the organization without fear of being prosecuted. It’s doubtful that the government would go after the organization merely for holding a Bigfoot corpse.

The organization should then contact a scientist such as Dr. Meldrum immediately and probably arrange to have the corpse delivered to him. At the same time, notify the media. The government would have a hard time stealing the corpse away from Meldrum after the media have been notified.

Anyone who shoots and kills a Bigfoot should try to protect the corpse and notify either Bigfoot organizations or prominent scientists such as Dr. Meldrum. Do not notify the authorities. If you do, you’re likely to never see the body again.

Check out Bigfoot Forums, the hottest Bigfoot discussion site on the web.

Wolverines In Wyoming

Note: Repost from the old blog.

Separate posts on this blog deal extensively with wolverines in Oregon, Washington, Idaho (here and here), Nevada, Utah and Colorado, the Upper Midwest and New Mexico. There are also four separate posts on the wolverine in California.

This post was split off from an earlier post that got too large, California Wolverine Re-discovered After 86 Years. This particular post will deal with the question of wolverines in the state of Wyoming. Wolverines in Wyoming do not seem to be in very good shape, but there are increasing sightings in recent years and a few have been trapped and road-killed. Further, they seem to be expanding their range.

In Wyoming, wolverines are mostly found in the northwest near Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park, where the population at least appears sustainable, particularly in and around Yellowstone.

However, there was a sighting in the Medicine Bow Mountains in southeastern Wyoming in 1991.

The Medicine Bow Mountains in Southeast Wyoming. A wolverine was sighted here in 1991.

A young wolverine was captured only 2 miles north of Cheyenne, Wyoming, the state capital, in 1998. Cheyenne is a city of 53,000 people.

Cattle grazing in Veeda Vou Park north of Cheyenne. A subadult wolverine was captured just 2 miles north of Cheyenne in 1998.

A wolverine was killed by a car along Highway 30 in 2004 near Fossil Butte National Monument near where Utah, Wyoming and Idaho all come together.

The view down into Chicken Creek that runs through the heart of the Fossil Buttes National Monument in southwest Wyoming. Fossil Buttes is on the left. A wolverine was roadkilled here in 2004. Some think that wolverines winter range in the lower Basin and Range sagebrush zones. Here the terrain is mostly sagebrush, but aspens grow at higher elevations. Very large numbers of fossil fish have been found in this area.

In March 1998, a wolverine killed several sheep east of Buffalo, which is east of the Bighorn Mountains.

Interstate 90 drops down into the Crazy Woman Basin east of Buffalo, Wyoming. A wolverine killed several sheep here in March 1998 and was spotted by a rancher. This area, the Powder River Basin, is undergoing a huge amount of methane natural gas extraction which is sucking a huge amount of water out of the ground and spraying it on the surface. This is causing homeowners’ wells to go dry.They lose all the value of the home and the natural gas companies refuse to reimburse them because the homeowners do not own the mineral rights under their land. That’s the way capitalism works in America the score is capital-100 humans-0, and masochistic Americans just can’t get enough abuse.

There is also a fear that many area watercourses, such as the Powder River and Crazy Woman Creek, are going to dry up part of the year, endangering many fish endemic to the area.

In 1996, a wolverine was accidentally trapped near the town of Horse Creek, east of the Laramie Mountains and north of Cheyenne.

The scene near Horse Creek, Wyoming, where a wolverine was accidentally trapped in 1996. Actually, most of this area is drier basin and range or almost prairie type habitat, complete with buffalo, “hogback” mountains and real, live cowboys.

There are also sightings from the Wyoming Range in far western Wyoming south of Jackson Hole. In 2005, a female wolverine was being monitored in the Salt River Range along the Idaho border. She was also using the Wyoming Mountains.

Cottonwood Creek in the Wyoming Range near Piney, Wyoming. A collared and tagged female wolverine was monitored moving through this range in 2005.

The Salt River Range in next to the Wyoming Mountains.

First snow on the Salt River Range in Wyoming. A female wolverine was collared and monitored using this range along the Idaho border in 2005.

There was a 1997 sighting from the Bighorn Mountains in north-central Wyoming on the Montana border extending south near the town of Sheridan.

I spoke with a man recently here in California who saw and heard a wolverine underneath a cabin where he was staying with his sons at 10,000 feet on Cloud Peak in the Bighorn Mountains near Sheridan, Wyoming. The wolverine was rummaging around under the cabin for hours and then later was gnawing up a nearby woodpile. The sighting occurred in 1996.

They also are thought to live in the Tetons and Gros Ventre Ranges south of Yellowstone and in the Absaroka Range east of Yellowstone near Cody. Jackson Hole is located in the Gros Ventres.

A couple of wolverines were documented on the Wind River Range about 75 miles southeast of Jackson Hole near Lander in recent surveys.

In general, wolverines in Wyoming are thought to be in poor shape. They seem to be slowly recovering territory and spreading out into new areas. One reason for this may be that the large wolf population in Yellowstone is providing a good source of carrion for wolverines with all of the ungulates that they are killing. Another reason may be much less broad-spectrum predator poisoning in the state in the past few decades.

References

Biodiversity Legal Foundation, Predator Conservation Alliance, Defenders of Wildlife, Northwest Ecosystem Alliance, and Superior Wilderness Action Network. 2000. Petition for a rule to list the wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) as Threatened or Endangered under the Endangered Species Act within the contiguous United States. Submitted to the U.S. Dept. of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service on July 11, 2000.

Predator Conservation Alliance. 2001. Predator Conservation Alliance’s Literature Summary – Draft – January 24, 2001 – Draft Conservation Status and Needs of the Wolverine (Gulo gulo).