Marylyn Matayoshi told park officials that she and her husband were hiking back to their car along the Wapiti Lake Trail about 11 a.m. when they saw the bear and two cubs about 100 yards away. [Yellowstone Supt. Dan] Wenk said the couple had just emerged from a dense area of lodgepole pines into a broad meadow where the bears were.It was the first killing by a bear in Yellowstone since 1986, and the bear was protecting her cubs.
The couple backed away, and then turned in the direction they had come. When they looked back, the grizzly was charging them, Wenk said. Matayoshi yelled to his wife to run, and she took shelter behind a fallen tree at the side of the trail, according to officials.
Wenk said the sow reached Brian Matayoshi first, fatally biting and clawing him. The bear then approached Marylyn Matayoshi, and picked her up. Wenk said it is likely that because she was playing dead, the bear moved on.
As long as we're talking about Yellowstone, here are some lush photographs of Yellowstone. I especially like the ones of Grand Prismatic Spring. Generally, I prefer landscape photographs to photographs of animals. People get strangely excited about seeing animals in Yellowstone. I mean, a chipmunk begging for food? A coyote running through grass? You probably have these things in your home town. As for the bigger creatures... I'd leave them alone.
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81 comments:
Wrong place, wrong time.
Don't be surprised if this is tied to Palin, THE BIG MAMA GRIZZLY!
Was in Yellowstone a couple of years ago, near where this occurred. All through the park, the Rangers pass out flyers that basicly say, "Wild Animals are Wild". For example, that cute bison can run 40 mph and jump a 6 foot fence.
Grizzies are dangerous sure, but I suspect that they were closer to the bear than 100 yards, when this started...
Proof of the validity that you don't have to outrun the bear, you just need to out run the person you're with.
Don't mess with Moma Grizzlys, if you know what I mean.
I was in Yellowstone in the early 60's and again in the late 80's. About 4 times total in the 80's when we lived in Idaho Falls. I never saw a Grizzly but I didn't wander far from the main trails. I am sure there were a lot fewer than 800 of them back then. Yellowstone is a very special place.
As for the bigger creatures... I'd leave them alone.
Looks like they tried and it didn't work out for them. Can you CCW on Yellowstone? I'm never too concerned about bear attacks here in Missouri (more concerned about the two-legged ape types), but I rarely go hiking unarmed.
Bear sent out for Chinese, but Japanese had to suffice.
Thank heaven I wasn't drinking coffee when I read that!
I read that article yesterday. We were in Yellowstone/Tetons over the weekend. I was quite nervous hiking the Cascade Canyon train in the Tetons.
I have some pics of Grand Prismatic Spring from my trip here. I also would leave the big animals alone but can't tell you how many people with their sophisticated camera would approach a bison or even a bear (we saw one crossing the road and there was mayhem on the road from all the other vehicles and their occupants).
Nature can be a bitch sometimes.
I remember when I was living in California back in the 80's someone started a movement to re-introduce the Grizzly Bear to the Los Angeles mountains. What a positively insane idea, only acceptable to people who know nothing of Grizzlies or who think people should be killed by them.
"AA: People get strangely excited about seeing animals in Yellowstone. I mean, a chipmunk begging for food? A coyote running through grass? You probably have these things in your home town."
Have you been to Yellowstone?
I agree that people do go a little goofy but realize that many in suburbia or city have never seen most of these animals. That said seeing animals that have become tolerant of humans is not of interest to me. The cool thing about YS is that you can see many of these animals in their habitat. I was last there in late August, in the Bison rut. Watching the males do battle to determine dominance along the Yellowstone River was really an amazing sight. Seeing rams and elk in the wild is much different than seeing them standing in a zoo.
Oh, and I guess it's now "Does a bear shit Brian Matayoshi in the woods?"
This is probably the only win the Bears will have this year.
Proof of the validity that you don't have to outrun the bear, you just need to out run the person you're with.
It's always good to enter these areas with a good awareness of what's going on around you...and a dose of dark humor to relieve the tension.
The burros were cute sticking their heads inside our car and looking around for snacks and treats. The Grizzlies? Not so much...
Call 911? Yea that does alot of good.
There is NO 911 in the wilderness, got that gang?
Either pack a gun (legal with CCW) or pepper spray made to stop a bear. But do keep in mind pepper spray won't stop a charging bear that is charging SOMEONE ELSE at a distance. A rifle will.
Scott M. - Can you CCW on Yellowstone?
You can CCW in any national park as long as you can legally CCW in the state that it resides in. Bush signed it originally, blocked by a Federal Judge, and then restored as part of the Credit Card reform bill signed by Obama. There are some interesting caveats so if you decide to carry in a national park be sure to read up on the restrictions.
As Scott says - there is much more danger from a 2 legged creature than a 4 legged one...
Oh, and I guess it's now "Does a bear shit Brian Matayoshi in the woods?"
Too soon. Give it another ten minutes.
I've got a black bear in my back yard.
She gets pissed off when I put the lid on the compost bin. She lifts up the entire thing and flings it about 15 yards away, then she eats the contents.
Some days, when I'm at work, she sits down on my front porch, only 5 yards away from me. We're separated only by my glass storm door. She scratches her ass on the concrete.
I don't worry much about her. If I move, she runs away.
Last year she had a cub. The poor baby got stuck up a tree and cried for an entire day. You wouldn't believe the racket. That was one time I made sure that I didn't encounter mama bear. You don't want to come between mama bear and her cub.
Peter Capstick used to refer to the way people acted around animals("Aren't they cute? No, as long as you're friendly they won't hurt you", etc.) as Disney Syndrome.
If the distance reported was correct, this is unusual; 100 yards is a long way for a bear to go to 'protect her cub', especially from someone leaving. Have to wonder if turning away, instead of backing until out of sight, might have triggered a reaction
I heard from a 'park' person that some female bears are having their cubs where there are a lot of humans around because that would prevent other predators snatching her cubs away. Smart, eh? not when they charge towards the humans they thought were protecting them or this particular bear didn't get that note.
Poor guy, but man this is sort of every bear stereotype you know. Mama protecting cubs are the most dangerous and playing dead works.
"Oh, and I guess it's now "Does a bear shit Brian Matayoshi in the woods?"
Too soon. Give it another ten minutes."
Times up!
"Have you been to Yellowstone?"
Yes, and I greatly enjoyed the landscapes and thought people were wasting their time stopping to marvel at chipmunks.
(And risking their lives getting out of their cars next to a lumbering bison.)
pm317 said...
because that would prevent other predators snatching her cubs away.
I guess a pack of wolves might be a threat, but from what I have heard, the only thing a grizzly cub really has to fear is an adult grizzly male.
Reminds me of Werner Herzog's film about Timothy Treadwell, "Grizzly Man." Call it the Disney Syndrome or just Liberalism, the world isn't what you think it should be. the world is what it is. What Lady Thatcher said applies, "The trouble with liberalism is that all the laws of the world are conservative." Grizzly bears kill people.
wv: pardme-as in, "Pardme but I think that bear is going to eat you, Timothy."
Here's my photo of a bison in Yellowstone.
Saw a momma grizzly and cubs up close @ Denali. We were on a bus! I love to hike but I like to let my mind wander. You simply can't do that in grizzly country. They say to make noise and let the bears hear you. I have a horrible voice so my bride urged me to bang rocks together as we walked instead of the preferred method of singing. The one thing that just exudes from grizzlies when you see them in the wild is, THEY KNOW they're @ the top of the food chain. They just have that demeanor.
"He was trudging along the side of the road, as if he’d been given the job of making it really easy for the tourists to get a good look at a big animal and he’d been doing it for years and years."
I love the movie "Grizzly Man."
I agree professor. Before they eliminated narcissistic personality disorder as a diagnosis they should have had every shrink watch Herzog's superb doc.
"I love the movie "Grizzly Man."
I admit to a weird fascination with it in that the whole time you know how it ends. That said, Timmy annoys the heck out of me for his preening environmentalism and his presumption to some special status as a Shaman of bear life. I need to see if Amazon has it on live stream.
Not to get racial, folks, but it can't be helped:
You won't find a dead nigga anywhere near Yellowstone.
Of course, they're everywhere else,...
Part of the trill of hiking in Yellowstone is you might get killed. When we were there last my wife got Death in Yellowstone. It was great, from station wagons driven into the canyon of the Yellowstone, to various scalding incidents in the hot springs, tourists getting trampled by Bison and of course, bear attacks.
Looks cute? Did they bait that bear?
This is a good cautionary video,
I havent seen Grizzly Man but have read plenty about him. If ever someone had it coming it was him. Talk to the animals all you want but they dont speak your language.
The last time I was at the Tetons National Park, I saw a large group of tourists surrounding a bison, complete with children poking at parts of it.
And, sure, it's an herbivore and not a grizzly. But it's BIG enough that people could surely get hurt if it got annoyed. Perhaps some believe that since it's a "park," the apparent dangers must be "just pretend" dangers, as in a theme park?
And I do think I've read that several young people have died from the effects of jumping into the thermal pools at Yellowstone ...
You won't find a dead nigga anywhere near Yellowstone.
Jesus, Crack, you really make me laugh my ass off.
Thanks.
Crack..one of Oprah's last shows was a surreal camping episode w/ her and her "friend" Gayle in one of the National Parks out west. The park ranger was a black guy and he wants to get more black folk exploring our nation's parks. The episode was hilarious w/ Oprah serving vodka to fellow pop-up campers neighbors in pewter mugs. So..Oprah is trying to kill her peeps!!
They call it a "Guide Gun". Carried by guides who are trying to keep their clients alive in the woods.
Model 1895G Guide Gun
Something incredibly stupid I did once. I was snowmobiling in Yellowstone and we came upon a herd of bison blocking our way. So we slooowly weaved through the herd, coming to within a few feet of individual animals. They just gave us dirty looks, but we could've easily been killed. They're not cows. What the hell were we thinking!?!
Alot of people mistakenly think they're in some sort of a federal zoo in Yellowstone, not a wild environment. I'm as guilty as anyone.
Is this an object lesson for Karl Rove's GOP clique?
Momma Grizzlies are hard to stop with slick negative ad campaigns.
How does one reason with an undefeated and charging Momma Grizzlie who can see Russia from her porch?
How does one reason with an undefeated and charging Momma Grizzlie who can see Russia from her porch?
A quip from Garage that's under 50 characters long might stop her.
"AA: Yes, and I greatly enjoyed the landscapes and thought people were wasting their time stopping to marvel at chipmunks.
(And risking their lives getting out of their cars next to a lumbering bison."
I'm with you on the landscapes...there is beauty in Yellowstone that is so amazing that it's hard to get your head around...Grand Canyon of the YS comes to mind.
Not sure of this "chipmunk" issue but certainly people are insanely stupid regarding bison...we'd see parents with very small children get way to close to them...often with the parent preoccupied with videoing. Tragedy waiting to happen.
I love the movie "Grizzly Man."
Love it. When we had frequent house guests, there was always a night where we introduced them to "Grizzly Man". It was always a first for the guests, but of course we were seeing it over and over again.
I tried to get similarly intrigued by "Grey Gardens", but it didn't take.
"Yellowstone Supt. Dan Wenk said he regretted the loss of life, but added that the mother grizzly had acted to protect her cubs, not in a predatory manner."
Oh, it's okay then.
I been chased by moose in denali. I learned my lesson. Leave the big herbavores alone. Pay attention to the big carnivores.
I was in Tanzania and the safari van stopped for some cheetahs lounging in the afternoon under an acacia tree. Some woman got out of the van and looking though the lens got within 4 feet of the cheetahs. We were yelling at her to get back in her van, but she was so focused on focusing that she was blocking everything out. Insane, but fortunately the cheetahs did not attack. She is lucky they were not lions or hyenas, or that would have been a grizzly scene.
PatCA said...
"Yellowstone Supt. Dan Wenk said he regretted the loss of life, but added that the mother grizzly had acted to protect her cubs, not in a predatory manner."
Oh, it's okay then."
It is okay then. Yellowstone does...or at least did...deal with problem Bears that come into campgrounds etc. First they relocate...then kill. But can't blame a Bear for being a Bear. People want to hike the wilds, then they take the chance of this happening.
I have been chased off salmon river fishing in Alaska by brown bears. And in the ocean I have had sea lions eat salmon and halibut off my line. That sucks, especially when all you get is a head.
You do not shoot a sow (after the fact) for defending cubs, but you deal with problem bears (searching people out) right away.
"Park officials said there would be no action taken against the animal, which was not collared and had no history of aggression toward humans."
I'm happy about this. We continue to make progress. If you're going to hike in Yellowstone, be prepared to protect yourself or face the consequences.
I read that and my blood went cold. I had a co-worker who loved hiking in the West, especially the wild places (he almost died of thirst hiking the Dakota Badlands). Sorry for the guy who bought it, but breathed a sigh of relief when he turned out to be not Italian.
Ann Althouse said...
"Have you been to Yellowstone?"
Yes, and I greatly enjoyed the landscapes and thought people were wasting their time stopping to marvel at chipmunks.
(And risking their lives getting out of their cars next to a lumbering bison.)
Before I met her, The Blonde and her mother were in Yellowstone one summer and, while you-know-who was off feeding Goldfish to the prairie dogs, her mother opened the door of the van to get a better look at the buffalo. Of course, one of them felt obliged to stick his head in and say, "Howdy".
As The Blonde recounts it, "They have really big heads and they don't back up".
Needless to say, after that they only opened the door to look at the geysers.
They call it a "Guide Gun". Carried by guides who are trying to keep their clients alive in the woods.
Holy Crap. That thing would have a hell of a kick. I thought my 30.06 was tough. That one would knock be back on my ass.
Wild animals are just that: wild. They are dangerous, mean and like the Honey Badger don't give a shit. People from the cities are always trying to get close to the wild life, like this is a zoo or something. Clue. The wild life doesn't want to get close to you. Stay away from them.
We have some foxes that I am attempting to eliminate. They are not in the least bit afraid of humans (very dangerous) and are aggressive towards us when we see the. Live trapping isn't working. They are too smart for that and seem to be wise to the traps. We have caught several skunks and raccoons and the same stupid cat multiple times.
Now... we are keeping the 22 by the door and plan to nail the little creeps when they come up on the deck and poop all over it.
Jeebus, wrong thread again. My Alzheimer's is really kicking in.
The bear dropped the Jap broad because she was playing dead which proves there is a use for planking.
I was once painting in Yellowstone and a buffalo herd, they're always moving, wandered within about 50 yards of me. The snorting of the big bulls. I was scared shitless but kept painting and made a point of avoiding eye contact. Finally they moved off. True story...and it wasn't a half-bad painting.
@sixty grit: not a long range rifle. You use it at short range. Also known as a "brush gun" as you use it in dense undergrowth.
30.06 was considered to be the deer gun of choice for years, and lever action rifles were very common for medium range hunting.
You'd use the guide gun most likely shooting from the hip in any case. These people would have been that close.
I'd prefer something in 500 Beowulf like this over the lever gun. FMJ ammo isn't necessarily bad for bear as you want lots of penetration.
Hers wasn't that bad.
You do not shoot a sow (after the fact) for defending cubs, but you deal with problem bears (searching people out) right away.
Someone above mentioned that concealed carry is legal in Yellowstone. A couple things though to keep in mind though.
First, if you do carry, I would suggest carrying something with enough stopping power to possibly affect a grizzly. Yellowstone doesn't have the really big ones, but still...
Second, I think it likely that you would get into some sort of trouble by offing a grizzly bear. Apparently, still heavily protected.
Apparently, the feds were relocating problem grizzlies just north of Noxon, MT, which is just inside the the ID border on the Clarke Fork river. The feds, unfortunately, failed to mention this to the community.
So, a first problem bear didn't do well when having it out with a Burlington Northern train. But a second one ended up attacking someone around town there. He had a big enough gun that he stopped the bear. It looked like a righteous shooting, until the government determined that he had killed a grizzly, not a black bear. Whoops. Potential Endangered Species Act violation.
All's well that ends well, maybe. The feds ultimately didn't prosecute, possibly because they failed to actually mention the relocation project to the nearby town. Don't know why the state didn't. The county though apparently did, and lost. Something like that. Heard it from a friend who knows the guy, so the story may be a bit inaccurate, and will be driving by Noxon this coming Thursday, after spending Wed. night with that friend.
This shooting though is in alignment with the old adage I read in a Joseph Wambaugh book last night, about it being better to be tried by a jury of 12 than carried in a box by 6. Something like that.
"Don't know why the state didn't."
Maybe they were all hoping that nature (hunting) would take its course?
Second, I think it likely that you would get into some sort of trouble by offing a grizzly bear. Apparently, still heavily protected.
Well, it would be a choice between possibly getting in trouble in the long term or possibly ending up as bear scat in the short. In a life-threatening situation like this (never, ever, ever take your eyes off the bear), such matters don't figure in.
As far as stopping one, enough hollow points should put just about anything down this side of a coked-up Gary Busey.
"Fred4Pres said...
I have been chased off salmon river fishing in Alaska by brown bears."
Pussy!
"Scott M said...
As far as stopping one, enough hollow points should put just about anything down this side of a coked-up Gary Busey."
They good eatin?
Haven't been to Yellowstone in over 10 years. Last time we camped there; never saw bears, but we'd get up in the morning to see tufts of fur on the sides of trees they used to scratch themselves.
Didn't have any problems camping as we observed (and taught the daughters) the rules about having no food or anything with scent in the tents. Learned it in Scouts.
I really think the decline in Scouting experience for boys and girls goes toward having people totally unprepared for their camping experience, even in local state parks.
Grizzlies evolved in the wide open spaces. I once had a guide who was writing a book about bears he was gonna call "Shadow, Sun and Snow": black bears live in the shadows in the woods, grizzlies in the open spaces and polar bears in the Arctic.
The open spaces are key. Grizzlies evolved with nowhere to hide from other predators such as sabre-tooths, so they evolved to terrorize other animals. Kill an intruder and you stop one threat; terrorize it so it passes on the terror to its offspring and you stop multiple threats. That's why you can play dead - well, usually - with a grizzly and live to tell about it: your submissive limpness indicates it's made its point.
Proof of the validity that you don't have to outrun the bear, you just need to out run the person you're with.
A good joke and a good comment on evolution, too, but factually, in the case of bears, incorrect. A bear will, as with all skilled predators, pick out a single individual and focus on it to the exclusion of others. There are many cases of bears running right past various people, even brushing them as it passes, in pursuit of prey.
playing dead works
Sometimes, but not if it's a predatory attack. Black bears are more likely to initiate a predatory stalk/attack than are grizzlies. Don't play dead with a black bear, it will probably just eat you.
Yellowstone doesn't have the really big ones, but still...
The difference is diet; the really big ones gorge on salmon, the smaller ones are stuck with whatever relatively meager rations they can forage.
Never understood why anyone would go out into the wilderness without a gun. If our ancestors had been that stupid the continent would be empty now. We have become so far removed from nature that we don't take the proper precautions anymore.
Sounds like Brian gave his life for his wife. If she had only been more modern in her thinking they could have both been eaten while debating who should run and who should make the last stand. That would be the true test for a feminist right there. How many do you think would pass it?
Never understood why anyone would go out into the wilderness without a gun.
Ditto. And, as I said upthread, it's the two-legged threats you have to worry about just as much (if not more) in the back country. Never be unarmed if you can at all help it.
Scott M.,
You can open carry, thanks to this federal law. Basically it states that carrying of fireams in national parks is simply subject to the laws of the state containing the park. Since all 3 states containing parts of Yellowstone (Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho) permit open carry w/o a permit, any resident who's legally able to own and carry a firearm can do so in Yellowstone. Wyoming itself also allows permitless concealed carry, so for the bulk of the park, CCW is fine, too. For the Montana parts, you'd need a Montana CWP or the equivalent from one of the 40 states whose permits Montana recognizes. (Not sure what the other 7 permit-issuing states did to get excluded from the list!) Idaho is even more open-handed, having a blanket recognition of all other states' permits.
Sixty,
But you have no business shooting a grizzly at long range, so ballistics don't really matter that much. What is important is getting enough penetration to stop the grizzly, and for that a hardcast lead bullet with a round nose is just fine. Interestingly, the .45/70 gets only marginal marks from this Forest Service guide (found and linked by Clayton Cramer in response to this same story), whose authors would prefer you to carry something even stouter.
DBQ,
FWIW the .45/70 has lower muzzle energy. Not sure how much the slower speed/heavier bullet impacts the perceived recoil.
Al,
The same rifle Moose cites is available in .450 Marlin, with a 60% increase in muzzle energy. That's getting more into the territory recommended by the Forest Service (and better than your .50 Beowulf.)
"AA: People get strangely excited about seeing animals in Yellowstone. I mean, a chipmunk begging for food? A coyote running through grass? You probably have these things in your home town."
I have visited Yellowstone many times - my wife is from Eastern idaho and during our dating phase we went often.
Seeing the animals in their element is wonderful, but having a bison walk past my driver's door and eyeball me at MY eye level was a down right spiritual experience. He was HUGE. I never see a photo of any animal species I saw live in Yellowstone the same.
But they are not amusement park rides and it is NOT a petting zoo. Believe me the Park warms you - early and often. It is a tragedy but one accepts the risk once you leave your porch.
Kirk said...Interestingly, the .45/70 gets only marginal marks from this Forest Service guide (found and linked by Clayton Cramer in response to this same story), whose authors would prefer you to carry something even stouter.
The 40-70 and the 45-70 were black powder cartridges. The 40-70 fitting the guide gun was also chambered in the Winchester 1886 repeater which looks to me like the basis for the guide gun.
Those are 120 year old technology, no wonder they dont score well.
As for the Guide gun in brush? Give me a 12 gauge pump firing slugs.
I enjoyed the FS Guide. Favorite lines:
1. Hitting a brown (e.g. grizzly) bear with a load of buckshot at ranges beyond 5 yd may mean a nonlethal wound and a very angry, active bear
2. The USDA Forest Service in Alaska requires at least one member of each work party to carry a rifle.2 The most common weapon issued is a boltaction magazine rifle chambered for the .375 H&H Magnum cartridge.
3. In the past, most Forest Service professionals working where brown bears occur had personally acquired experience
with firearms. In recent years,
however, the Forest Service has
employed many persons with little or no experience with firearms, and some with a strong aversion to them.
Drill Sgt,
"Those are 120 year old technology, no wonder they dont score well. "
Indeed. Things like the .450 Marlin are updated versions taking advantage of smokeless powder (in the energy density department) and better metallurgy (in the rifle receiver itself) to deliver much higher power (+60% in this case) in the same physical package.
Indeed. Things like the .450 Marlin are updated versions taking advantage of smokeless powder (in the energy density department) and better metallurgy (in the rifle receiver itself) to deliver much higher power (+60% in this case) in the same physical package.
The structure of that sentence left me wanting one more bullet point in parenthesis. Please...give me closure.
Sorry. (No closure for you!)
The Drill SGT,
In recent years, however, the Forest Service has employed many persons with little or no experience with firearms, and some with a strong aversion to them.
Darwin works in mysterious ways.
I would bet that a bigger wildlife-related danger facing Yellowstone visitors is driving into a bison or moose on one of the roads.
Peter
Coyotes kill peoples' pets and stalk young children. Cougars (the animal not the Ann) do the same.
We visited a state park in Nebraska several years back with Bison, Elk and other native animals to the area. The wolves were behind a 10 foot fence and there were several who patrolled the fence looking for a weakness. The look in their eyes wasn't the noble one the re-introducers like to talk about. We could accomplish the same thing by releasing packs of Rottweilers into the wild and letting them go feral. Think about it.
From the annals of Lewis and Clark:
A few days later Private Bratton narrowly escaped after being chased half a mile by a bear he had wounded through the lungs. Lewis sent a party in pursuit, which found the bear “perfectly alive.” They finally killed it with two shots to the skull. By this time, Lewis’s bravado had all but disappeared. “This bear being so hard to die reather intimedates us all; I must confess that I do not like the gentlemen and had reather fight two Indians than one bear; there is no other chance to conquer them by a single shot but by shooting them through the brains… the flece and skin were as much as two men could possibly carry.” Note that these men were using muzzleloaders which fired 50 caliber balls. If you're lucky enough to see one, I hope you're lucky enough to escape.
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