GHOST GRIZZLIES?
Colorado Hunters Report Seeing Grizzlies, Long Believed Extinct in State
By David Frey, 9-29-06
Grizzly bears have long been considered gone from the mountains of Colorado. Reports of suspected sightings in southern Colorado have sounded like Bigfoot sightings: fleeting glances, unusually large footprints, no evidence.But state wildlife officials are taking seriously a recent reported grizzly sighting in the San Isabel National Forest near Independence Pass, which connects Aspen and Leadville.
Division of Wildlife officials say two hunters, both with experience with grizzlies and black bears, spotted a female grizzly and two cubs in a clearing about 80 yards away on Sept. 20. They watched them through binoculars and a spotting scope for about a minute until the bears moved on. They found no tracks or scat left behind.
A trio of DOW officers searched the site on foot on Sept. 23, but found no evidence. They’re planning to make another round.
The sighting is unusual, but DOW officials say they can’t rule out that what the hunters saw really were grizzlies. The last sighting in the state was on Sept. 23, 1979, when an outfitter on an archery elk hunt was attacked by a female grizzly in the San Juan National Forest. He survived. The grizzly was killed.
Then, as now, officials believed grizzlies were extinct in Colorado.
At least two books have studied the question of whether grizzlies remain in the Colorado wilds. In 1997, Rick Bass published “The Lost Grizzlies,” his account of exploring the mountains with grizzly experts Doug Peacock and Dennis Sizemore. On a solo climb, Bass believe he encountered a grizzly at 11,000 feet.
"I look for a tree to climb, my heart in my throat. That glimpse of the rolling humped back and the wild, wild eyes is all I get before the bear's flight takes it down to a wooded ravine and away," he wrote.
A compelling story, but like others, he came away with no evidence.
In “Ghost Grizzlies,” published in 1998, David Petersen writes of his own search. He sees big implications if grizzlies do still exist in Colorado. They may well turn out to be a distinct subspecies, he says, and if so, they “will instantly become the most endangered mammal in North America.”
The only sustainable grizzly populations in the Lower 48 are believed to be in Idaho, Montana and parts of Wyoming.
[End of article]
Back in the early '90s, when I edited the Mineral County Miner in Creede, Doug Peacock and Chris Servheen were both interested in reported griz sightings in the San Juans -- the mountain range where an outfitter killed the last know grizzly back in '79.
This new sighting, near Aspen of all places, is unexpected and startling. I know that country between Buena Vista and Aspen, and it is indeed wild, but it does seem like there has been way too many hikers and mountain bikers up there for a griz to go unseen for decades.
I'd be delighted to be proved wrong, but my best hunch is that those two hunters saw a big black bear (brown in color). Maybe Division of Wildlife can put some barbed wire hair traps and some bait smears up there to see if they can get any genetic evidence that would confirm the presence of grizzlies in Colorado.
"Fleeting glances" and "footprints" do not constitute "no evidence". On the contrary they *are* evidence. It would have been more accurate to say "no proof". These small indicators do not constitute proof in and of themselves of the existence of Grizzlies, but they are evidence.
Comment By Marion, 10-03-06A guy who rented a house from me in Rawlins, WY told me several years ago that G&F;saw a griz approaching his black bear bait in the Sierra Madres in southern Wyoming, and wanted the bait pulled. I never heard anymore about it. The thing is the habitat where they presently are is getting very full, and it is difficult to find a place to move problem bears, so who knows where they end up.
Comment By RW Akile, 5-30-08Just like the hunter in 1979 killed a Grizzly quite unexpectedly a Grizzly could well be out there unseen just like a Bigfoot. There are always a manner in which an animal can be in an area where no more of its kind are supposed to exist. If there is a land bridge corridor that can be walked then there is a possibility that a Grizzly can be there. Given, the 1979 bear had parents, the Bitterroot bear last October was not supposed to be - yet it was.
There are more people yet fewer people venturing into truly wild places. In a sense, 4.00 a gallon gas will have a diminishing affect upon visitors this year. Fewer people means a greater opportunity for bears to expand - time is on the bear side