830-Pound Bear Found Near Lincoln, Montana
Grizzly Killed by Pickup: The Photos
By Matthew Frank, 11-06-07
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| Caption: Photos courtesy of Dennis Smrdel. Editor's Note: Some of these photos first appeared in the Blackfoot Valley Dispatch | |
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Sometimes the weight of a news story isn’t fully felt until pictures ground the abstract. In this case, it’s pictures of a dead 830-pound grizzly bear, hit by a pickup truck on Highway 200 near Lincoln, Montana, about three weeks ago.
The photographs that accompany this story were taken by Dennis Smrdel October 17th. That morning, at about 3:45, a logger driving a big Dodge diesel en route to Missoula hit something, but he wasn’t sure what, and he kept going. But a few miles later, after realizing his radiator was shot, he thought it best to turn around. He arrived back at a massive male grizzly dead in a ditch. A couple people had already discovered it.
It turned out the grizzly was one well known to some folks who live in the area, particularly the Smrdels, who reside smack in the middle of a major wildlife travel corridor just west of Lincoln. Fish, Wildlife & Parks set up a trap on his property in hopes of catching this bear. It had been up to some mischief, nosing around and breaking into his pump house three times. FWP bear specialist Jamie Jonkel said it had mastered “the art of breaking and entering” and “walking the gravy train.”
The bear, a healthy 12-year-old, was killed just a quarter-mile from the Smrdel’s, about at the Powell County sign on 200, and Dennis’s hunch is that the bear was making another trip back to his property.
“I’d have much rather seen him get caught (in the trap) and placed somewhere else,” Dennis said, “than dead on the highway.”
“It was a huge animal, a beautiful animal.”
The bear was originally captured in 1996 along the Rocky Mountain Front as part of a research study, as evidenced by its lip tattoo, and radio-collared until 1998 when the bear “went off the air,” Jonkel said. Hair samples showed that the bear made its way into the Blackfoot region by 2004, and Jonkel suspects—and hopes—it’s the same grizzly responsible for other area outbuilding break-ins last fall.
Jonkel said if a grizzly had to die he’s glad it was one that probably would have been put down anyway because of its habituation to human property. And he thinks the grizzly has helped residents in and around this wildlife corridor better understand their actions and how they affect bears. “It’s a good learning process for everyone,” Jonkel said. “It’s opened up their eyes as to how unique their property is.”
There’s been a lot of grizzly activity in the Lincoln area this year: on the Smrdel property alone, a trail camera has taken pictures of four different individuals, plus a female grizzly that was inadvertently caught in the trap, not on camera, Jonkel said. He said a bear’s range changes slightly each year depending on factors that affect its food supply, like drought. 
And all too often humans affect that food supply, too. In Lincoln Canyon there are a handful of people with “big elk and deer feeding programs” that attract bears, Jonkel said. Plus there are the less-deliberate attractants, like bird feeders, garbage and pet food. In the midst of this heightened bear activity, residents are being more mindful; the Smrdels, for instance, have removed their salt lick, which can “create false game pockets,” Jonkel said.
The fewer unnatural attractants, “the better off it is for the wildlife in that area,” Jonkel said.
So what happens to the grizzly? Dennis hopes that the people of Lincoln can keep the bear at the Lincoln Ranger Station for educational purposes—so kids can learn, for example, “What to do and what not to do when you encounter a bear.”
Jonkel said there are multiple people on the waiting list for a grizzly hide, and they don’t always go where they deserve to, but, he said, “I have a feeling it will end up in the Lincoln Community based on the education that has already occurred there.”
“You can see pictures,” Dennis said, “but until you see one in person you don’t have a clue.”
Editor’s note: This story originally reported that the bear weighed about 700 pounds. Since then, wildlife officials upped that to 830 pounds.
[End of article]Holy Cow!
Comment By TZ, 11-07-07The driver was "driving a big Dodge diesel en route to Missoula hit something, but he wasn’t sure what, and he kept going. But a few miles later, after realizing his radiator was shot"
Wow. Way to go, buddy. A 700 pound object hits your truck, busts up your radiator and you don't know what happened? Were you stoned or something? And, then, it took you several miles before you figured out to turn around. You must have been seriously out of it.
Ya know, Karen, I was kinda thinking the same thing. Can anyone say, "hit and run?"
yikes!
I'm glad to see these photos here. There is so much sadness and metaphor in this "incident," which was otherwise little-commented upon. Wild nobility, utter autonomy, plastered, yet again, by a species that seems somehow, in its careless, fuel burning speedy voraciousness, less interesting than the ones that are being everywhere crushed beneath its heels. And that's not to say that we're not, most of us, pretty good folks. But the feeling you get from these photos is: man, there's something bad wrong.
I was thinking of Lonely are the Brave, the movie made
out of Edward Abbey's first book, "The Brave Cowboy," in the early 1960's, with Kirk Douglas as the last truly free man in the West, a man of honor and anarchy and loyalty. At the end he and his beautiful horse get run down by an eighteen wheeler driven by a nice, easy going, exhausted wage slave type of heavy set guy. Nobody ever said Abbey went for the subtle metaphors.
To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, I tremble for my species when I reflect upon the fact that God is just.
Hal
This is a good story, factual and to the point. Yes it does make you wonder about the driver of the BIG DODGE TRUCK. My question is did he recognize what he struck? If in fact he did I don't blame him for not stopping, who wants to take a chance with an injured Grizzly....good sense and good samaritan sometimes do not mean the same thing. BUT on the other hand if he didn't know what he hit WHY didn't he stop to check if it was a person or what? Only one person can answer this and we can speculate until were blue in the face and still never know for sure.
The other point here is this is only one of many incidents involving Grizzly Bears between Glacier and Yellowstone Parks. I think we need to re think the status of the Grizzly and consider removing it from the endangered species list. It appears it has expanded beyond it's range and is becoming to accustomed to people and thus causing a number of conflicts. Perhaps in the future a drawing to hunt them just like for Moose, Sheep and Goat may be a feasable answer......or maybe not, time will tell.
One thing is fact here. In my lifrtime I have been within 20 feet of three different Grizzly's in the Wilderness. Once you have experienced this you develop a tremendous respect for them and the country in which they live. It makes you appreciate the Last Best Place even more. It's their home (the Wilderness) we're just passing through as visitors.
Dan
Hey Dan O, grizzlies were delisted last spring.
Comment By Dan O, 11-07-07Qbert
that is correct for the Yellowstone area but not the rest of the State.
Dan
Humans deserve the same pressures they've placed on the planet's wildlife. I was brought up in MT, and it sickens me when I go back and see the place mobbed with wealthy, naive people who care only about their property views and not the wildlife that was there first. May the wildlife take back what is rightfully theirs....in any manner they deem fit as far as I'm concerned. Even if I'm the recipient.....
Comment By Catnapping, 11-09-07figure-it-out: I like the way you think. Bravo and amen!
Comment By figure_it_out, 11-09-07Majestic animal souls don't deserve death by the sword, firearm, vehicle or trap (unless they are suffering chronically).
An animal such as this deserves to pass away under the setting sun in his/her favorite berry patch in the wildlands of beautiful Montana. If you've never been there, check out Glacier National Park. If you long for the big city after that, then maybe your calling is to die young in a crosswalk when some spaz messing with their IPOD runs you over (and keeps going of course).
It just simply saddens me deeply, whether it was accidental or intentional. If I ever marry and raise a child, I could only hope they turn out to be the most hardcore Greenpeace headknocker the world has ever experienced.
Screw the pacifist approach, let 'em dole out retribution for the tortured and tormented animal souls. People kill people over elephant ivory (and bear parts), those people need their fu**ing arses kicked all the way to the open mouths of a big saltie croc.
Go for it...challenge me on this, and I'd love to meet you anywhere on the planet. How about I kick your f-ing arse in front of the last oranguatangs in Borneo, pandas in China, baby seals in the arctic, whales in Japan. Pick the spot you c**ksuckers. Especially you developers out there.
May hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, lahars, quakes, wildfires, and floods give those who have no respect for wildlife or their habitats let you have a firsthand taste of what it's like being a truly wild soul that has no independent voice....there, I'm done.
Ditto to the aforementioned sentiments. This bear has the intrinsic RIGHT to be cremated and have it's ashes scattered throughout the streams & forests from which it arose so that it's soul will renew into infinity.
WE OWE IT that honor. No capital gains from this you p*icks!!! The hide will only end up on President Bush's oval office floor if sold, and then we all end up paying for it.......I don't care how you explain it or "what the proceeds will be used for", I too can see right through the farse.
For what it's worth, the story implies that the Dodge is a logging truck, although apparently Dodge has not made semis for over 30 years. If, however, the vehicle were as large as this one [http://www.bigrigspulling.com/dodge.html], striking *any* 700-pound object would have been barely noticeable, and the bear would have been launched well off the road into the ditch, just as the story states. Between the hours of 3 and 4 a.m. in early November in that stretch of Hwy. 200, there would likely have been fog from the Blackfoot covering the road, and bears don't exactly wear reflective tape. I've nearly hit elk on that piece of road; as tall as they are, they are effectively invisible at 200 yards, which is a few nanoseconds away from an impact for a vehicle going over 50mph.
Comment By Extinction is not the answer, ranching is..., 11-11-07It is apparent, by the comments of the psychotic animal rights as*tivist above that they have never tasted bear meat. Seasoned to perfection and tenderized by a 5000 lb truck. diesel no less. What a treat. It will not be long before all wildlife will be sold in restaurants. Not hunted as they should be. By Men in big trucks, with even bigger guns. Gas is just getting too expensive to road hunt any more. so as with all good meat it will have to be penned and raised commercially. Just to make it economical. At the same time available to everyone. so that we can get back to our roots and introduce our children to the pleasure of red meat. Good healthy wild game. The younger the better. Hunting for trophies is not what I do. But if I come across one it will be taken. I would prefer to let them take their first wild game as any loving father would, in the beautiful, vast wilderness our ancestors claimed for us. As conservationists and sportsmen. If that is not possible at least they may taste the flesh of the magnificent beasts that made our forefathers hero's, not zeros. Mmmm.....I can taste the venison steak and salmon patties now. Topped with wild mushrooms. Proceeded by an elk veal meatballs and duck breast sausage appetizers.
PS No pacifist here. (May hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, lahars, quakes, wildfires, and floods give those who have no respect for wildlife or their habitats let you have a firsthand taste of what it's like being a truly wild soul that has no independent voice....there, I'm done. ) Seen or been in a lot of them. No big deal if you know what you are doing. Or.....Maybe a trully wild soul could explain it better?
I struggled to open this story as I didn't really want to see a dead grizz....I personally am very afraid of bears especially the grizzly, but I also care very much for the species. Who amongst us can say we are not impressed and awestruck with a beast such as this? I feel so aweful for this bear - struck by an ignorant driver - big surprise. I live in Idaho and I know you cannot always avoid game on the road, but a bear of this size, tell me another lie! Sounds as though the bear was getting into mischief, but even the property owner said he shouldn't have died in such a manner. Put his remains or ashes back where they belong (as suggested above) and drivers - open your eyes and slow your ass down! And to the driver who hit this bear...you know exactly what you hit and I ponder your "accidental" claim. Remember what goes around comes around.
Comment By i don't get it, 11-13-07Ok, I'm as much an animal lover as the next gal and find a lot of tragedy in this story. But, can Rhiana or someone please explain to me how hitting a griz with your vehicle on a highway could be anything but an accident. I'm having trouble getting my head around any other scenario.
Comment By willhuntforfood, 11-13-07Its a good thing this bear got killed before it hurt (ate) some kid. All you citidiots don't have a clue how dangerous these bears are. I've never seen so many inane and poorly informed comments in one place. LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Comment By Farm boy20, 11-14-07That is one huge bear good thing he hit it with a truck cuz my hands would be shaking so much i couldnt shoot it. Trucks are faster and more deadly anyways there using it for educational purposes i would stuff it over my fire place or near the door so when the Jw's come to convert me. U animal rights activists bitch about everything why dont you get your heads out of each others asses and look at the facts you meet that bear in the woods i would like to see what u would do im sure your loving hippie ways wouldnt stop it but my 30-06 would so who's the dumb one here. If god didnt want us to kill animals he would have made them taste nastier.
Comment By Nancy, 11-17-07What is the waiting list for grizzly hides as referenced in this article? Are these individual Joe Publics? Or organizations?
Comment By Matthew Frank, 11-17-07Nancy, according to Jamie Jonkel, they're all organizations that would use the hide for educational purposes.
Comment By Nancy, 11-17-07Thanks for clarifying that. It wasn't clear but I was assuming that was the case.
Comment By grizzlyloverandhunter, 11-23-07Thanks for bringing some sanity to the conversation farm boy, will hunt for food, and By Extinction is not the answer. I love grizzlies (and hunting) and have seen many and watched them inently for hours. They are beautiful and amazing. But you animal rights activist have lost your damn mind. You people have no place in the
mountains. You talk all big and tough, but you are out of touch with reality. It makes me sick to see you people wearing your thigh high shorts walking through the mountains. If a grizzly could talk i am sure they would be laughing and cracking jokes at you guys walking through the mountains. Hunters have been around as long as animals have, and hunters respect there game more than anyone so go back to star bucks and bitch about us, and please stay the hell out of the mountains i.m tired of laughing at you guys, it scares away the game that im hunting
Wow, that bear is huge. I grew up in the city, I have never seen a bear... or any other wild animal for that matter. I have driven at night through a dark country road hoping that my high beams would let me see a deer if it should happen to head towards the street. I have to say, I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to hit an animal of that size on purpose!! Can you imagine the kind of damage that animal could do to any vehicle given the right circumstances!! It would be like running into a wall to see if the truck would be OK!!
You people are insane.
On the other hand if the driver did see the bear (I am sure at the last possible second) I don't think there is much he could have done for the bear... CPR... first aid kit?? Do the large trucks come with road kill first aid kits these days? I am sure the bear would let the driver nurse it's wounds waiting for the ambulance to arrive!
Wow! that hide would make a dynamite rug! You could also make some awesome foot stools out of the legs and paws.
You little Closet Queens!
this is not very nice it is bull shit
Comment By Dan E, 12-18-07He knew what he hit. Freebee. He had to hid a few things before going back. I'll bet he was expecting to keep it too.
Comment By Lorraine Mattheisen, 1-02-081-2-08
Guess what! Someone changed the location of this "accident" to the state of Wisconsin!!! Also not far from where I was raised.
Not proud of that fact, someone's sick humor. At any rate, a sad thing to have happened, the king should have lived out his days in the berry patch untouched by anyone. What a super example of Gods creation and beauty. Some things get no respect.
Animals don't have souls. They are pets or food, depending on the species and your culture (what is one someplace, is the other elsewhere). It is unfortunate the bear died that way, but it was obviously getting too close to humans to be safe. People have dominion over the earth. They need to take care of it for future generations, but not put the animals above themselves. "Extinction is not the answer, ranching is..." has the right idea. Bear meat is delicious. It would have been better to have been a quick gunshot death, but what happens, happens.
Comment By Bill C., 1-08-08I'm not the "brightest penny in the Mint," but I have been a police accident investigator for almost 3 decades, working here in Texas in "deer country."
I don't care if the driver was operating an M-1 Abrhams tank, hitting an 830 pound animal on the highway would have been noticed - unless you were drunk or stoned out of your mind!
It has been my experience during all that time, that drivers who know that there were no witness to the collision,m simply LIE under those conditions, and think that we (law enforcement" cannot "prove it if we didn't see it."
Absolutely nothing could be further from the truth.
Most folks who "hit & run" and later return to the scene of the collision, do so to give them time to get ride of the drugs that they have in their vehicle!
But what do I know?
-Bill C.
I to am a police officer and i drive this road quite often in the winter. i have hit 1 deer in the same area and barely missed many more deer and many more elk. it is foggy and slick most the time this time of year at this time of the morning. this guy was a logger and was going to work at same time of day he always does. he had a huge bumper on his truck because he has to drive this road every day and hits deer on a regular basis. this truck ways 10,000 lbs. and can hit a deer like a baseball bat doing no damage. this guy is not at fault for what happened. this bear needed to die before someone got hurt. when you trap a bear it is a death sentence they always get into trouble again an end up dead at a great cost to the tax payer.
this is a beautiful animal and hopefully the residents learn a lesson on what to do to protect the bears from the temptations of getting to close to humans.
ps you radical environmentalists truly show how senseless and irrational you truly are. thank god the rest of us are armed and can protect ourselves from your threats and attempt to take away our god given rights
It's scary how many Dumb a** people are out there who don't know anything more about nature and the wildlife than what they've seen on National Geographic, but still think that their opinion is the only possible right one, and anyone who disagrees with them is either an idiot or a redneck/hillbilly. There is always a big Hoopla about the low voter turn-out for elections and everyone says we need to get more people to vote. However, I for one, am glad that we have low turn-out because heaven help us if all these activists actually got off their soap boxes and voted instead of b*t*hing.
PS: You should have to pre-register in order to vote in every state and part of the registration process should be to take a urine test.
hi my name is peneople i am 23 years old well there berar is sad and i am sad so well anyway my name is peneople and i am 23 years old and i feeel so saD FOR THE BEAR I DIDNT READ THE STRY THAT GOSE WITH IT CUZ IT WAS TO LONG FOIR ME TO read well i looked at the pictures dose that count
\ave a wonderful day at chucky cheese
love Peneople
I just got this pictur sent to me ,and it said it was a black bear killed in wisconsin. some people should spend more time in the woods and less on the internet. Me and my Hunting buddy figured it was a hoax right away.
Comment By jo-jo tator, 11-04-08hey thats a big bear. I'll tell you if I had a big truck like they are saying he had i would have hit that bear too especially if that bear is getting that close to humans what if a child was in a wheelchair and outside she/he wouldn't have a chance. People need to leave the animals alone and not try to manage them leave that to US HUNTERS we do enough damage.
Comment By by hogglegg, 1-12-09its to bad about the death of a bueatiful and dangerous animal.
Once again we humans are trying to justify all the stupid stuff we do. It sure as hell aint the bears fault.
In June 08 I was visiting my home state of Montana and found this Bear is on display for all to see. If you want to know the real story go to Lincoln Montana and visit the US Forest Service. They have this animal mounted in a life like stance (on all four feet). I was very impressed at the way it is displayed. If a humble animal is killed on a state highway all of us think it is terrible both to waste the animal's life and to loose the table fare. I am now living in Washington State but will always call Montana my home.
Comment By Whatever, 2-05-09You environmental freaks are such hypocrites, especially the "figure it out" moron and its groupies. Why are you taking up space, and air, and food, and water on this planet? Why don't you all just kill yourselves? That is the only noble answer, right? I was saddened by the pictures too. It's a beautiful animal. But we are all creatures of this earth and deserve some space. Accidents happen. Get a life.
Comment By gary lease, 2-05-09Dear "WHATEVER",
You speak with a fork--ed tongue. You are speaking to a person who can relate to your concerns but is a man who cares about all, not just you. Please keep your snide remarks to yourself. This animal is a noble one and deserves to be made into more than you can understand or appreciate. I challenge you to go to the ranger station and see for yourself what I mean. If an animal like this is killed "in an accident" lets hope this type of accident does not happen again, yet if there are people that have never seen the likes then let them see and understand what this great animal is. First hand.
PS. I am now and always will be an avid outdoorsman and "HUNTER". God bless our forfathers and the second ammendment....
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The retard driving the Dodge didn't feel it because it didn't happen . It was hit by a Tractor Trailer in Alberta, Canada.
Comment By gary lease, 3-17-09My dear sir,
Unless you have been in Lincoln Montana with-in the last year I'm sure you are going on information that is second or third hand. I would be more than happy to provide you information from a photo or two I personally took. This bear is mounted there as I stated earlier, not in Canada.
Addressed to "whoever", you clearly should not have posted to this board if you feel the way you do. If people like you took your own advice, there would be less hatred and murder in this world. Obviously you didn't read OR agree to the Comment policty before you posted. No matter how you feel about this subject, people have a right to their own free speech and opinions without the ridicule of an unprofessional person that cares nothing about the guidelines and rules of the board.
As for the bear, it is truly a majestic animal, and sad to see tragedy like this. Whether it was killed by a truck or a harley (as emails state), I think it's awesome to use this situation and mount the bear for educational purposes. To see and even touch an animal like this is something most people would never have the opportunity to do. Whenever I get to Montana I will definitely look this bear up. In the meantime, if anybody has a photo of the vehicle in question, I would LOVE to see it. Are we all sure it wasn't killed by a hunter illegally?
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