THE SCIENTIFIC NAME FOR A GRIZZLY BEAR is, appropriately, Ursus arctos horribilis, although it doesn’t mean what it implies. Grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have recently been placed back on the Endangered Species List. National Park Service photo.
By John Jefferson
Archery season opened in Texas last Saturday for whitetails, mule deer and Rio Grande turkeys. It was a wet one over much of the hunting range. I’m not sure how that affects bowstrings, but rain doesn’t stop many Texas hunters.
Last year, I interviewed former Round Rock Mayor, Alan McGraw, about bowhunting, for this column. This year, McGraw is celebrating having just taken his fourth bighorn ram. That’s usually the climax of a Grand Slam quest – all four North American wild sheep. But for McGraw, it was a somewhat hollow victory.
McGraw had intended it to be a four-sheep ARCHERY slam. And it just barely missed.
He hunted Dall sheep in Northwest Territories last year for five days without getting a bow shot. The last day of the hunt, he got a shot, but it was too far for this ethical hunter to attempt with a bow, even though he practices at up to 90 yard-shots. He borrowed the guide’s rifle and took the ram. He’s going back next year to complete his archery slam.
A bowhunt in Wyoming’s Teton Wilderness on September 16 didn’t end as well. The Casper Star-Tribune reported a bowhunter was hunting with a Wyoming guide. The hunter shot an elk, and the guide was field dressing it when a sow grizzly charged full-bore downhill. As the griz hit the guide, the hunter ran uphill and grabbed a Glock the guide had left with their gear.
What happened next isn’t clear, but the gun didn’t fire, possibly due to unfamiliarity with the Glock. The bear left the guide for the hunter who threw the pistol to the guide. The hunter suffered leg, chest, and arm injuries until the guide distracted the bear away from him. The pistol toss fell short of the guide. The hunter escaped uphill to the horses and rode to safety. Miraculously, he obtained cell service and called for help.
When found, the coroner reported the guide had died instantly. The next day, game officials and wardens surveyed the scene. The sow re-appeared and charged them. When it saw the five men, it stopped. Four were armed and opened fire, killing the bear. Elk meat in the bear’s stomach confirmed that it was the right bear.
Grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem were removed from the Endangered Species List (ESL) by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2017.
On September 24, the Federal District Court in Missoula vacated the USFWS’s delisting decision, placing Yellowstone grizzlies back on the ESL. That at least temporarily halted scheduled grizzly hunting in Idaho and Wyoming which had been scheduled for 2018.
An appeal of the court’s decision is being evaluated by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation. They argue that recovery of an endangered species should be celebrated. Evidence of recovery was presented. The 48-page decision seemed to me more concerned with form than substance. For now, however, grizzly hunting is prohibited in the lower 48, pending appeal.
JJ
