Posted on 08/04/2004 7:20:26 AM PDT by presidio9
CONDON, Mont. -- Along about Labor Day, a tall, dark stranger known as "M-23" is likely to take a 40-mile trek south to Seeley Lake. There, peering out from a wooded, marshy area, he'll see tourists sunning themselves outside lakefront cabins and motorboats buzzing through the placid waters of this popular resort.
Chances are, nobody will see M-23, which may be just as well. Weighing 325 pounds and standing more than 6 feet tall, with a distinctive shoulder hump, he sports long scimitar-like claws and has a face scarred from years of vicious fights with other male grizzly bears. Though he tends to keep to himself, he's nobody to mess with.
"We would have never thought to look for him at Seeley because bears haven't been there before," explains Chris Servheen, a bear expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who spends much of his time here in Montana's upper Swan Valley, a kind of crossroads for some of the 1,300-plus grizzlies left in the northwestern U.S.
Mr. Servheen knows where M-23 prowls because he has fitted him and several other grizzlies with collars containing Global Positioning System receivers. M-23 is the only bear who has been tracked twice, and one piece of information stands out: In both 2001 and 2002, M-23 visited Seeley Lake in late summer.
For a long time, the daily movements of grizzlies were shrouded in mystery. Known to biologists as Ursus arctos horribilis, grizzlies are notoriously difficult to track by day and nearly impossible to follow at night. Mr. Servheen's bear-tracking maps are changing that. They have already yielded one surprising tidbit: America's largest, smartest predators may be closer than many people think.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Former celebrity "bear whisperer" Timothy Treadwell.
For the last two years, we here in Memphis have had Grizzlies walking freely amongst us and nobody minds it.
Hey CJ, keep a gun handy when you take the boys out in the fields.
"325".lbs..more like 825..
They're so cute and cuddily.
I've got three words for you
458 Winchester Magnum
In the proper dosage, that should take care of the bear problem in short order.
Either that, or catch it in the middle of the road and hit it with a beer truck.
Former New Age Animal Worshiper & PETA Life Member....
I guess this Treadwell feller was to bears as Rachel Corrie was to bulldozers. Neither one was splitting atoms on their days off, apparently.
Oddly enough, I've discovered that as long as there are enough rabbits, turkeys and ground birds, and roadkill deer, we all co-exist just fine. Should something take place disrupting that balance, causing a food shortage for the predators, I don't think co-existance will be possible.
Seeley Lake is about 75 miles from here. One of my coworkers lives in Lincoln close to where they found the Unabomber and sees bears in his yard all the time. He has to have armored trashcans to keep the bears away.
We had a young black bear in our yard at the Lake of the Ozarks last spring. I got a picture of him lapping seeds from the bird feeder. He was no grizzlie, and for that I'm thankful.
I think I have just the"handgun"for the job!It's not really a'handgun",it's really more of a"hand-cannon"!You guessed it,it's a 500S&W Magnum!!I don;t think there's an animal that can't be taken by one of these MONSTERS!!
We have both kinds here. The blacks usually run. If you're smart you'll steer clear of the griz.
I got the crank-open window in my office open without his hearing me. The shutter snap from my camera sent him flying, tho...
you had better hope for a lucky head shot. if not that grizzle might get mad and have you for lunch. nothing less then a 3006.
How funny is it that people would be shocked to see a bear when they live up in the mountains among all sorts of wildlife? Hmmm.... maybe they should be thinking that they themselves are living in the 'bears' back yard.
Not sure I understand the meaning of your post. I was referring to our NBA team, the Memphis Grizzlies.
I'm talking 400gr.CorBon loads!One guy took one of these to Africa on a hunting trip.He took a Cape Buffalo with one round.He took an elephant with two.This thing produces three-times the muzzle-pressure as a .44Magnum.
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