"Say, I've found a perfect spot to catch us a bear."
"How can you be sure?"
"I saw a sign that said Fine for Hunting."
Posted on 03/06/2006 4:07:08 PM PST by george76
Suit says state at fault in grizzly mauling...
The widow of a hunter mauled by a grizzly bear while he was gutting an elk has filed an appeal with the Montana Supreme Court after a district judge here dismissed her lawsuit against the state.
Mary Ann Hilston contends negligent management practices led to the death of her husband...in the fall of 2001.
She filed a lawsuit in federal court in September 2004, claiming the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks knew there was an aggressive grizzly bear with two cubs prowling the Clearwater Wildlife Management Area northeast of Missoula at the time of her husband's death.
A judge dismissed FWS as a defendant, and determined federal court wasn't the proper venue for a suit against FWP.
Hilston then filed a wrongful death suit against FWP in state District Court.
She argued that the agency knew an aggressive bear had taken over a hunter's elk carcass in the management area just days before her husband's attack.
In addition, the suit claims that FWP's practice of planting livestock carcasses in the area to draw bears away from surrounding ranch lands created an increased risk of conflict between bears and humans.
The FWP failed to warn hunters of the risk,...
Hilston's attorneys filed an appeal to the state Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Robert Vermillion, one of Hilston's attorneys, said the case revolves around the Montana Recreational Use Immunity Act.
(Excerpt) Read more at billingsgazette.net ...
"Hilston was aware that grizzly bears inhabited the Blackfoot-Clearwater Wildlife Management Area, located about thirty-eight miles northeast of Missoula, and he took a calculated risk on October 30, 2001, when he decided to go alone to the area to hunt elk."
The wife sounds like she listened to Timothy Tredwell, too much. Just WHERE did she think her husband was hunting? Has she seen a map?
"Let me put it this way.... I'm alive, he's dead. That makes me more brilliant than he."
Well, the logic of that can not be disputed. Personally, as a hunter, I never go alone, and certainly would not gut an animal in bear country without a trusted fellow watching the AR back.
Worst possible situational thinking always pays dividends.
Still makes you far short of brilliant, you dress an elk where you kill it, do you have the least bit of an ideal how much an elk weighs? When way off the beaten path, the hunter normally carries out the hind quarters the first trip. But you really shouldn't hunt alone in brown bear country.
"But you really shouldn't hunt alone in brown bear country."
You just proved my point. It was a bone-headed move. You don't have to be brilliant to see that.
Honest question, no intent to insult but do you hunt ?
What this guy was doing is done thousands of times during elk and deer season....... always safer to hunt in pairs and in dangerous game (grizzly) country one hunter ALWAYS watches while the other hunter dresses out the game harvested.
Any grizzly with cubs is defensive of her cubs which is interpreted as aggressive by most. Of late the sound of a gunshot is a pavlov's doggie dinner bell to hungry critters somewhat. Not proven but suspected.
What is worse in national parks firearms are banned. Bad idea.
May I suggest Golden Gate Park? Good cover. Lots of forage. Plenty of animal huggers to protect them.
Griffin Park would be a good second choice.
Maybe a few in Yosemite & Kings Canyon, or Mount Diablo.
Since California even has one on its state flag, it just seems fitting.
In fact, a pair of them loose in the halls of the state capitol building during a legislative session has been a dream of mine for decades.
-ccm
"Say, I've found a perfect spot to catch us a bear."
"How can you be sure?"
"I saw a sign that said Fine for Hunting."
I read an article that said one way to get rich in this country is to have a dead relative.
I have had it with frivolous lawsuits and threats of lawsuits whether it is by the ACLU or morons with dollar signs in their eyes.
Large, bloody carcass & known bear country.... recipe for diligence.
Add in a bit of conditioning for the "dinner bell" gunshot, a hungry Sow griz with cubs, and dressing your kill could get dicey.
One should always take another bear with them.
Especially if the dead relative smoked, got served hot coffee, or drives an SUV.
That kind of mentality would in essence outlaw hunting in North Idaho and Montana, some of the best elk hunting around!
Ed
I lived in Kodiak Brown bear country in Alaska and grizzly country in Montana and North Idaho and I usually went hiking alone...knowing the risks.
It was just hard to come up with a hiking partner all the time, and I preferred to hike alone.
Ed
I can understand, but "knowing the risks" assumes responsibility and the state (this is OUR money folks) doesn't owe someone money for a mishap in dangerous country.
If this bear wouldn't have gotten him, a number of other life-threatening mishaps might have, risks he ran by going alone. Hell, he could have died easily from twisting his ankle or throwing his back out trying to pack the thing out. I don't ride alone in the wild country here, and we don't even have grizzlies...
All that said... I have real concerns and qualms if they're baiting bears.
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