Grizzly Territory is Expanding Everywhere

Couldn’t get ahold of a landowner, after calling for weeks. So I drove 2 hours to his property.

At the end of a gravel road was a house, a barn, and large yard. A young couple came outside and said the landowner was in Arizona and never answered his phone.

I had planned to drive as far as I could on his land and then walk up to the Flathead National Forest. When I asked if that was ok, they said there was a Grizzly sow with 3 cubs in the area. The guy wanted to know if I had a pistol.

No, I didn’t.

He said Grizzlies are moving in everywhere, walking from the Rockies across the lowlands to the Snowies.

She said that was a great thing. This is a new generation of ranchers.

I have two surveys in the vicinity of this sow. Called to see if I could get a partner. Somebody is available for one survey but not both, and in return I must take one of her surveys across the highway.

I didn’t have time to drive to a library and print out the survey map for this new survey, so I stopped along the highway where I had bars and looked at the map online.

2 Gulches

Drove 2 hours into the forest, west of Judith Gap.

Grizzly sow and 3 cubs are in the mountains east of the red dot. I have 2 surveys there.

Drove as close to the first point as I could and got my pack out: no bear spray. Must have lost it yesterday crawling under barbed wire. It would be a 4 hour round trip to buy more.

In 9 years of surveying Montana, I have never used bear spray or been harmed by an animal (not even a tick). My only injuries have been from barbed wire and tripping.

Driving another 4 hours seemed more dangerous than surveying without spray. So I went to sleep and then waited for it to get light next morning before walking up the road.

Took my fire extinguisher and shovel as weapons and played Car Talk on volume 10 as I walked.

On the first point, a squirrel scolded me for 10 minutes.

The survey was thick, steep, scary, and no fun.

Battled 5 hours to get between points, and only completed 11 of 16.

Thought about the Kombucha waiting in the car.

Horned Lark

Red Squirrel, Hermit Thrush, Ruffed Grouse, Red-breasted Nuthatch, Dark-eyed Junco, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Western Tanager, Mourning Dove, Mountain Chickadee, American Robin, Least Flycatcher, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Pine Siskin, Red Crossbill, Ovenbird, Chipping Sparrow, Townsend’s Solitaire