I just came across this video on youtube. It is insane! The video quality is not professional but the event is quite unreal. I would love to have this experience with a grizzly bear, especially on camera. I wonder what would have happened if they drove away with it in the truck?

As you may have been reading I drew a grizzly bear tag for the Horsefly area this spring (2009). I spent a lot of time planning, talking to hunters, going over maps, and google earth before going on this trip. I had a few people bail but a new friend (Nick) was gracious enough to offer his truck and quad to join me in the trip.

When we arrived in the area we were planning on hunting I was soon dissapointed as snow was covering all the areas I had planned to spot for grizzly. Above is a picture of the only grizzly tracks we saw. We staked this area out a few times for hours but there was no new sign or sightings of North Americas top predator.

This scat was found close to the tracks, I can only assume it is grizzly bear scat.

We spent a fair amount of time spotting for grizzly bear but again we were not able to even look in the areas I pre planned from google earth. We could not access the slides but still glassed what we could to no avail.

In total we saw 3 moose, 3 grouse, a porcupine, and 5 black bears. but I connected on this boar on the left. He was not huge but I decided to take a meat bear on the first day of the hunt and invest the rest of the trip searching for the elusive grizzly that never presented itself.

The story was: We were quading down this main forest service road and the bear was 200 yards away on the road. Nick initially wanted a crack at it but it scurried up the hill into the woods. We tried to circle around the area it was travelling and I spotted the bear below me. The bear was walking out to the open so I loaded a shell and anticipated where the bear was going to walk. The bear had other plans and decided to go down accross the road and towards the river. As it was walking through the bush on the other side of the road, I came accross the road and saw the black bear walking through the trees. He stopped and looked towards my direction and his hesitation was his demise. I took a freehand shot and connnected right behind the shoulder.

The bullets I had been using were Barnes TTSX 168grain out of my .300 Winchester Magnum. I hand loaded and tested them at the range as you might have seen on previous posts. The shot was from 60 yards (approximately) and was a one shot kill, the bear did not travel far before piling up on a tree. The boar was 5′4" from nose to tail. I am getting jerky made out of the hind legs, garlic sausage, and chorizo sausage out of the rest.

Below is a picture of the exit wound of the Barnes 168grain TTSX bullet on the aforementioned black bear:

I have been playing with some loads and I have had good results with the barnes 168grain TTSX bullets and IMR4831 powder out of my .300wm. I have 3026 fps at the muzzle and I am sighted in for a 250 yard zero. I went to the range again(I have been spending a fair amount of time there preparing for my grizzly hunt and just made sure I was dialed in. The picture on the left is my group at 200 yards today. Here are my numbers according to the Barnes reloading manual for the BC and muzzle velocity I am getting:

For a 250yd zero.
>
> Yrds velocity trajectory
>
> 0 3000 -1.50
>
> 100 2779 2.58
>
> 200 2568 2.14
>
> 300 2368 -3.57
>
> 400 2178 -15.50
>
> 500 1998 -34.77
>
> 600 1827 -62.77

I only shot out to 300 yards and got a 3 inch group.

I just got this email sent to me by a fellow member of BC wildlife, it is very informative and all true:

Grizzly Bear Fact Sheet

1. Grizzly Bear Numbers

The current conservative population estimate is 17,000 grizzly bears in British Columbia.

These figures have been established through extensive inventory work by grizzly bear scientists and researchers in representative areas throughout the province.

Estimating the number of bears in the province is not a simple process. Although they are a large, imposing animal, they are also secretive and often nocturnal and  their typical habitat makes sightings difficult or even impossible.

Early estimates of grizzly bear populations were based on reports from the field; loggers, hunters, outfitters and others who inhabited the backcountry. Based on this limited information, biologists were extremely conservative, with their 1979 estimate being 6,000 bears.

In the 1980s studies using emerging technology such as radio-telemetry, capture-recapture and more detailed habitat analysis resulted in the population estimate updated to 13,000 bears province-wide. While developing this estimate, biologists continued to significantly underestimate the carry capacity of the more productive grizzly bear habitats.

Beginning in the 1990s, DNA analysis became a new valuable tool for research biologists and used in conjunction with existing inventory procedures resulted in the grizzly bear population estimates being adjusted once again upwards to the current levels.

It must be noted that the figures used are, and have always been, conservative estimates based on the analysis of the studies done by qualified and experienced researchers.

In the past, anti-hunting and anti-use activists have tried to refute the Ministry of Environment’s population figures, saying that there ‘could be’ as few as 4,000 grizzlies in B.C. But there have been no studies done that would give any credibility to these statements. They have no basis in scientific fact.

Grizzly Bear Reproductive Rates:

One of the arguments that we have heard regarding the sustainability of grizzly bear populations is their low reproductive rates.

While mature females produce cubs only every second or third year, what is not mentioned is that the cubs have a much higher survival rate than the young of most other large mammals. This is partly due to the simple fact that the big bears are at the top of the food chain and have few predatory threats as well as the extreme protective nature of the female grizzly toward her cubs. The key to the reproductive success of grizzly bears populations is that is that grizzly bear females are excellent mothers.

Studies that have been done in British Columbia’s Flathead area as well as in Alaska’s coastal and interior regions have documented that grizzly bear populations are capable of showing a 6% to 8% annual increase or higher. This brings into focus the fact that population growth is reliant on both the birth and death rates of a species. 

Grizzly Bear Hunting Statistics:

One of the arguments from groups and individuals whose goal is to completely ban all hunting of grizzly bears in British Columbia is that the bears are at risk because they are being overhunted.

To understand this issue, you must first be familiar with British Columbia’s hunting regulations and the fact that all grizzly bear hunting in B.C. is conducted through a Limited Entry Hunting (LEH) system where the number of hunters in any specific area is limited through a lottery system. In this manner wildlife managers can control the number of bears taken by licensed hunters in specifically defined geographic areas  through the number of permits that are issued.

Grizzly bear mortalities are analyzed by Ministry of Environment biologists through a detailed procedures manual (http://wlapwww.gov.bc.ca/wld/documents/gb_harvest_mgmt_proc_app1.pdf) that defines what limits must be placed on total human caused mortality of grizzly bears as well as a factor for unknown mortality. These limits vary depending on the assessed quality of the bear habitat in any given Management Unit (MU).

These mortality limits range from a maximum of 5% of the total estimated population in the very best habitat to a low of 3% in the lowest habitat class. Further adjustments are made based on the number of mortalities of female grizzlies in any given Wildlife Management Unit (MU).

Using the current estimated population figure of 17,000 grizzly bears the percentage of grizzly bears killed by all licensed hunters since 2002 is as follows:

 year  percentile of herd  number of grizzlys killed

2002      1.26%                      214

2003      1.35%                      229

2004      1.59%                      270

2005      1.54%                      262

2006       1.46%                      248

These figures are indicative of the conservative harvest rates that have been set by the Ministry Environment professional staff considering bear harvest rates could be established as at least two or three times as high.

Facts on Hunting

One of the arguments for removing grizzly bears from the list of huntable wildlife is that this will automatically give them the protection that they need to increase or at least maintain their population numbers. Although this may appear at first hearing to be an unassailable argument, it is not necessarily so.

If grizzly bears are totally protected – in fact if any species is totally protected – it disappears off the radar of public accountability. The bears will cease to have a positive economic value in most jurisdictions. Groups that insist on maintaining an opportunity to harvest the bear are also the groups that are willing to provide funding for research. This will not continue.

Grizzly bears will certainly still have value in areas where commercial bear-viewing operations are in place, but those are mostly in accessible coastal areas where the big bears congregate during salmon runs. In the interior of the province grizzlies are much more secretive, covering relatively large territories and living in heavy cover and are not conducive the commercial viewing operations. In these areas the grizzly will have little to no economic value and will in many situations assume the status of vermin. It will take us back to a time when ranchers encouraged their employees to kill every bear they encountered in their work.

Without hunting, grizzly bears become emboldened and begin not only to interact destructively with property and livestock but also to become a safety hazard for individuals and communities requiring expensive control measures which result in wasteful agency-caused bear deaths.

It is worth noting that in National Parks where grizzly bears, along with all other species, have complete protection and have lost their wariness and have become habituated to human settlement, grizzly bear populations have significantly lower survival rates compared to bears outside of the parks’ boundaries. This is also true of the areas in the US where grizzly bears are protected compared to adjacent areas in British Columbia where they are hunted.

General:

The guiding rule of wildlife management in British Columbia is that it is based on scientific principles. Decisions should not be made on personal philosophies or emotional perspectives.

This is not what the people who are calling for the end to British Columbia’s grizzly bear hunt want to hear. Although they couch their arguments in pseudo-scientific terms and maintain that their chief concern is conservation, their primary goal is to stop hunting.

They know that they would be unsuccessful were they to attack hunting in general and instead have tried to pick battlegrounds where they hope they can generate some emotional appeal with the general public.

In the late 1990s led by one specific anti hunting group, many in the environmental community supported a major effort to ban all bear hunting, including the hunt for black bears. They were successful in having the government of the day impose a grizzly bear hunting moratorium until a newly elected provincial government reexamined their arguments in the light of the existing biological science and found their claims unfounded. This ill advised initiative collapsed on them because they could not convince British Columbians that bears – both black and grizzly - were at risk of being exterminated by legal hunting seasons.

They have now regrouped and refocused their new initiative on stopping the grizzly bear hunt in B.C. and see the upcoming Winter Olympics as an opportunity to blackmail the Provincial government into acquiescing to their demands.

If we give in to this initiative regarding grizzly bears, their demands will not stop there. They will then move on to the next step in their agenda, which is to stop or at least limit all resource use in this province.

With over 13% of the province in protected areas and more than 90 percent of it unsuitable for permanent human settlement, grizzly bears area in a secure position to survive long into the future with hunting being an integral and important part of their conservation and management.

John B Holdstock
Kelowna, BC
jbholdstock@shawcable.com
https://totalrecoil.wordpress.com/

http://www.bcwf.bc.ca/
http://www.bccf.com/

**********************

Thank you very much John for putting together this great resource sheet, I hope everyone will take time to write their local MLA, or other political leader and discuss the facts of grizzly bear hunting, not the emotion of a fuzzy animal being killed.

I have been studying maps, google earth, and practicing my shooting at the range all for my spring grizzly hunt in the B.C. interior. During this time I have also been playing with the Federal Ammunition website to find the optimal grizzly round for my .300 Winchester Magnum. I am sold on the Barnes TSX bullets because of their design and penetration so I was trying to find what  the optimal weight would be for grizzly hunting. The Federal website was very helpful as you can choose what game your hunting with what caliber you are using and it gives you recommendations in which you can compare to find the right combination. For my situation, using a .300WM on a grizzly bear, required a few 180grain and 200 grain options. I narrowed it to the Barnes TSX180 grain, Barnes MRX 180grain, and the Barnes 200 grain Trophy Bonded Bear Claw. I found that the 180 grain MRX bullet had the most velocity (fps) and energy (ft-lbs) at all different ranges. Besides, I like the Barnes MRX bullet design better than the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, even though the latter has killed multiple brown bears I am sure.

So now I just need to pick up a few boxes of the 180grain Barnes MRX in Federal Vital Shok, and sight in with the new rounds!

I also have to buy some bullets for my backup: .458Win Mag 400 grain Federal Vital Shok Trophy Bonded Bear Claw rounds. I do not look forward to trying them out, as that gun has some kick!

Since I drew that spring grizzly tag I went out to the range to practice my shooting and also have a chance to work up a load with my .300 wm Weatherby Vangauard.

I had some good success with the IMR 4350 powder getting 4 shots inside 1 M.O.A shooting off of a single front rest.

all in all I was happy with the shooting as all the groups were more than acceptable. I still plan on doing some more shooting and working up some more loads.

I am going to talk to the game warden and biologist for the area I got my grizzly draw in to see if I can get some more information. I also have a friend that was successful last year in that area so maybe he will share some advice with me.

I just found out I drew a 2009 spring Grizzly bear hunt open from April 1-June 10 2009 in the Quesnel highlands around Horsefly in British Columbia Canada. I am extremely excited and will be starting to do the preparitory scouting, talking to biologists, and shooting practice. I will keep you updated in new developments and lets hope for a successful trip!

A fellow asked me the other day if I support trophy hunting for grizzly bears and I of course do but the explanation I gave to him was well recieved. Could education of the purpose of Grizzly bear hunting help persuade the naysayers? I believe so, by educating anti hunters about the reasons why we hunt grizzly bears we can silence the anti hype. Here are some reasons why I believe hunting grizzly bears for trophy purposes or meat is a good idea:

Money-the bottom line: How many anti hunters do you know that speak up against hunting support or fund grizzly bear conservation efforts? Hunters pump almost all private funding towards grizzly bear management and conservation. Think about how much hunters pay on applying for the draw, licenses, tags, and guiding fees. Not to mention the inderect monies that flow into conservation. How much do anti hunters put into grizzly bear conservation?

Preserving the fear of man: Hunting grizzly bears instills that they should stay away from man. Grizzlys that are not hunted can lose their respect and fear of man by encountering man and civilization. Rouge grizzlys have been known to attack livestock, encroach on urban areas, and attack humans. The hunting of grizzly bears pushes the bears further into the wilderness and makes them realize that man presents a threat. Contrary to what idealistic hippies might believe, we cant live in harmony with dangerous top of the food chain predators, they deserve their vast wilderness space away from urban areas. Grizzlys cannot co-habitate with man unlike the adaptable coyote and black bear.

Keeping the herd healthy: Nature works in cycles and when there is an abundance of food animals over produce untill there is famine or desease that wipes out the herd. By taking 3-5% of the herd and recieving funds, the grizzly bear herd is stronger and healthier with steady numbers instead of going through extreme high and low populations.

So even if hunters are hunting a grizzly bear for the trophy, the activity still has benefits for the grizzly bear long term. If hunters are not allowed to partake in the sport, who then would step up to pay for the funding of the management, research, and conservation of these great beasts.

here are some grizzly bear facts from the government of BC: http://www.bearsinbc.com/pages/02grizzly/02myths.html

here are some grizzly bear hunting tips: http://www.huntingtipsandtricks.com/a/Grizzly_Bear_Hunting_Tips_