A Wyoming man who was attacked by a bear in Grand Teton National Park says when he first saw the bear it was only five or 10 yards from him. Timothy Hix added that he tried to ward off the bruin with bear spray, but couldn't get the canister from its holster in time, park officials said.
The 32-year Jackson man escaped the incident Sunday morning with relatively minor injuries.
According to a park release, Mr. Hix had been scouting for an elk in the Snake River bottom south of Glacier View overlook when the bear came at him about 11:30 a.m. The hunter told rangers that when the bear, which he thought was a grizzly, charged he tried to pull his bear spray from its holster but couldn't do it quickly enough.
Mr. Hix said said he then dropped to the ground, covered his head, and remained still. He said the bear made contact with him as he dropped to the ground and then bit him at least twice before running away, according to park officials.
While the investigation is on-going, rangers believe this was a surprise encounter with a single grizzly bear. Park managers temporarily closed approximately a quarter-mile around the area where the mauling occurred.
Mr. Hix was transported by park ambulance to St. John Medical Center in Jackson. As of noon on Monday he was reported to be in “good condition” and was expected to be discharged Monday afternoon, according to the hospital.
The man had a permit to participate in the park’s Elk Reduction Program in Wyoming hunt area 75. Rangers remind park users that only those who have been issued a permit to participate in the park’s Elk Reduction Program can lawfully take elk in Grand Teton National Park. The Elk Reduction Program is a cooperative management tool used to regulate elk population numbers and was established by Congress in the 1950 enabling legislation that created Grand Teton.
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Please the bears are in the river bottoms eating whatever food they can find, anyone hunting in a national park especially in those river bottoms with ample veg & berries better be ready to encounter bears, It is not a hunting season on bears.....they eat elk to. You might want to have your spray ready, like I did at LSR around noon on Sunday, oh yes I saw a grizzy along the river and left....Parks are not for hunting & killing endangered species.
I say shoot your gun AS you spray the bear with bear spray while blowing your bear whistle and at the same time hit the ground in a defensive ball--- practice will make perfect !!!LOL
The reason they allow hunting in the National Park (at least some) is that at some point man messed up the natural balance of things. This may be the removal the wolves (most common) or just the general interferrance of visitors. As a result, some species, particually Elk will reproduce and grow unchecked. This creates further unbalance. Man must then act as the top level predotor and thin the herds. This level of hunting is greatly controlled as noted in the article that you must have the appropriate permit.
The staff at Grand Teton has identified the number of Elk that need removed to make a healthy population and they allow hunters to do the work for them. This reduces the cost that would be incurred using other means and offers select hunters the opportunity to hunt game they desire.
There are two articles in today's Jackson Hole News about this incident and the root of the problem, which is the Elk Refuge and other elk feedlots in NW Wyoming. Without those horrible feedlots, which boost elk populations to an artificially high level, there wouldn't be any justification for an "elk reduction" hunt in Grand Teton National Park.
Get rid of the elk feedlots and you get rid of the elk hunt in Grand Teton National Park. Of course if you lower the elk population and reduce the tons of elk guts and carcasses grizzly bears feed on when they're in hyperphagia during hunting season, the grizzly population is going to drop. Grizzlies have already lost whitebark pine seeds as a critically important fall food.