in the spring of 2006 my yellow lab loop
woke me at the first light of day Markey
madly in crazily at a bear there was
staring at him through my sliding glass
doors I live on the border of Teton
National Park although it was barely
light the Bears face in demeanor was one
of calmness like go ahead make my day
does it look closer I realized this was
not one of the black bears that normally
wandered through my property I paused to
wonder if in my grogginess or my eyes
playing tricks on me I knew from all of
my experiences in Alaska Canada and
Yellowstone this was a grizzly blocky
head smallish ears the obvious shoulder
hump as a result of human persecution
Grizzlies had not been resident in the
area of Grand Teton for a number of
decades the bear in my porch made clear
that was changing six months later I saw
another bear with triplets feeding on a
moose carcass on the island of the Oxbow
Bend 35 miles north of my cabin it was
nearly dark and difficult to photograph
it heard rumors it was likely a bear tag
$3.99
little did I know that that day was
beginning of a 12-year relationship it
would make 399 my favorite subject in my
50-year career photography years later
she became the most famous bear in the
the following spring fresh out of her
winters dan we met again she was
standing in new grasses freshly fallen
snow she was waiting for her new now
yearling Cubs to catch up with her
he returned to digging pocket gopher
stashes three sets of triplets two sets
of twins and two single Cubs later
people always ask me if I think
$3.99 recognizes me I doubt she
recognizes me visually with her nose an
olfactory sense two thousand times
better than humans seven times larger
than bloodhounds she may well recognize
me by my scent or my vehicle smell in
bear jams she frequently chooses to
cross in front of or behind vehicles
that she finds familiar or more likely
smells
maybe it’s the scent of a known comfort
zone one of the things I learned about
399 was her intelligence and her innate
problem-solving behavior not unlike a
dog in the big city I’ve watched 399
paws at the side of the road look both
directions localizer her cubs and when
the coast was clear lead them across the
highway
sometimes returning to scold them when
they stopped to play with the traffic
cones they considered to toys if we’re
caught cubs wandered off she become
frantic calling out like a mother may
have lost a toddler in the supermarket
at dusk in June 19 2016 something went
wrong
just north of pilgrim Creek in the main
highway to Yellowstone a vehicle hit and
killed 399 single cup of the year
nicknamed snowy afterwards witnesses saw
$3.99 go out into the highway pick up
the lip
body of the tiny cub take it into the
woods and lay it by a fallen spruce she
spent the rest of the night running up
and down the highway bawling and peering
to be searching for snowy finally my
morning Rangers had to Heiser
from the highway so that she wouldn’t
also get struck by a vehicle and had to
collect her cub these are not simply
stories about a special family of bears
in Teton park that millions of people
have seen stories that reflect the lives
with all other special families of bears
these bears are not simply objects or
are they arbitrary population numbers
numbers use to establish whether there
are surplus bears wildlife agencies make
available for what they call a
recreational hunting opportunity the
premise being the bears can withstand a
level of harvesting without detriment to
the overall population I grew up in a
sport hunting family and on the Platte
ridden River in Nebraska mostly hunting
waterfowl that’s me on the left my buddy
Luke the little brother Hal my father
Harold it was such an avid hunter I
became the youngest at 20 years old
twice when the world’s goose calling
champion we ate everything we killed and
wild game was a staple on her dining
room table my dad often told me who the
bad guys were of coyotes foxes raccoons
and skunks and name a few he said they
ate the eggs of the good guys
ducks geese pheasants and quail so when
I was 11 or 12 years old I set a
trapline and checked it every day along
the shores of the Platte River mostly an
old dilapidated beaver dens I’d read up
on trapping how to skin animals and
stayed up late many nights
scraping the fat off of raccoons and
selling the skins the local furrier for
a couple of bucks one day I caught only
the front paw of a raccoon and a leg
hold trap and realized what a desperate
and courageous animal he was in order to
save his life you’d shoot off his foot
a week later I caught a raccoon that had
a bloody stump for a foot I had to just
bash her with my 22 rifle I went back to
her hunting Shack and told my story to
my dad and he said I think son I think
we should hang up the trapping that
experience haunts me to this day and is
likely one of the main reasons for my
own personal metamorphosis I’ve learned
to have compassion empathy for wild
animals I consider them intelligent
sentient and emotional makes me think
deeply just why we humans would want to
kill Grizzlies for trophies for money
mostly for egos we all have a stake in
wildlife whether in Alaska where this
image was taken or in Wyoming Alaska
more than a thousand grizzly bears are
shot every year interestingly British
Columbia who has a very long tradition
of hunting Grizzlies halted their hunt
last year because of overwhelming public
sentiment who believed that the value of
bears alive for ecotourism was greater
than that for hunting should we be
managing our Grizzlies for the nation as
a threatened population of Greater
Yellowstone under the Endangered Species
Act we’re managing them
in states like Wyoming Montana and Idaho
for trophy game liners killing Grizzlies
Rob’s everyone for the thrill and wonder
of experiencing the Great Bear this
morning I woke as I do many mornings
during the autumn the sound of rifle
shots duck hunting season is open in
many areas in the national forests and
on private lands surrounding the park in
less than a month
Grand Teton park will have its own elk
hunting season the only national park to
have a hunt every morning I can only
hope that the gunshots for elk and not
for a bear like 399 it’s a Grizzlies
most dangerous season they’ve become
conditioned to running towards the sound
of a rifle as if a dinner bell for a
free lunch of gut piles leftover limbs
of elk carcasses 1975 Grizzlies of
Yellowstone were put on the endangered
species list because their numbers had
plummeted to 136 animals the fear was
they may go extinct in 2007 the Fish and
Wildlife Service decided to remove them
believing the numbers had recovered in
2008 the courts disagreed
they were relisted because of declining
food sources last year in 2017 Grizzlies
were again removed from the federal
protection and turned over to the states
of Montana Idaho and Wyoming why Maine
decided to kill 22 bears Montana none
the hunt was halted a couple of weeks
ago and a federal judge decided that the
US Fish and Wildlife Service violated
the Endangered Species Act and realists
at them again I’ve been very blessed to
spend all these years with $3.99 and her
offspring she had seven she has 17
descendants more than half of them have
been killed by man and her experience is
a magical experience for me little not likely come again
woke me at the first light of day Markey
madly in crazily at a bear there was
staring at him through my sliding glass
doors I live on the border of Teton
National Park although it was barely
light the Bears face in demeanor was one
of calmness like go ahead make my day
does it look closer I realized this was
not one of the black bears that normally
wandered through my property I paused to
wonder if in my grogginess or my eyes
playing tricks on me I knew from all of
my experiences in Alaska Canada and
Yellowstone this was a grizzly blocky
head smallish ears the obvious shoulder
hump as a result of human persecution
Grizzlies had not been resident in the
area of Grand Teton for a number of
decades the bear in my porch made clear
that was changing six months later I saw
another bear with triplets feeding on a
moose carcass on the island of the Oxbow
Bend 35 miles north of my cabin it was
nearly dark and difficult to photograph
it heard rumors it was likely a bear tag
$3.99
little did I know that that day was
beginning of a 12-year relationship it
would make 399 my favorite subject in my
50-year career photography years later
she became the most famous bear in the
the following spring fresh out of her
winters dan we met again she was
standing in new grasses freshly fallen
snow she was waiting for her new now
yearling Cubs to catch up with her
he returned to digging pocket gopher
stashes three sets of triplets two sets
of twins and two single Cubs later
people always ask me if I think
$3.99 recognizes me I doubt she
recognizes me visually with her nose an
olfactory sense two thousand times
better than humans seven times larger
than bloodhounds she may well recognize
me by my scent or my vehicle smell in
bear jams she frequently chooses to
cross in front of or behind vehicles
that she finds familiar or more likely
smells
maybe it’s the scent of a known comfort
zone one of the things I learned about
399 was her intelligence and her innate
problem-solving behavior not unlike a
dog in the big city I’ve watched 399
paws at the side of the road look both
directions localizer her cubs and when
the coast was clear lead them across the
highway
sometimes returning to scold them when
they stopped to play with the traffic
cones they considered to toys if we’re
caught cubs wandered off she become
frantic calling out like a mother may
have lost a toddler in the supermarket
at dusk in June 19 2016 something went
wrong
just north of pilgrim Creek in the main
highway to Yellowstone a vehicle hit and
killed 399 single cup of the year
nicknamed snowy afterwards witnesses saw
$3.99 go out into the highway pick up
the lip
body of the tiny cub take it into the
woods and lay it by a fallen spruce she
spent the rest of the night running up
and down the highway bawling and peering
to be searching for snowy finally my
morning Rangers had to Heiser
from the highway so that she wouldn’t
also get struck by a vehicle and had to
collect her cub these are not simply
stories about a special family of bears
in Teton park that millions of people
have seen stories that reflect the lives
with all other special families of bears
these bears are not simply objects or
are they arbitrary population numbers
numbers use to establish whether there
are surplus bears wildlife agencies make
available for what they call a
recreational hunting opportunity the
premise being the bears can withstand a
level of harvesting without detriment to
the overall population I grew up in a
sport hunting family and on the Platte
ridden River in Nebraska mostly hunting
waterfowl that’s me on the left my buddy
Luke the little brother Hal my father
Harold it was such an avid hunter I
became the youngest at 20 years old
twice when the world’s goose calling
champion we ate everything we killed and
wild game was a staple on her dining
room table my dad often told me who the
bad guys were of coyotes foxes raccoons
and skunks and name a few he said they
ate the eggs of the good guys
ducks geese pheasants and quail so when
I was 11 or 12 years old I set a
trapline and checked it every day along
the shores of the Platte River mostly an
old dilapidated beaver dens I’d read up
on trapping how to skin animals and
stayed up late many nights
scraping the fat off of raccoons and
selling the skins the local furrier for
a couple of bucks one day I caught only
the front paw of a raccoon and a leg
hold trap and realized what a desperate
and courageous animal he was in order to
save his life you’d shoot off his foot
a week later I caught a raccoon that had
a bloody stump for a foot I had to just
bash her with my 22 rifle I went back to
her hunting Shack and told my story to
my dad and he said I think son I think
we should hang up the trapping that
experience haunts me to this day and is
likely one of the main reasons for my
own personal metamorphosis I’ve learned
to have compassion empathy for wild
animals I consider them intelligent
sentient and emotional makes me think
deeply just why we humans would want to
kill Grizzlies for trophies for money
mostly for egos we all have a stake in
wildlife whether in Alaska where this
image was taken or in Wyoming Alaska
more than a thousand grizzly bears are
shot every year interestingly British
Columbia who has a very long tradition
of hunting Grizzlies halted their hunt
last year because of overwhelming public
sentiment who believed that the value of
bears alive for ecotourism was greater
than that for hunting should we be
managing our Grizzlies for the nation as
a threatened population of Greater
Yellowstone under the Endangered Species
Act we’re managing them
in states like Wyoming Montana and Idaho
for trophy game liners killing Grizzlies
Rob’s everyone for the thrill and wonder
of experiencing the Great Bear this
morning I woke as I do many mornings
during the autumn the sound of rifle
shots duck hunting season is open in
many areas in the national forests and
on private lands surrounding the park in
less than a month
Grand Teton park will have its own elk
hunting season the only national park to
have a hunt every morning I can only
hope that the gunshots for elk and not
for a bear like 399 it’s a Grizzlies
most dangerous season they’ve become
conditioned to running towards the sound
of a rifle as if a dinner bell for a
free lunch of gut piles leftover limbs
of elk carcasses 1975 Grizzlies of
Yellowstone were put on the endangered
species list because their numbers had
plummeted to 136 animals the fear was
they may go extinct in 2007 the Fish and
Wildlife Service decided to remove them
believing the numbers had recovered in
2008 the courts disagreed
they were relisted because of declining
food sources last year in 2017 Grizzlies
were again removed from the federal
protection and turned over to the states
of Montana Idaho and Wyoming why Maine
decided to kill 22 bears Montana none
the hunt was halted a couple of weeks
ago and a federal judge decided that the
US Fish and Wildlife Service violated
the Endangered Species Act and realists
at them again I’ve been very blessed to
spend all these years with $3.99 and her
offspring she had seven she has 17
descendants more than half of them have
been killed by man and her experience is
a magical experience for me little not likely come again
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