Ghost Grizzlies
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on October 10th, 2006
Colorado Hunters Report Seeing Grizzlies, Long Believed Extinct in State
By David Frey
Grizzly bears have long been considered gone from the mountains of Colorado. Reports of suspected sightings in southern Colorado have sounded like Bigfoot sightings: fleeting glances, unusually large footprints, no evidence.
But state wildlife officials are taking seriously a recent reported grizzly sighting in the San Isabel National Forest near Independence Pass, which connects Aspen and Leadville.
Division of Wildlife officials say two hunters, both with experience with grizzlies and black bears, spotted a female grizzly and two cubs in a clearing about 80 yards away on Sept. 20. They watched them through binoculars and a spotting scope for about a minute until the bears moved on. They found no tracks or scat left behind.
A trio of DOW officers searched the site on foot on Sept. 23, but found no evidence. They’re planning to make another round.
The sighting is unusual, but DOW officials say they can’t rule out that what the hunters saw really were grizzlies. The last sighting in the state was on Sept. 23, 1979, when an outfitter on an archery elk hunt was attacked by a female grizzly in the San Juan National Forest. He survived. The grizzly was killed.
Then, as now, officials believed grizzlies were extinct in Colorado.
At least two books have studied the question of whether grizzlies remain in the Colorado wilds. In 1997, Rick Bass published “The Lost Grizzlies,” his account of exploring the mountains with grizzly experts Doug Peacock and Dennis Sizemore. On a solo climb, Bass believe he encountered a grizzly at 11,000 feet.
"I look for a tree to climb, my heart in my throat. That glimpse of the rolling humped back and the wild, wild eyes is all I get before the bear’s flight takes it down to a wooded ravine and away," he wrote.
A compelling story, but like others, he came away with no evidence.
In “Ghost Grizzlies,” published in 1998, David Petersen writes of his own search. He sees big implications if grizzlies do still exist in Colorado. They may well turn out to be a distinct subspecies, he says, and if so, they “will instantly become the most endangered mammal in North America.”
The only sustainable grizzly populations in the Lower 48 are believed to be in Idaho, Montana and parts of Wyoming.
Source: New West Environment
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Update: Searchers find no sign of grizzlies
By Janet Urquhart
A search by helicopter and ground crews turned up no evidence of grizzly bears on Independence Pass, and the Colorado Division of Wildlife has suspended the search, barring another sighting of the animals.
Two seasoned hunters reported spotting a grizzly and two cubs on Sept. 20 in the San Isabel National Forest near Independence Pass, east of Aspen.
The hunters, familiar with both black bears and grizzlies, were deemed credible witnesses and the DOW tried to confirm the presence of the bears. Grizzlies are not thought to inhabit Colorado, given the extent of human encroachment into what would be its habitat. One was last documented in the state in 1979.
This file photo shows a grizzly bear moving through the brush in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. Wildlife officials in Colorado could find no sign of grizzlies on the far side of Independence Pass, near Aspen, after receiving a report of a grizzly sighting. (Courtesy Yellowstone National Park)
“We probably won’t know anything until early spring,” DOW spokesman Randy Hampton said Thursday. If the agency gets a report of another sighting, though, its personnel could be back in the field, he said.
DOW representatives have declined to speculate on what the agency would do about the grizzlies if they are in the state.
“There’d be efforts to do due diligence to protect them,” Hampton said. “It’s hard to jump in and say what we’d do.”
The DOW has reminded black bear hunters that their Colorado bear license does not allow them to shoot a grizzly, which is an endangered species.
The rifle season for big game starts Oct. 14 and a variety of big- and small-game seasons continue through December.
Hunters are also reminded not to mistake a moose for an elk, or a lynx for a bobcat. Lynx, a threatened species, have been reintroduced to Colorado’s mountains; killing one could result in a serious fine and possible jail time, according to the DOW.
Source: Aspen Times
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
A friend in Idaho says with all the development in the Grizzly country that the bears are likely looking for for new territories to occupy. Other large fauna like cougar, black bear and elk are becoming far more common sights in some fairly dense populated areas. My brother bagged an elk in deep south Texas about 6 years ago. He reported it to the game warden and that he’d seen a small group of them. This was at the height of the elk wasting disease plague. It had no exotic game tag on it or Verichip that he could find. The game warden was totally stumped because elk aren’t native to the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas. There are some elk in the the Guadelupe Mountains of Texas but that is some 600 miles away.
I did a paper on this a few years ago for the Colorado-Wyoming Academy of Sciences, in case anyone wants a copy. My conclusion was that there were grizzlies in the state, but probably too few to be a viable resident population. In an incident with cryptozoological implications, a very experienced and reliable friend of mine met a grizzly in the San Juan mountains – and I mean literally met one, bumping into the animal’s rear end in a thicket – and the DOW guy he reported it to tried to talk him out of describing it as a grizzly, which had all kinds of implications for closing habitat and generally creating a lot of work.
Matt Bille
Hey Matt I’d like a copy of that if you wouldn’t mind. You can contact me through my website (GeorgiaBigfoot.com). Thanks ahead of time.
I don’t know if I would count it as lucky or unlucky, but the only run-in with a bear I’ve had in Colorado was a small black bear that had been raiding campsites, which was promptly caught in one of those big metal bear traps and relocated. However, I have no doubts that there are still areas where Grizzlies could live undisturbed.
I have lived and hunted around grizzlies in wyoming for over 35 years. There could be some in colorado. But if you ever seen a grizzly track it’s hind paw is bigger as a full grown man’s boot. It can weigh over 800 pounds easy, full grown. And three of them would leave alot of tracks! And as for the scat. When you find one it usually can fill a large coffee can! I have seen all of these many many times.
My favorite grizzly moment is thankfully in a movie – Jeremiah Johnson. Its worth the rental to hear Will Greer tell Robert Redford all about huntin’ griz.
Back in the early ’90’s, east and a little north of Gunnison, Colorado, a bear ripped the door off of a hunters metal sided camper trailer. It reached inside and pulled him out. It dragged him into the timber and proceded to eat him. Before the hunter died, he shot the bear point blank five times with his .45 long. He “kilt the bear that kilt him” to quote Hatchet Jack from Jeremiah Johnson. This part of the story made the local paper. The DOW came in and found the bear carcass and did DNA testing on it. What didn’t make the papers was the DNA report. It was never released publicly. The DNA report came back black bear/grizzly hybrid. This is a true story as told to me by someone whom was involved and I cannot divulge their identity. But they were a close trusted friend at the time, and still are, even though miles and years seperate us. At the time, this presented a public relations problem in Colorado. You have to understand that Colorado is very, very concerned with its PUBLIC TOURIST IMAGE. You can not trust the DOW in Colorado to tell the straight story absent of agenda. The DOW in Colorado also keeps cougar/human attacks from going public, many, many times. I know of one myself. It is bad for tourism.
I have spent many years of my life in the San Juans and in the The Maroon Bells (not far from the most recent report). I spent way more time than I should have panning gold in the immediate area outside of Delores Colorado where the last known grizz/human confrontation took place back in the late seventies. I have never seen a bear that even left a question in my mind as to its species. But, it is big country and remote. I witnessed alot of wildlife while roaming those mountains, but there were a whole lot of critters I didnt see, that I knew were there. Back in the ’90’s there also were reports of wolverines in the San Juans. But those critters don’t get the press that grizz does.
Grizz populations were as far south as pine top az and across the border in new mexico as late as 1935 with 1979 being the last sighting in southern Colorado.
In the mountains in central western new Mexico central eastern AZ and up to Colorado are extremely isolated and have places where man doesn’t go rarely if ever.
We think there are breeding populations of Sasquatches in these areas, why not grizz?
It would depend on how far they wander while they roam.
We get all kinds of bear and mule deer in and around the phoenix area all year round, searching for food water or just wandering.
I understand that they are different species, but polar bears have been tracked roaming more than a 100 miles looking for mates and food.
The question I’m making is can they go this far? Another thing to think about is that there has been a huge resurgence of the elk population in the 4 corner states. Could this draw them back?
I think there’s a greater chance of BF in Colorado than grizzlies, and I’m pretty sure there’s BF.
Yeah, why not? What the bleep do WE know, anyway?
The hybrid story I will believe totally. It happened here in California between the red wolf and coyotes. In some areas we now have some rather large coyotes.
We also have the king snake, gopher snake and rattlers mating amongst each other (for those who don’t realize the implications here, the CA king snake is the natural predator to the rattler). When species dwindle and are threatened the remaining animals will do whatever is necessary and natural to have offspring. If not hybrid, aren’t there areas of Colorado that only a mountain goat and crazy mountain climbers would even want to go? It is a part of human nature to survey and do a study of an area, and then if nothing is going on like major construction, the area is left alone and forgotten about. Kinda like the line from “Sasquatch”–“This area was last surveyed in the late ’50’s…” Trust me on this one, it doesn’t take long for animals to find the remote areas and for nature to completely change thing around. Animals do not know where the state lines are and they don’t care. If there are grizzlies in the northern rockies, some will come down south as the territories are are being used.
Heck, when I was a kid, admitedly a long time ago, there were no black bears in Connecticut. Now there is a resident population of at least a hundred. Same with eastern coyotes.
Some animals are just adapting to human habitation and expanding their ranges.
If there’s one thing I’ll never trust, it’s science telling me never.
Grizzlies in CO wouldn’t surprise me one bit. I know they really range; and I know that biologists aren’t exactly thick on the ground in those hills looking for griz. If you can give credence to the sasquatch, well, this looks pretty garden variety to me.
Sure, I’ll buy it.
Oh. Griz weren’t just found as far south as AZ. They were once found well into Mexico. There are still murmurings here and there about remnant Mexican grizzlies.
So, why couldn’t they be colonizing the CO mountains from the SOUTH….?
Grizzlies in Colorado? Quite frankly I’d be surprised if there weren’t.
I’ve lived in Colorado for 24 years and only run into one bear, but I’m not really a woodsy guy. People increasingly sitting in front of a PC every day just have no clue as to the vast unpopulated territory that is most of North America. We can drive or fly to any other civilized town and just assume everywhere else is the same.
I’d bet a valuable body part there’s a mess of grizzly here in CO.