WEST YELLOWSTONE, MT — A man had to fight for his game after a grizzly bear attempted a little breaking-and-entering to get to an elk carcass he had hanging in his garage new West Yellowstone, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports.
Apparently, keeping tempting food items secure from bears doesn’t just apply to campsites.
As the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports:
Andrea Jones, a spokeswoman for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said the incident happened on Sunday evening south of U.S. Highway 287 and near the Grayling Arm of Hebgen Lake. She said an agency investigation determined that the man shot the bear in self-defense.
“We have a pretty clear case of self-defense here,” Jones said. Jones said the bear was a sow grizzly likely more than 15 years old. It broke through a metal door to get into a garage where an elk carcass was hanging.
The homeowner heard noise coming from the garage. He grabbed a gun and went onto the front porch to see what was going on. “There was a bear not 10 paces from him on his porch,” Jones said.
Jones said the man told FWP investigators that the bear turned and began to approach him. He shot the bear dead. Jones said investigators saw bloody paw prints around the property, including within 10 feet of the front door. They also saw paw prints on the home’s living room window.
The bear had been trapped by Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team researchers once before, but it didn’t have a history of run-ins with people. Jones said it appeared that the garage was secured properly and that there was nothing the homeowner could have done differently.
What kind of firearm would you use to take on a grizzly bear?
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