Karl Puckett

kpuckett@greatfallstribune.com

Wildlife authorities shot and killed a grizzly bear near Valier on Tuesday for repeatedly killing sheep over the past year as bears continue dispersing onto the plains east of the Rocky Mountains this spring.

“It’s pretty much been nonstop,” Mike Madel, an FWP grizzly bear management specialist, said of grizzly bear observations and conflicts the agency is responding to on the Rocky Mountain Front.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services shot the bear from a helicopter as it was bedded down on the west shore of Lake Frances, Madel said.

Officials investigating after finding dead grizzly

The decision to remove the bear from the population was made after consultations between FWP, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, he said.

On Sunday, the 61/2-year-old bear, which weighed 352 pounds, killed a number of sheep at the Don Sporleder’s ranch near the Dry Fork of the Marias River, about six miles south and east of Valier, Madel said.

The same bear killed sheep at Sporleder’s ranch in July.

After the first livestock depredations last year, the female and two cubs were relocated to the North Fork of the Flathead River.

They entered Canada along the Belly River but ended up back on the Montana plains after traveling 260 miles.

“It was really amazing,” Madel said of the distance.

FWP was able to track the movement of the bears because the female had a radio collar around her neck. By September, she had returned to Montana and hibernated for the winter at 7,300 feet on the Rocky Mountain Front.

The grizzly left the den on March 7, which is earlier than usual, and was on Dupuyer Creek, east of U.S. Highway 89, by March 9.

Black bear causes bear jam in Great Falls

The yearling cubs were no longer with the female at the time it was shot. The female had previously sent them packing. The female was most recently observed with a male on the Marias River.

Usually, female grizzly bears are not removed from the population until they have three strikes for getting into conflicts, Madel said.

This bear was removed after two strikes because she returned to the same ranch and killed sheep and also was spending time around farms and ranches located along low-land river bottoms.

“It’s hard to manage the population when you have individual bears like this adult female that repeatedly killed livestock and also are spending a lot of time on creek bottoms where people live,” Madel said.

Following the sheep depredations, Mike Hogan with USDA’s Wildlife Services set snares in an attempt to catch the bear.

It was was agreed that a management removal would be conducted if the bear was not caught.

From a helicopter, Craig Glazier, also with Wildlife Services, shot the bear on private land, Madel said. Terry and Donna Vandenbos gave FWP permission to access the area so the bear could be loaded and transported to Great Falls.

Madel and Kim Shields, an FWP bear management technician, have been responding to an exceptional number of grizzly bear observations and conflicts this year after bears emerged early from their dens because of the mild winter, Madel said.

Wildlife Services and FWP have captured and relocated three bears, Madel said. One bear was shot east of Choteau in self-defense.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, FWP and Wildlife Services conducted an investigation of a calf depredation at a ranch on the Marias River west of Interstate 15.

There was evidence of four bears being in the area, he said. Wildlife Service’s Hogan set foot snares and a female that wasn’t responsible for the depredation was captured. It was released so it could be reunited with its cubs of the year.

On Sunday, a subadult male suspected in the calf depredation was captured. The 282-pound bear was relocated Monday 82 air miles to Hungry Horse Reservoir.

On Sunday, FWP bear managers and game warden Mike Krings responded to a report of a grizzly bear 15 miles east of Conrad in an area where the agency has never responded to a report of a grizzly bear before, Madel said. A bear had dug a small hole in a grain bin and grain poured out.

Shields put up a temporary electric fence to keep the bear out of the barn.