David Murray

dmurray@greatfallstribune.com

A trio of sub-adult grizzly bears attacked and killed two calves at a ranch on the Teton River north of Carter early Monday.

One of the three bears was subsequently captured, and has been released along the Puzzle Creek drainage in the Flathead National Forest on the west side of the Continental Divide.

Ranch owners Dean and Kippy Schuler were first alerted to the presence of the bears Sunday night, when they were awakened in their home by their dogs barking outside.

"We looked out the window to see what was going on, and there they were right outside the house," Dean Schuler said.

This first sighting came at around 10:30 p.m. The three bears ambled through the Shuler's yard coming within five to 10 feet of the family's home, but causing no immediate problems.

Early the following morning Dean Schuler accompanied his wife, Kippy, to her car as she prepared to leave for work.

"While she was getting stuff for the car, we heard this calf just let out a blood curdling scream," he said. "It was terrible."

The Schulers ran toward where they heard the calf's cries; about 150 feet from where the Shuler's car was parked and roughly 250-feet from their house. There they discovered the same three bears they had seen the night before, attacking the calf. The body of another partially devoured calf lay close by.

"I was 50- to 60-feet away from them and they couldn't have cared less that I was there," Dean Shuler said.

The two calves had been kept in a pen separated from the rest of the cow herd. It wasn't until the mother cows came running that the bears ran off — but only momentarily.

"Just a little bit later they came back," Shuler continued. "We actually stood there and watched them for probably an hour. The three of them just took turns chewing on that calf until basically there was nothing left of it."

While Dean Schuler was able to rescue the second calf from the bears' attack, its injuries eventually forced the calves' owner, Dusty Schuler, to destroy the animal.

Wildlife biologists from the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks set culvert traps and snares in the area the following day in an attempt to capture the bears. They captured one that same day; a 1½-year-old male that weighed in at 223-pounds.

Grizzly Bear Management Specialist Mike Madel said that's surprisingly large for such a young animal.

"It does make it one of the larger yearlings that we've handled over the last 30-years or so on the Rocky Mountain Front, and by far its larger than any yearling we've handled on the west side of the continental divide in Montana," he said.

And the captured bear was not the largest of the three.

Through analysis of photographs taken of the three animals, biologists believe the two uncaptured bears include one male and one female. The second male grizzly is estimated to weigh at least 250 pounds.

Madel said FWP biologists have been tracking these same three bears for more than a month, since first receiving reports of them accompanied by a fourth, adult female grizzly, near Pendroy around the end of May.

"We had gotten several photographs of them over that time period from homeowners that saw them come up by their house and so forth," Madel said. "We do know that on Friday morning (June 27) they were actually wandering right through the northwest corner of Choteau at five o'clock in the morning within city limits."

FWP biologists have responded on several occasions to reports of these animals. On one occasion they damaged some beehives, and the grizzlies have been regularly inspecting people's porches for pet food and other unsecured eatables. However, up until Monday biologists had no success in capturing any of the offending grizzlies.

Madel said the two calves killed on the Schuler Ranch was the first report of a livestock depredation associated with these animals. They are likely a group of related juveniles who were only recently kicked off by their mother.

"When they're dispersed by their mother, they're on their own but they want to stay together as brothers and sisters might do — in a group," he said. "They would generally be like 12- or 13-year-old kids off on their own suddenly.

"So they're learning things and they're searching for food, because they're hungry. They've been weaned and they're no longer nursing from their mother. They're totally dependent upon themselves and each other."

Just 10-years ago it was a fairly uncommon for grizzlies to be seen east of Highway 89. However over the past decade more and more are making their way down the eastward flowing river systems and reclaiming much of their historical habitat.

Grizzly bears are becoming increasingly common in the Valier area around Lake Frances, and just last year grizzlies were spotted near Fort Shaw and well east of the Tiber Reservoir. In 2010 an adult male grizzly was captured at the confluence of the Marias River and Teton River, just north of Loma.

"Now we have bears that inhabit the river bottoms on rivers like the Sun and the Marias throughout the entire foraging year," Madel said. "I think it is really possible that sometime soon there will be grizzly bears observed close within the city limits of Great Falls."

12 ways to safeguard

your home from bears

• Avoid using bird feeders March through November; birds don't need supplemental feed at this time and bird seed is irresistable to bears.

• Human garbage is a primary bear attractant. Garbage should be stored where bears can neither smell nor gain access to it, either in a bear-proof container or inside a building.

• Grills with food and grease, as well as cooking utensils, leftovers, and used plates and cups attract bears.

• Avoid feeding pets outside at dawn or dusk when bears are most active and do not leave their food unattended at any time.

• Bears generally do not present a threat to livestock, but special caution should be taken during lambing and calving.

• A carcass may or may not be a bear attractant, depending on how clean it is.

• Beehives, honey and bee larvae are especially attractive to bears.

• Anything other than grass and leaves should not be composted outdoors. Composting meat, fish, oil, dairy, kitchen waste, melon and other fruit are all odorous and can easily lure a bear to your home.

• Bears crave fruit and vegetables. Pick fruit and vegetables as they ripen and plant your garden as far away from your house as possible.

• Use native plant landscaping whenever possible. Avoid plants that attract bears.

• Don't leave food or garbage in a vehicle or the back of a pickup truck.

• Don't put out salt licks, grain or deer blocks to attract wild animals.