The surival of grizzlies in Greater Yellowstone depends more on the behavior of bears rather than people. Photo by Thomas D. Mangelsen (mangelsen.com) It’s rifle season again in the northern Rockies. For some hunters, the pursuit of big game animals will put them on a collision course with grizzly bears.

A huge percentage of bruin deaths in Greater Yellowstone happen in the fall, with grizzlies now in the throes of hyperphagia.

Hyperphagia is the physiological phase condition they are trying to consume as many calories as possible prior to five-month hibernation.

Science has shown that cubs and full-grown adult bears better nourished with protein and fat intake prior to denning are more likely to survive the winter, be healthier in the spring, and in the case of females, more apt to successfully carry through pregnancies and have higher litters of cubs.

Among the causes of grizzly deaths, “accidental shooting”, claims of self-defense by hunters, and poaching account each year for a significant percentage of bear mortality.

Now with the Greater Yellowstone grizzly population “delisted”, i.e. removed from federal protection under the Endangered Species Act and management handed over to the states of Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, there is fear that law enforcement and courts will be more lenient in dealing with cases involving hunter-related bear killing.

Further, as Wyoming leads the pack in trying to re-start sport hunting of grizzlies following a 42-year span in which it was outlawed, conservationists are worried it could result in bears, which spend much of their lives in Yellowstone and Grand Teton, getting shot when they wander outside national park boundaries.

Fierce debate surrounds the question of how much added killing the Greater Yellowstone grizzly population can absorb, apart from the dozens of bears that already die, before it ripples at the population level.

ONE OF THE LAST-KNOWN PHOTOGRAPHS OF GRIZZLY 615, daughter of the legendary Jackson Hole Grizzly 399, and sister to Grizzly 610. In 2009, a Wyoming hunter, Stephen Westmoreland, shot 615 when she rose from a moose carcass 40 yards away from where Westmoreland was walking out of the Bridger-Teton National Forest, in open terrain, carrying a deer head and cape. Westmoreland shot the bear even though she gave no indication that she was going to charge. If he had deployed bear spray instead of firing several times into 615 and claiming self-defense, she would likely still be alive today, 615 was even fitter than Grizzly 610 who has produced different litters of cubs, just like their mother. (399 has yielded 17 bears in her own bloodline). It shows the profound effects of removing just a single female grizzly. Westmoreland was found guilty and fined $500. Is that a sufficient sum to dissuade others from now killing grizzlies which are no longer a federally-protected species? Said Teton County Attorney Steve Weichmann who prosecuted the case: "“This case is about a guy who happens to be an extraordinary guy ... making an unreasonable decision with his rifle at 40 yards from a grizzly." Photo by Thomas D. Mangelsen, featured in book "Grizzlies of Pilgrim Creek" (mangelsen.com/grizzly) Disclosure: Wilkinson is author of the book.

No tool has been more game changing in reducing deaths involve people and grizzlies than bear spray. Despite its impressive record, Yellowstone Park Superintendent Dan Wenk recently said the percentage of hikers carrying bear spray with them is far less than he wants to see.

Chuck Bartlebaugh, who spearheads an initiative called Be Bear Aware, also notes that even among those who own bear spray a surprising number don’t know how to properly use it, or that it’s important to continuously buy new cans, or under what conditions it’s vital to actually be holding it in their hands.

"I've interviewed many hunters and it's amazing they don't even know the brand they are carrying," Bartlebaugh says. "And some think the spray in their cans lasts for 60 seconds or 30 seconds. Some don't realize that given the size of the can it will only actually spray for four seconds."

In 2017, a number of human-bear encounters have happened around the Greater Yellowstone region that confirm the importance of being “bear ready" and the necessity of being bear-spray competent.

Perhaps no story better speaks to the issues raised above than the incident involving Todd Orr a year ago.

When the Montana hunter was attacked twice by a grizzly bear on October 1, 2016, the mauling, thanks to social media and the victim carrying a video camera, captured instant attention from around the world.

To date, tens of millions of views have been notched of the bloodied sportsman from Bozeman via Facebook and YouTube. Many people are astonished how a badly-wounded Orr, after walking three miles out of the backcountry, had the wherewithal and composure to do an interview with himself before seeking medical attention.

One of those who saw the video, Bartlebaugh, became gravely concerned about the message being communicated to the masses as news of the incident circulated virally, accompanied by media reports which were, in some cases, sensationalistic, if not horrendously misleading and demonizing of grizzlies.

Be Bear Aware , his campaign, specializes in educating the public about using bear spray, decided to turn gumshoe detective of sorts. He interviewed the then- 50-year-old Orr seeking answers to a pair of key questions: Did the bear spray Orr carried with him work? And, secondly, why did the grizzly attack him twice?

After an investigation, Bartlebaugh released his findings and presented them a year ago to Gregg Losinski, chairman of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee at its annual year-end meeting in Missoula, Montana.

The basic facts are these: In early October prior to the start of rifle season, Orr had been out hiking solo, scouting for elk, in the North Fork of Bear Creek on the western face of the Madison mountains in southwest Montana.

Figuring grizzlies were probably in the area, Orr told Bartlebaugh that he had shouted “Hey Bear!” to let his presence be known. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, an agitated sow grizzly about 80 yards away stood up and charged.