October 5, 1998 Missoulian Article: Wandering grizzlies moving to flatlands More bears straying from the Rocky Mountain Front

GREAT FALLS (AP) - Bears are roaming far afield from their traditional homes along the Rocky Mountain Front and into the flatlands, confounding bear managers, said Mike Madel, a grizzly bear management specialist with the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

"We have bears farther east than we've really ever seen said Madel, who works out of Choteau.

Madel said he expects to handle at least 50 bear-human conflicts by the end of this year, compared to an average of 30 to 35 per year. He said more than half of those conflicts will involve eastward-roving bears - both grizzlies and black bears - that get to close to homes or buildings.

Leanne and John Hayne have set up a defensive perimeter around their ranch east of Dupuyer, including an automatic propane gun that fires loud shots throughout the night and a radio blares continually in the shed.

They said they're used to the occasional bear coming on to their property, but that this year the animals are getting more adventurous, with one grizzly even coming as close as their bedroom window.

"This is the first summer where we really felt they had moved in to stay for a while," said Leanne Hayne.

Not only are the bears ranging farther than in the past, there are more of them, said Chris Servheen of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

"No question, we see bears farther out and more bears out on the plains and the prairie than we have in the past," Servheen said.

Servheen said the number of bears being spotted farther away from the mountains this year can be partly explained by an expanding population.

But he thinks it has more to do with a food failure than a trend of bears pushing eastward. The huckleberry crop was particularly poor this year.

"When we have that kind of major crop failure, we tend to get a redistribution of bears," Servheen said.

Madel agreed that the ready availability of food in the flatter agricultural land is contributing to the migration, but said he suspects something more permanent behind the migration. Because of a growing population, Madel said, young female cubs are taking on a portion of the matriarch females' home ranges and expanding bit by bit. Males also are dispersing and setting out on their own to break new ground.

Madel said relocating the bears back into the mountains may be a waste of time and money, as the animals will just return to within a few days.

Several landowners along the Rocky Mountain Front are again calling for hunting of the bears. Bear managers say hunting will not solve bear problems, and isn't possible until the animals meet certain population goals.

"We don't want the bears killed off," said Julie Crawford, who ranches and farms with her husband, Clay, 11 & 1/2 miles west of Choteau. Crawford said the bears' near constant presence sometimes makes her feel like a prisoner. "Maybe if they were hunted they would be afraid of people."