Problem bears handled with grace
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My wife and I recently returned from a three-day hunting trip to discover that while we were away, something (or things) had broken into our shop where we keep our dog food and some old cooking grease before it goes to be recycled. Entry was made through a sliding window and a dog door, and it was apparent from the amount of carnage – as well as the numerous piles of bear scat in the yard – that the culprit or culprits had been at it for several days in our absence. To make matters worse, something had dug up about 100 square feet of our yard right in front of the shop and flung chunks of sod up to 20 feet in all directions. The interior of our shop was a wreck and our yard was a muddy mess.
I called Tribal Dispatch and was directed to Sgt. Brian Ducharme of Tribal Fish and Game, who brought out a trap first thing the next morning. He was accompanied by Stacy Courville, a biologist with the tribes, who quickly realized that there was not only a bear, but one or more cubs involved. He reasoned that the mother was too large to fit through the window or the dog door, so she was digging up the yard in an attempt to burrow into the shop from underneath. Two high-tech infrared cameras were set up to monitor the following night’s activities.
That night about 11 p.m., the outside motion sensor light came on. We watched with amazement, as here came mama bear followed by not one, not two, but three little cubs. Well, they weren’t that little anymore – they looked like they had each gained at least 50 pounds since we first saw them early this summer. We then watched as the cubs would enter the shop through the dog door one at a time. It was a tight squeeze, so as one would enter, another would help push him through. Then when he was done eating, the other one would help pull him out. They took turns doing this until they’d apparently all had their fill of the rest of the dog food. And there was mother, digging up even more of our yard and flinging sod everywhere as she couldn’t get into the shop herself.
About midnight, we heard the door on the bear trap slam closed, so we looked outside to discover that mother bear had been caught, and the three cubs were climbing all over the trap trying to find mama and/or to help her get out. After a while, we called it a night and went to bed. The next morning, Sgt. Ducharme returned with Stacy and Shannon Clairmont, another tribal biologist. I told them that we had seen the mother bear along with three cubs, and the video cameras recorded their entire night’s ramblings. Sgt. Ducharme and Stacy advised me that trapping a mother bear and a cub was difficult, trapping a mother bear and two cubs was really difficult, and that trapping a mother bear and three cubs would be next to impossible. They advised me that she would probably have to be released and that hopefully she and her cubs had learned their lesson. However, after a long discussion amongst themselves and on the radio with other rangers and/or biologists, they advised me that they were having two more traps delivered – one single trap and one double trap – to try to catch the three cubs. I knew right then that these were men who were not ones to give up on a tough situation easily, and perhaps who enjoyed a bit of a challenge as well.
Over the next several nights, all three cubs were trapped. The trapped bears were all given plenty of water each morning to make sure they didn’t suffer from dehydration. It was evident that these men all truly cared for these bears and regretted having to trap them. However, it was for their own good, as we humans had encroached on their territory and accidentally given them an opportunity to learn to enjoy things they shouldn’t have. What impressed us most was the professional manner in which this entire operation – and it was indeed an operation – was begun, conducted and seen through to the very end. The rangers and biologists were extremely knowledgeable, diligent, courteous and caring. It was downright impressive. It’s comforting to know that we and our wildlife are in the hands of such a competent group of individuals.
Thank you all very much for your time and efforts. We hope our family of bears is hunkered down in a warm place for the winter in the more pristine area in which they were relocated.
(Editor’s note: Chuck and Natalie Wall are Polson-area residents.)
