Well I don't want to ignite a firestorm and alienate 95% of the readers here but I will go ahead and do just that. Out front: I fear and hate bears. Any bears, but especially grizzlies. I have had up-close-and-personal experiences with bears on remote backcountry trails and don't possess any romanticized " they're the spirit of the wilderness" or "let's all coexist" notions about them. They are savage predators who think nothing of dis-articulating their victims and eating them while they are still alive and that means humans too. My sympathies are with the ranchers. The NPS treats grizzlies with exaggerated courtesy and builds trails into grizzly country but denies to hikers the means to safely travel them. Anyone solo hiker who travels the grizzly country trails in the northern Rockies knows the fear seeing a bear paw print can invoke.
Fantastic - Unfortunately for them they will be shot by guys "out mushroom hunting" or ranchers. Or shot and never known about - SSS.
Well I don't want to ignite a firestorm and alienate 95% of the readers here but I will go ahead and do just that. Out front: I fear and hate bears. Any bears, but especially grizzlies. I have had up-close-and-personal experiences with bears on remote backcountry trails and don't possess any romanticized " they're the spirit of the wilderness" or "let's all coexist" notions about them. They are savage predators who think nothing of dis-articulating their victims and eating them while they are still alive and that means humans too. My sympathies are with the ranchers. The NPS treats grizzlies with exaggerated courtesy and builds trails into grizzly country but denies to hikers the means to safely travel them. Anyone solo hiker who travels the grizzly country trails in the northern Rockies knows the fear seeing a bear paw print can invoke.