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Spotting Bears at Yellowstone Tougher Than It Used to Be

By KFBB News Team

Story Created: May 27, 2009 at 5:15 PM MST

Story Updated: May 28, 2009 at 8:23 AM MST

They still cause a “bear jam” whenever they are spotted, but for many expecting to bring home that great Yellowstone bear photo like their parents and grandparents it now takes a lot more work.

“You can still see bears in Yellowstone National Park,” said park spokesman Al Nash. “They (visitors) need to get up in the morning or they need to stay out in the evening, and they need to ask at our visitors centers where bears have been cited."

But in the early days it was much easier. Yellowstone’s black and grizzly bears weren’t far from the fictional cartoon character Yogi Bear they inspired, except they didn’t have to steal picnic baskets because food was just given to them.

“They were treated somewhat like a novelty and you could feed the bears along the roads so there were a lot of interactions between bears and people,” said Bear Management Biologist Kerry Gunther. “We also had garbage dumps behind a lot of the hotels and they actually had log bleachers where you could come and sit and watch bears eat garbage.”

But lost amongst all the fun was a major problem, people were getting hurt.

“From the 1930’s through the 1960’s, we averaged 48 bear maulings per year in the park,” said Gunther.

“One of my earliest childhood memories is getting chased back to our car by a black bear,” said Nash.

Then in 1970, the park decided it needed to make a change and show the bears some tough love. They banned visitors from feeding bears and closed the garbage dumps they once roamed in an effort to return the bears to their wild state.

Now problem bears who find their way into human food and campsites are hazed away or forcibly relocated. But the bears have adjusted just fine. Under their new management plan, the park’s grizzly population has nearly doubled to a park capacity of 600. Black bear numbers are not recorded, but officials say their numbers are believed to be up as well. All while injuries have been cut to an average of just one per year.

“Frankly we now have a better and more healthy bear population than we had back 40 or 50-years ago,” said Nash.

So while it may take a little more work, the park says you can still see bears if you are willing to put in the time.

“Today if you put in just a little bit of work with binoculars and a spotting scope you can easily see half-a-dozen to a dozen bears in one morning,” said Gunther.

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Bob C said on Thursday, May 28 at 8:22 AM

We were in Yellowstone last week and saw MANY bears! Fourteen in one day. Viewing bears is a May/June thing. In the summer they go up high.

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