“She was coming at me, and her mouth was open, and I was able to get my bear spray out of the holster. And I shot it from the ground, holding it with both hands, like a gun or something, and sprayed like heck, and she turned around and left.”—hiker Maggie Schwartz on encountering a mom bear in the Teton Pass area of the BTNF’s Jackson Ranger District.
Schwartz encountered a mom bear with at least one cub the evening of August 10. The Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigated the incident and determined it was a surprise, defensive encounter in which a mom bear was protecting her cub(s). Department officials are not planning to take action against the bear.
Land managers encourage BTNF users on all parts of the Forest, including frontcountry areas like Teton Pass, Cache Creek, and Snow King to carry bear spray. “[These areas] are still in bear habitat, moose habitat, and lion habitat,” says FBT Board Member Linda Merigliano. Proximity to developed areas doesn’t matter; you can still encounter an animal.
This is particularly true this time of year as berries are ripening and bears begin to enter hyperphagia, a state in which they might spend 22 hours a day eating and gain up to 4 pounds a day with the goal of bulking up to stay healthy through the winter. (Once they enter the den, bears go without food or water for months!) In the fall, a fat bear is a healthy bear.
Read more about the Teton Pass bear incident. The emergency closure of the History Trail, where the encounter happened, was temporarily closed, but has since reopened.
