FWP relocates 8 griz in two weeks

Fish, Wildlife and Parks bear-conflict biologists captured and relocated eight grizzly bears from the northeast portion of the Flathead Valley over the past two weeks.

Three were captured north of Columbia Falls, and five were captured east of Highway 206. The captured bears included a female with two cubs of the year, a female with a yearling, two subadult males and an adult male.

Grizzly bear management biologist Tim Manley cited a number of reasons for capturing the bears, including killing chickens, killing a sheep, getting into pig feed and feeding on fruit.

One of the grizzly bears was incidentally captured in a trap FWP biologists set for a black bear.

All eight of the grizzlies were relocated to remote sites, including Frozen Lake, Spotted Bear and the Sullivan Creek drainage. All of the adult or solitary bears were fitted with radio collars. One of the cubs and a yearling male were fitted with ear-tag transmitters.

October is typically one of the busiest months for grizzly bear conflicts because most of the summer berries are gone and the bears switch to other foods prior to denning.

FWP will continue to respond to both black bear and grizzly bear conflicts until the bears den up. Most of the bears are expected to den in November.

Manley reminds residents to keep attractants unavailable to bears, including garbage, pet food, livestock grain, fruit and harvested game animals.

Hunters are also reminded to hang deer or elk in a garage rather than outside in a tree if they live in or near the forest. If that's not an option, animals should be hung at least 10 feet off the ground.

Hunters should process game animals as soon as possible to minimize the potential attraction to bears.