Hip shot deters charging grizzly

'It was just a monster bear'

It happened as fast Vic Workman as could say, "Whoa bear, whoa bear, whoa!"

And with that, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks commissioner from Whitefish unleashed a hip shot at a large, charging grizzly bear with his .300 caliber short magnum rifle Sunday morning.

"He was about 10 feet away," Workman recalled Monday. "He was coming directly at me. Either the shot or the impact made him veer to his right and he veered about five feet to my left."

The bear kept on running and hasn't been seen since.

Workman accompanied Warden Captain Lee Anderson, Warden Chris Crane and Tim Manley, state grizzly bear management specialist, on a search for the bear Monday. They came up empty-handed.

"That's the end of the story as far as the bear goes," said Workman, who represents Northwest Montana on the state commission. "He's either lost or dead, or alive and wounded, or I might not have hit him at all."

Workman was big-game hunting with a friend about two miles north of the head of Whitefish Lake when they decided to split up at about 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

As they were parting, with Workman just getting ready to cross Lazy Creek, they heard movement in the brush about 30 feet away. The bear exploded out of the brush - and it wasn't just growling.

"He was screaming," Workman said. "It was an incredible experience … It was just a monster bear."

Workman guesses that it was a male bear because of the absence of cubs and its size, and he estimates it was at least 700 pounds.

Workman has experience with big bears in the field.

He killed the 1,200-pound Alaskan brown bear that is mounted and on display at Glacier Park International Airport. Workman also shot the seventh-largest black bear taken in Montana, a 450-pounder.

After the close call on Sunday, Workman called on a cell phone to report the incident and investigated the brush where the bear had emerged.

He found a "huge pile of dirt" with an antler poking out.

He uncovered a deer carcass, about three quarters eaten, with an intact head and an impressive 5-by-6 rack with a 20-inch spread.

"It's in my possession now," Workman said of the rack. "It's going on my wall."

Workman said he and his hunting partner waited in the area for about three hours. Figuring that responding wardens were unable to find them, they left with Workman planning to return.

Even with the help of a tracking dog, the search on Monday turned up no definite sign of the bear. Traces of blood were found, Workman said, but it was unclear whether the blood was from the deer or the bear.

What the searchers on Monday did find is that the deer carcass had been dug up and moved about 40 yards across Lazy Creek sometime after Workman left the area Sunday.

The bear he shot at, or another bear, "came back and moved what was left of the deer carcass," Workman said.

The encounter has Workman pondering the effectiveness of bear spray in a similar situation - and the need to manage grizzly bear numbers through hunting.

While many hunters and conservation groups advocate the use of bear spray rather than firearms in a self-defense situation, Workman said it wouldn't have worked on Sunday.

"People need to put bear spray on their belt and pretend that they have a bear coming at them … and be ready to use it in the amount of time it takes to say, "whoa bear, whoa bear, whoa,'" he said. "If I had dropped my rifle in time to pull out my bear spray, I would have been lunch."

Workman said he has seen grizzly bears on three occasions during the fall hunting season and bear sign on other occasions. He is convinced that the grizzly bear population is healthy, ready to be removed from protection under the Endangered Species Act, and ready to be managed for a limited hunt by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks.

He said he believes the restoration of a grizzly hunt would instill in bears a healthy sense of fear of humans and reduce the potential for dangerous bear-human encounters.

He said he has a deep appreciation for grizzly bears.

"I think I'm very privileged every time I see them," he said. "I had absolutely no interest in shooting this bear."

In a press release, Warden Captain Anderson said there was no definite evidence indicating that the bear had been hit by Workman's hip shot.

Manley, however, collected DNA samples from bear scat at the original location of the deer carcass and from scat found across the creek on Monday. An analysis should determine whether the bear Workman encountered returned to the carcass.

Anderson said all evidence collected at the scene confirmed Workman's description of the incident.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com