Bear encounters numerous

A man escaped mostly unscathed after coming face to face with a black bear Friday morning.

A maintenance worker at a ranch near Ferndale found himself within 6 to 8 feet of a small black bear when he rounded the corner of a building, according to a press release from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The man hit the black bear across the head with the shovel he was carrying.

“He reacted instinctively in self-defense,” said John Fraley, Fish, Wildlife and Parks communication manager. “When you’re 6 feet from a bear, that’s close enough to feel threatened.”

Fraley said he didn’t know the man’s name.

The bear ran away immediately after being struck. The blow was enough to knock the man backward. He hit his head and scraped his chest with the broken shovel handle, but declined medical attention, according to the press release.

Erik Wenum, Fish, Wildlife and Parks’ bear and lion specialist, has placed a trap to capture the bear. If it is caught, it will be examined, and the agency will decide what further actions to take.

In other bear news, Fish, Wildlife and Parks biologists captured grizzlies near Eureka and Ferndale Thursday and trapped and killed one grizzly near Ferndale.

The grizzly that was killed was a 5-year-old male that had been frequenting residences, breaking into chicken coops and killing chickens, according to a press release from the agency.

According to Tim Manley, grizzly bear management specialist, the bear had a long history of conflicts, including breaking into structures from Lake Blaine to Condon. Last year it killed more than 100 chickens and had broken into at least eight coops, two garages and a house.

Those actions were confirmed by a radio transmitter that failed last fall and reconfirmed by DNA analysis, the agency said.

“We strongly recommend that residents use electric fencing to protect their chickens and other livestock,” Manley said. He noted that Fish, Wildlife and Parks has a free brochure on installing and using electric fencing to protect livestock and orchards.

Efforts to trap the grizzly last year were unsuccessful, because the bear rarely returned to the same site on successive nights. Because of the potential threat to human safety, the agency decided not to relocate the grizzly, wildlife manager Jim Williams said.

Two bears were relocated Friday.

Biologists captured a 5-year-old sow near Eureka Thursday and moved it Friday to Big Creek in the North Fork Drainage, the agency said.

The grizzly had a history of killing chickens. Because the sow was of breeding age and not aggressive, it was relocated, Manley said. The bear was fitted with a radio collar so biologists can track its movements.

Biologists also captured a 3-year-old male grizzly near Ferndale. It was an incidental capture in a trap that had been set for a black bear, according to the agency.

The young grizzly had chicken feed in its scat. It was fitted with a radio collar and released Friday in a drainage on the east side of Hungry Horse Reservoir. The bear had no previous history of capture, according to the agency.