Grizzly bear sightings in Montana prompt warnings for residents, hunters

Photo courtesy of Melissa Mattingly

Two separate grizzly bear sightings near the Sun River west of Great Falls have state wildlife officials urging homeowners to put away food attractants and hunters to carry bear spray. A grizzly ran by the home of Mark and Suzanne Mattingly about a mile southeast of Fort Shaw and 23 miles west of Great Falls at about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday. “That’s the most exciting thing that’s happened here in 25 years,” Mark Mattingly said. “We’ve been here that long. We’ve had antelope in the yard and a couple of deer but never a grizzly bear.” The bear chased the family’s dog, a mutt named Ebony, toward the porch, Mattingly said. Both the dog and bear were running full speed when Suzanne Mattingly, Mark Mattingly’s wife, opened the door and yelled, which prompted the bear to veer off toward the side of the house. The grizzly then took off toward the Sun River and ran north. Mike Madel, Fish, Wildlife and Parks grizzly bear management specialist, said the sighting of the bear near Fort Shaw was the farthest east on the Sun River a grizzly bear has been confirmed. The Sun River pours out of the Rocky Mountain Front, joining the Missouri River in Great Falls. It’s also the closest a grizzly has been to Great Falls in recent history, he said. “Obviously bears were right in and around Great Falls historically,” he said. In a separate sighting Sunday, a bow hunter in a tree stand spotted a pair of subadult grizzlies about a mile east of Simms near the Sun River. Simms is 30 miles west of Great Falls. The bears have not caused any conflicts, Madel said, adding this summer and fall has been one of the lowest bear conflict years on record. “It’s directly related to the super abundance of natural bear foods in particular chokecherry and thorny buffalo bear,” he said...more