Less than two years ago, Duke and I saw a pair of coyotes crossing our back trail, less than 100 yards away. When we finally got our CCW compliant sheriff, my reason for wanting one (and getting it!) included the tow and four-legged varmints. Found out a short while later that, in the same area, two coyotes attacked a guy's leashed dog. Same coyotes? Mountain lions are not uncommon, here, and another bear was hanging out for several day a few blocks away, less than a month ago.
David S,
From '95 to '02, we owned property in Seeley Lake, Montana, (not far from Ovando for those unfamiliar with the area) and used to get the weekly newspaper, the Pathfinder. During ol' Griz's migratory wanderings about the town, it would print local incidences of their antics. One involved two elk hunters who split up and went their separate ways. One hunter killed an elk and was in the process of dressing it when ol' Griz pounced on him. The other hunter found his bud's body next to that of the elk, his rifle leaning on an out-of-reach tree. He didn't have a sidearm. A local game warden said that ol' Griz has grown to know that a gun shot means food.
Another incident involved a mother who saw ol' Griz in her yard not far from her child. She got he 10/22, took a pot shot at ol' Griz's butt, and he/she ran off. Later its body was found, after it bled out from a severed femoral artery. The feds arrested the lady, for killing an endangered species, and after a lot of legal wrangling she was cleared.
The paper's editor printed another story about ol' Griz eating his snowmobile's seat covering.