No plans to trap bear bit by man

There are no plans to attempt a capture of the black bear that bit a sleeping man's leg near West Yellowstone late Friday, Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks Warden Captain Sam Sheppard said.

Dan Root, of Billings, was sleeping outside his tent at the West Yellowstone KOA campground when the bear bit him lightly on the leg, he said Sunday.

Officials are monitoring the area but have no plans to try to trap any bears there.

Bears use their mouths and noses to investigate unusual things and it probably was just curious about the sleeping man, Sheppard said. When Root yelled at it, it ran away.

"This wasn't an attack," Sheppard said Monday. "He was curious basically. It probably scared the bear as much as it did the guy."

The bite did not break Root's skin, but he reported bruising.

"It didn't even rip his sleeping bag," said John Dutton, manager of the campground, and Root stayed for two more nights after the incident.

Trying to capture the bear is risky because the smelly bait used in bear traps could draw in the wrong animal, Sheppard said. If it captured a grizzly cub, the situation could get ugly because having an enraged mother grizzly in an area full of campers is not a scenario anybody wants to see.

Trapping "could make the problem worse instead of better," he said.

Sheppard also said there was nothing to confirm reports by a South Dakota man that a bear had been fiddling with door latches on cabins at the campground Saturday night.

"There was no confirmation of anything pushing on those doors," Sheppard said. "No claw marks, no paw prints, nothing."

"There is no damage to any of the cabins," Dutton said, though one unattended cooler was bitten and damaged.

Root was the second man this year to undergo a black bear nip in this area.

Earlier this summer, Sheppard said, a man pitched a tent at the Big EZ Lodge in Big Sky, not knowing it was in the same place were somebody had been regularly dumping grease.

"He was sleeping on top of this grease spot," Sheppard said. A bear attracted by the smell bit the camper lightly, then ran away when the man yelled.

Both black and grizzly bears are entering their hyperphagic stage, when they go on a single minded quest for food in advance of hibernation. And it's already been a busy season, with bears wandering widely as many favorite foods shrivel in the summer's drought.

With that in mind, FWP is advising people to bring in their bird feeders until winter.

Bird seed is a major attractant for bears and Montana law says that any bird feeder providing food for bears - even through spillage - can be a violation, said FWP bear management specialist Kevin Frey.

Frey said he has responded to more than 100 bear conflicts since June. Nine black bears have been trapped and relocated and three have been killed after they became so accustomed to human-related food that they started breaking into homes.

"They were food conditioned, every single one of them," Sheppard said. "Every one of (the bear deaths) could have been avoided if people had been more aware."

In addition to bird feeders, FWP is urging people to pick up fallen fruit immediately, stow garbage inside a garage, keep barbecues clean and stored in a garage, and keep pet and livestock food secured.

The Big Sky area has been a particular problem this year, partly because there are so many vacationers staying there who are unaware of the dangers of bear attractants.

Most people comply when problems are pointed out. But if they don't they could face a ticket.

"If the problem is not addressed, we will issue citations," Sheppard said.