Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to the Two Oceans Pass area located in the Teton Wilderness area just south of Yellowstone park near Cody, Wyoming. This area features majestic granite peaks biting into the sky above lush forest of fir and pine. It receives a lot of snowfall each winter which keeps the undergrowth thick to hide the elk, deer and moose that tiptoe along the meadows and streams in the valleys. Cougars, wolves and black and brown bears round out the dominant predators that stalk the hillsides. Drawing skiers, horseback riders, trail hikers and sightseers, this area is a sportsman's paradise and it is dotted with expensive cabins here and there.

On September 27th, 2021 licensed Wyoming hunting guide Tyler Barnard was leading his clients, who were father, whom we will call Dave, and son, whom we will call Juston on an elk hunt. The party was pursuing a large bull elk which to them was a satisfactory specimen. Rifle season for elk had just started about a week before and the country was rough hiking, wild and rigorous.

On the 27th the party had found and shot at the bull they had their eyes on. The shot seemed like a good hit and they followed the ample blood trail for a good mile or so before the blood trail dwindled, limiting their ability to follow it any further. Recognizing their dilemma and limited abilities due to sunset, the men called it a day and agreed to return first thing in the morning to follow up on the bull and hopefully reclaim its carcass and antlers as best they could.

They resumed the search on the 28th to no avail. They returned for one last good look as ethics require hunters to do. It was 85 degrees out that day so they knew they would have to find it as soon as possible, fairly confident that the meat they wanted was bone soured if not completely rotten by now. Even if they did lose the meat the Wyoming game laws required them to do every reasonable thing to recover the carcass and salvage it if possible.

The morning of September 29th, the trio head out to find another bull, as they were convinced the bull they shot a few days prior may have escaped and not died at all. At about 8 AM they were hiking up a trail in the same area they found the prior bull in, when they noticed a whiff of death in the air. Elk meat has its own distinct smell as do most species, so the men decided to investigate a little more. With fair certainty that the smell was coming from the bull they had previously wounded, the men left their rifles on their horses and began walking to the edge of a small ridge that the smell seemed to be coming from.

As they crested the ridge they could see small pines protruding from numerous larger trees now dead and blown down by winds and decay. Because the pines were young the visibility was limited by their low canopies. Visual lanes appeared but mostly were limited to about 25 yards at most vantage points.

The men briefly discussed how they had to go about the act of recovery. They agreed to look for the bull and then locate the carcass with a pin on their GPS. Next, they would have a recovery team come in and reclaim the carcass and the antlers after they had tagged it. Edible or not, the hunters had an ethical duty to tag the elk and they were dedicated to the ethical practice.

Now, these men were no dummies. They came in loaded for bear, literally. Tyler carried a 10MM model 20 Glock loaded with Buffalo Bore 190 grain hard cast bullets. This is a powerful pistol but is obviously nowhere near as powerful as even a smaller caliber hunting rifle. Justin was also packing a 45ACP with a red dot sight and a 15 round magazine. He loaded it with Hollowpoint +P self defense ammunition. Dave wasn’t carrying a sidearm, but did bring along his can of bear spray just in case. It turned out they would need every bit of the firepower they brought with them on this day.