bear safety

Recently had the chance to chat with Wyoming Game & Fish's Large Carnivore Supervisor for the entire state of Wyoming Dan Thompson about bear safety.

In Wyoming, coming in contact with a bear is a possibility. There are certain things you can say and do to try and send the bear away.

NBC Montana shared the footage to Twitter on Wednesday morning.

It's spring in Wyoming, so that means bears are emerging from their dens for the first time.

If you visit Yellowstone National Park now, you'll find feeding bears solidly in the "don't" column. But, there was an era many years ago when people were not only allowed to feed bears in Yellowstone, the practice was sort of encouraged.

This happened in Washington state. There's a reason why I mention this. It's the story of a guy who woke up and realized he was being sniffed by a bear. He's fortunate because this could have ended up much worse.

When I first saw this, I thought it was fake. It's not. It's a guy who was fishing and decided to tempt a nearby bear with his fish. If there ever was a "touron" in training, it's this guy.

We have seen some real crazy close calls with bears thanks to tourists who don't understand how dangerous wildlife can be, but this one takes the cake. A couple got way too close to a mama bear and nearly paid the ultimate price.

It's hard to imagine this now, but a few decades ago it was a regular sight to see tourists feeding bears at Yellowstone and the park even kinda encouraged it.

In light of two recent bear attacks, including one near Dubois in northwest Wyoming, the Sweetwater County Sheriff's Department is reminding hunters to be "bear aware."