Great Wyoming Bear Stories

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Chris Cauble, Publisher

Phone 1-406-449-0200

New book filled with valuable lessons about living with Wyoming’s bears

Wyoming author pens terrific book about bears

A year ago Laramie resident Tom Reed wasn’t sure he wanted to write a book on Wyoming’s grizzly and black bears. “The world, I thought, doesn’t need another slasher book about bears,” he said.

But then Reed thought his book could do something else. “Here was a chance to tell stories about bears, about how individual bears are, about what amazing animals they are, and—just as importantly—about the people who have come into contact with them,” he said. “Yes, bears are dangerous, and in this book there are stories of tragedy and violence, but bears are also incredible. Some are never seen. Some come too close to humans and pay with their lives. Others make our hearts pound with fear. But the bear has much to fear from us as well.”

Reed’s book is “Great Wyoming Bear Stories” ($14.95, Riverbend), and it is filled with a wide range of incidents, encounters, and observations about bears. In addition to an obvious talent for story telling, Reed anchors his work with in-depth

research. For this book he obtained previously classified government documents (often using the Freedom of Information Act) to supplement historic reports and public records, and he interviewed dozens of game wardens, wildlife biologists, ranchers, hunters, hikers, mauling victims, and others. The result is an immensely valuable book for understanding and living with Wyoming’s bears.

For example, hunters will benefit from new information on how to hunt and camp safely in grizzly country, and homeowners will find numerous lessons about how to co-exist peacefully with bears. Anyone who ventures into Wyoming’s wilderness without packing a handy container of bear pepper spray simply hasn’t read this book and its numerous true stories about the spray’s effectiveness.

The book covers Wyoming’s history from the days of the mountain men to the 2002 euthanization of the last cub from grizzly bear number 104, the popular bear that lived for many years along the North Fork Highway. Many of the fascinating stories are little known, such as the illegal hunting of grizzly bears in Yellowstone National Park by bowhunting legends Pope and Young. Other stories have been reported but Reed adds a wealth of new details. His gripping account of the fatal mauling of a Swiss hiker in Yellowstone in 1984 includes behind-the-scenes information that sheds new light on the baffling attack and its disturbing aftermath.

Not all the stories end in the death of a person or a bear. Reed has a hilarious chapter on black bear incidents, and he provides an excellent description of the trials and tribulations of Wyoming’s game wardens and biologists who try to keep the peace between humans and bears.

Reed recounts one incident in which a relocated grizzly charged a warden’s pick-up truck instead of running off into the woods when it was released from its trap. The enraged grizzly leaped at the truck and shoved its head through the truck’s open window. The game warden jammed the barrel of his shotgun against the bear's throat and pushed back. The warden didn’t pull the trigger and told his partner not to shoot because he didn’t want to kill the bear. After a tense shoving match with the bear’s claws ripping at the door and the bear’s teeth snapping just inches away from the warden’s head, the bear backed down, allowing the men to start the truck and pull away. Then the bear ran off.

“Great Wyoming Bear Stories” is available at Wyoming bookstores or by calling the publisher toll-free at 1-866-787-2363.