Season 3 Episode 67: Common Sense Recreating in Bear Country - by Brian DeBolt

North American Outdoors

In this week's episode, we chat again with Brian DeBolt, the Large Carnivore Conflict Coordinator with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. In his 20+ years of service, he has worked to educate the public in the many large carnivores that roam the great state of Wyoming.
He, too, enjoys recreating in the backcountry where other large wildlife carnivores and predators roam. As a native Wyoming-ite, he grew up knowing how to stay safe, aware, and always prepared anytime he left the comforts of home on a trip into the wild. Brian raised his two boys this way, always taking them along with him and teaching them from a very young age how to stay safe when outdoors and being prepared when in bear country.
Brian tells us how to prepare for any trip, whether an afternoon hike up a trail, or a week-long hunting trip deep into the mountains. Living in this area you always have to prepare for all conditions including encountering wildlife along the trail, rapidly changing weather, and taking care of those who are with you including other people and if you are on horseback. You not only have to pack and prep for yourself but the horse you are on, their food, warmth and safety as well.
He'll share fishing safety tips and techniques, hiking and camping safety, and how to prepare for a backcountry hunt. There are so many things to take into consideration before your trip, many you many have not even considered if you've not had this experience before. First and most importantly, always having bear spray readily accessible at all times on your belt, chest holster or backpack strap. Next preparing for changing weather. It may be 77 degrees and a bluebird day , then a winter storm builds over the mountain pass you are on and before you know it, temps have plummeted below freezing and you are in the middle of a winter whiteout snowstorm! Are you prepared and do you have enough layers of clothing with you to survive the night?
And what about scouting for the perfect hunting spot to set up for your elk hunt of a lifetime? Believe it or not, as hard as you are hunting for that prized bull elk, so is that grizzly bear who lives in the area as well. If you are successful in your hunt and have an animal on the ground that you may have to follow a blood trail to track, or even see the animal in the distance, are you so tunnel-vision that you don't even see the grizzly nearby who is just as eager to check out the 800+ pound BAIT you just offered up?
What a great topic to discuss this time of year for anyone planning a hiking, camping or fishing trip in the backcountry, and now is the time to really start thinking and planning hard for an upcoming fall hunt in the mountains!
Enjoy!

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