Bears are still in town and still a problem for at least another month

Paint balls, rubber bullets and going all Rambo…

Just because it feels like winter and you think bears should be hibernating, don’t be fooled. The Crested Butte marshals say the bears are still out pretty much every night in town.

“They are still a problem,” explained Chief Marshal Tom Martin. “There are two bears we think come back every single night. One probably weighs more than 400 pounds, while the smaller one might be in the 200-pound-plus range.”
Martin says the Division of Wildlife has a trap set up about half the time in Crested Butte. If a bear is trapped, it will be relocated or, more likely, killed.
“Once a bear finds Crested Butte garbage and food opportunities, it just doesn’t seem to want to go away,” Martin said Monday. “We had one trapped in a Dumpster at First and Whiterock this morning. It got out and we chased it out of town after shooting it with some rubber bullets.”
One local homeowner has gotten in the habit of using paint ball bullets because of close encounters with bears around and even inside her house. Alison Gannett lives on Butte Avenue and Ruth’s Road.
“We have a big mamma with two cubs who comes by our house all the time. Three weeks ago, the mamma broke into our house while we were away on a bike tour and ate 200 Clif Bars,” Gannett said. “Each Clif bar was opened carefully and nothing was broken in the house. Wrappers filled four rooms. How she got back out remains a mystery, as our door swings shut after you open it.”
Gannett said last week on Friday, September 11, the bear returned while she was home alone. “I heard our door open and a moan, which puzzled me, as I had locked both doors. Then I heard moaning and a crash. I grabbed my newly purchased paintball gun, ready on the bedside table, and came around the corner all Rambo-style, as I had just freshly graduated from Hunter Education and rifle training the day before. With two hands on the gun, I cop-styled around each corner of the mudroom, with the last turn leaving me face to face with the 500-pound mamma bear. She roared repeatedly, not happy with me being home. I yelled “GET OUT,” and it went on for a bit, like a bad soap opera, until she started stepping backwards. She was just inches from my gun barrel.
“After many roaring protests on her part and yelling and gun waving on my part, she backed out the door and I shot her with a paintball, which caused her to jump and turn,” Gannett continued. “She ran while I got two more shots. She came back an hour later, and tried to open the locked patio levered door again. I watched in fascination with her dexterity on the levered knob, moving it around carefully while she leaned her full weight into the door in pulses. Frustrated, she went for the second door, where we had removed the knob to keep her out. On this one she just tried to break it in with her weight, but was clearly pissed. When she looked away to listen to our neighbor’s dog bark, I quickly opened the door and was able to get in three good shots.”
There has been a rash of bear break-ins at Crested Butte homes this summer. So far, no one has been injured. Over in Aspen, similar encounters have resulted in people being injured after being accosted by bears in their homes.
Martin said in a normal year, bears begin hibernating sometime in the middle of October. But the last two years there were bears in town until early November. They wake up and start milling around town in March or April.
“The problem is not going away,” emphasized Martin. “The number of bears we have to deal with has gone down, but the ones still here are a problem. We strongly urge everyone to keep food out of their vehicles and lock up their cars. The bears are tearing up some cars pretty good and there is always food in there that attracts them.”
If a bear breaks into your house the marshals say it is best to open a window or door to give an escape route to the bruin, and secure yourself in another room.