Phillips County News - One Nation, Under God

There was a time that it wasn’t spring until I spotted my first grizzly bear.

While I’ve stumbled upon few grizzlies in the fall, it was April when I expected to see them. They were following the elk herds and so was I, although for different purposes.

I’d seen grizzlies at night foraging through the Cooke City dump. We used to take girls there, drink beer and park.

Running into bears on foot in the backcountry in the middle of the day, however, was an entirely different experience.

I was only chased once, and that was up a tree. Following an elk trail through knee-deep snow in the ti...