[Kevin D]

Anybody ever heard about Old Ephraim? He was the last known grizzly to live in Utah.

Or was he? Frank Clark, the one who killed old Ephraim 1923, wrote in his autobiography that he encountered another grizzly in the 1930's and the tracks of another one in the 1940's. I've heard rumors of a grizzly killed up Millville canyon in the 1930's. I remember as a teenager seeing a framed photo of a couple hunters posed with a young grizzly in a cafe in Garden City, that bear was said to have been killed in Jebo Creek above bear Lake sometime in the early 1940's. A friend's dad who graduated from USU and went on to be a wildlife professor at BYU says USU has in their collection the hide of that young grizzly and the date it was killed. If true, that would likely be Utah's last grizzly.

 

[westcanyonranch]

I just want to keep an eye on this post to know which areas to take precautions in. Thank you everyone for the locations!

 

[colorcountrygunner]

Everyone keeps saying Utah's last grizzly, but grizzlies are on the rise again in Idaho and Wyoming so...maybe someday?

 

[mtnwldman]

I have seen them down around electric lake. Seen quite alot out by our property near current creek reservoir. A friend of mine neice got a big cinnamon with a 10" paw at the top of current creek canyon.

 

[Critter]

I thought that I read many years ago that a Grizzly was hit and killed up Parleys Canyon back in the mid 70's

Sent from my SM-A426U using Tapatalk

 

[johnnycake]

I have seen them down around electric lake. Seen quite alot out by our property near current creek reservoir. A friend of mine neice got a big cinnamon with a 10" paw at the top of current creek canyon.

Curious, but how are you measuring the paw (and which paw?) to come up with a 10" paw? Width of the front paw? Length of the hind paw including toes?

 

[2:22]

Books, LaSal, and Elk Ridge are the highest sighting areas by far. I don't know the counts and it may have something to do with the landscapes for spotting but I can't imagine that there are any areas in Utah with higher numbers. I had a friend with two baits on one of those areas last year and he was feeding close to 20 bears. My brother killed a Bruiser in one of those areas last weekend and my hunt starts in just over a week in one of those areas so I will have a better number in a few weeks as well. All of those spots are quality hunts. They aren't close to home for most so sometimes the closer areas get a lot of looks but I think that is because they have "enough" Bears not necessarily the "most" bears. Those furthest spots take a lot of points to draw so that has to be an indicator.

 

[Jbrow327]

Books, LaSal, and Elk Ridge are the highest sighting areas by far. I don't know the counts and it may have something to do with the landscapes for spotting but I can't imagine that there are any areas in Utah with higher numbers. I had a friend with two baits on one of those areas last year and he was feeding close to 20 bears. My brother killed a Bruiser in one of those areas last weekend and my hunt starts in just over a week in one of those areas so I will have a better number in a few weeks as well. All of those spots are quality hunts. They aren't close to home for most so sometimes the closer areas get a lot of looks but I think that is because they have "enough" Bears not necessarily the "most" bears. Those furthest spots take a lot of points to draw so that has to be an indicator.

Where is elk ridge?

 

[Critter]

West of Monticello and Blanding in the San Juan unit

 

[Jbrow327]

West of Monticello and Blanding in the San Juan unit

Ah yes the Abajo mountains. The most mysterious range in Utah.

 

[backcountry]

How so?

 

[Jbrow327]

How so?

It seems like there's not much known about them. Kind of like the Henry's.

 

[Critter]

There is a lot that is known by quite a few of us for both the Henry's and the Abajo Mountains.

But it is a lot like great fishing spots, and other areas that we don't want let out just so some can head to them and ruin them.

I took some friends to a great canyon for a spike elk hunt one year. That canyon always held spikes and we usually took 5 or more out of it each year. That is until those friends took others along with their relatives into it after I showed them where it was located at and how to hunt it. The second year looked like a pumpkin patch and it sounded like WWIII when all of them opened up. I haven't been into that area since.

 

[2:22]

I think they named the San Juan area "The Bears Ears" because there are soooooo Many bears there..........or possibly because those two mountains that poke up and look like a couple of bears ears. Ya, I would go with the second one.