Welcome back to Scary Bear Attacks! Today’s episode takes us to Waugh Mountain just north of Cotopaxi, Colorado around 80 miles south of Denver. This particular part of the Pike and San Isabel National Forest displays steep and rugged mountains covered in pine and fir trees predominantly. There are pockets of willow, aspen and various berry bushes wherever water is present. The mountains are packed with deer and elk but authorities are uncertain about just how many black bears live in the state of Colorado.
Colin McClelland was from a very outdoorsy family. His father was a licensed outfitter in Colorado for 13 years and Colin was a lumberjack and camped on Waugh Mountain because he harvested timber from nearby timber stands. Colin had been working out of this area for several years and had had a rash of bear problems for the last three. He called the Colorado Division of Wildlife last year when a bear broke into his camper and consumed all of his food.
Lately, he had been having bears show up around his RV at night and scratch and sniff around his camp. Colin was smart enough to know not to leave anything that might attract a bear outside, but his camper was full of his own food as well, so he thought that is what must bring them back.
Colin didn’t know this but four nuisance black bears were sedated, ear tagged then relocated to Waugh Mountain since 1988. Now authorities know that one was run over and killed in the road, hunters killed 2 during hunting season, but one bear simply disappeared. This is the ideal situation for the wildlife management authorities. They don’t exactly like killing bears, even nuisance bears, as it is better to give them a second chance in a more remote area and allow nature to take its course. Any new entrant into prime bear territory will have to fit in with the established bear pecking order and may die if it doesn’t do that soon after being released.
Colin hadn’t been feeling well the last few days and was taking some pretty strong flu medicine to help him recover. Harvesting lodgepole pines was tiring work and being sick while doing it made it even more tiring.
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