June 1998
Anyone planning a trip to grizzly bear country would do well to read the book "Learning to Talk Bear" by Roland Cheek of Montana. For those not planning to camp, fish, hunt or hike in the grizzly's domain in the western U.S., Alaska and parts of Canada, the book will provide information about an animal that wildlife enthusiasts everywhere find intriguing and threatening.
What, really, can you expect from a grizzly should you encounter one in the wild?
Also, what does the future hold for this controversial creature that is accepted by some people and rejected by others as being too dangerous?
Roland Cheek, a former outfitter and now an outdoor journalist who has studied and observed grizzlies for many years, addresses these questions with the help of bear biologists and people who live in bear country.
Cheek says that most novice outdoors folk are fearful or uncomfortable while hiking or camping in grizzly country. And why not? Most print or broadcast journalism covering bears seem enamored only with grizzlies that kill or cripple people. Even so, there is a growing number of people fascinated with the great beasts that live in the highest quality wilderness environment. Those people are willing to accept risk to access those places.
How great is the risk?
Not nearly so much, Cheek writes, as one might think, provided people understand bear ettiquette and use travel and camping practices the animals can understand. Such ettiquette and practices are described in "Learning to Talk Bear."
To write the book, Cheek took advantage of new research indicating that grizzly bears are trying to get along with their human neighbors. Indeed, as Dr. Charles Jonkel, dean of American bear researchers, says: "Bears have better senses than we do and they know their environment better than we do. If we only knew how many thousands of times each year they take care of us ... and we don't even know they're around."
Jonkel says in the book that there are two reasons people are killed by bears. First, people do not understand bear ettiquette and second, people's rules are too inconsistent for bears to understand.
Study bears have been closely monitored for years. Discoveries include grizzlies living in areas densely populated by humans who don't know the bears are nearby. In other cases, the bears appear indifferent to humans: sow and cubs feed on lawn clover while subdivision home owners shoot video footage through their living room windows.
while subdivision home owners shoot video footage through their living room windows.
The outdoorsman or woman, however, mainly is concerned with how bears may act in the wild if they are unexpectedly encountered on the trail or if the bears enter a camp. The book describes many experiences Cheek and others have had with grizzlies, including some hair-raising stories that most people are content to read about rather than experience firsthand.
Cheek is a strong believer in continuing bear research and sharing the information with the public. The bear's future depends upon people being educated and understanding more about bears. Cheek points out that he spent over half a lifetime amid the great beasts without being seriously charged, mauled or batted around by a grizzly. He wonders at the book's conclusion if he was just lucky or if he had inadvertently learned to talk bear?
The book of outdoor adventure coupled with information obtained by bear biologists and the author has over 300 pages and can be ordered from Skyline Publishing, P.O. Box 1118, Columbia Falls, Montana 59912 or dial (406) 892-5560 for a credit card purchase. The cost is $21.95.
- D.R.T.
Learning to Talk Bear is a major literary contribution in an effort to save the magnificent grizzly, the most powerful carnivore on earth. It's a 306-page book dedicated to the preservation of these magnificent animals through understanding them and the bears understanding us.
Author and outdoorsman Roland Cheek, 62, was the right man to write this book. He did so from years as a wilderness outfitter and guide in grizzly country in the wildest portions of the northern Rockies. He has a keen sense of humor, is a great storyteller, and has spent years of intense study trying to learn the right ways for humans and grizzly bears to exist in harmony through better understanding between man and beast. He does not believe that it is in our best interest for grizzlies to disappear from the earth.
"There is a vast body of new research indicating grizzly bears are trying to get along with their human neighbors," Cheek says. "Dr. Charles Jonkel, dean of American bear researchers, says bears have better seenses than we do and they know their environment better than we do."
Dr. Jonkel went on to say that no one knows how many thousands of times
each year bears take care of us and we don't even know they're around. Wisdom comes only through understanding. Recent breakthroughs in research show us:
* How bears think and live.
* That bears are already trying to understand us.
* That humans can live with bears.
* Bears may be indicators of the highest quality environments.
* Through education fueled by research, the future for bears can be bright.
*Both bears and people want to do the right thing.
* Humans can live with bears, and in some places the two are already learning to live together.
This is a book for people who care about all things wild, and a must for anyone visiting or dwelling in grizzly country. The book sells for $21.95. Check with your favorite outlet
LEARNING TO TALK BEAR, by Roland Cheek, Skyline Publishing Co., Box 1118, Columbia Falls, MT 59912 (406-892-0123); 1997, 320 pages. soft cover, $21.95 postpaid.
During 20 years as a guide and outfitter in the Bob Marshall Wilderness, Roland Cheek was bound to bump up against a grizzly bear now and then. At first, he had his mind set on a grizzly rug. But when his chance finally came -- an easy shot at a magnificent bear in the days when Montana still had a limited grizzly bear season -- he turned it down, and wasn't sure why. He says, "... my regard for the animals bounced about like a yo-yo. First my attitude was uneducated fear, then armed disdain that eventually led to unarmed, unreasoned fear. From there it was transformed to unbridled admiration that led to what approached blind homage for the cuddly creatures. Then it turned into grudging respect, and probably a creeping suspicion that I really didn't know what to think about an animal that was edging deeply into my soul." He began talking with the biologists who study grizzly bear behavior, and gathering information on the great bears wherever and whenever he could. His book, a fast-paced blend of first-person accounts and the results of recent grizzly bear research, provides valuable insights into what humans must do to live with bears, and why.
... Fido stops barking. The next thing you see is Fido coming at a dead run toward you with his hind feet reaching clear past his ears trying to get traction on more real estate.
Behind Fido is something brown and silver, and large, very large. The brown blur is also coming your way, like a furry locomotive.
About this time you realize that Fido has become a retriever. He's found a bear and he's bringing it to you. And this is no ordinary bear, Fido is bringing you a grizzly.
... In his book, "Learning to Talk Bear," Roland Cheek had a dog and bear experience similar to the one just described. The incident happened not long after he came to Montana. Like so many newcomers, he fell in love with the mountains of western Montana. He also fell in love with the feathered and four legged residents of those mountains. Through his many years as hunter and then guide, and now journalist, he has been especially fascinated by Ursus arctos horribilis, the grizzly bear.
Cheek's bear book is a compilation of true stories and observations of grizzlies, grizzlies research and comments on how people and grizzlies have affected each other since the 1960s.
I highly recommend Cheek's book for anyone who loves or hates, grizzlies or anyone who just wants to understand them.
... Cheek's book has more valuable grizzly information in it than I can even touch upon here. And it is packaged in some very enjoyable reading. Read it for the fun of it and you will learn a lot along the way. It may not change your opinion of grizzlies, but at least your opinion will become an informed one...
