Fearing for his life, Gypsum man kills troublesome bear that had eluded wildlife officials
The killing was legally justified, according to an investigation by Colorado Parks and Wildlife
Cyn Fitch/Vail Daily archive
Blake Scott was moving water on his family’s property in Gypsum on the evening of Monday, June 10, when he heard his mother screaming. His mother had been painting the family’s barn and entered the building’s garage to get another bucket of green paint. As she leaned down to pick up the bucket, she came face to face with a bear.
As the family soon learned, this was not just any bear. It was the bear frequently spotted in Vail last summer, which broke into at least one home before seemingly disappearing in late July. The bear was identifiable by the number on its red ear tags: 935.
As his mother retreated upstairs, Blake Scott ran to the house for his 9-mm handgun, then headed straight to the garage. At this point, he had no idea what had frightened his mother.
Still, he entered the garage. No sign of the intruder. He went around the back of the building, near the family’s chicken coop. Again, he saw nothing. He circled back around to the front of the building and was able to communicate with his mother, who told him that she had seen a bear.
“I said, ‘Really? Where did it go?'” Scott said. “And all of a sudden, I see that bear coming between the truck and the propane tank, and he was running right at me.”
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Scott backed away, but the bear continued to approach. With 6 feet of space between the bear and himself, Scott shot the bear, wounding the animal.
The wound was bad enough that he decided he needed to finish the job, and he said he shot the bear again, killing it.
“The whole thing was so scary,” Scott said. “I’m just grateful that my family wasn’t hurt in any way.”
Bear 935’s history
Bear 935 first appeared in Eagle County last year, when it was relocated to near LEDE Reservoir in Gypsum after being identified as a nuisance bear in the Kremmling area.
“It was loitering near town, near residential areas. They attempted hazing. It wasn’t leaving the area. They wanted to get rid of it, get it out of that area, into suitable habitat before it became too comfortable,” said Matt Yamashita, Colorado Parks and Wildlife area wildlife manager.
Bear 935 did not remain in isolation for long.
“It traveled through miles and miles of appropriate habitat to seek refuge near Vail,” Yamashita said.
In Vail, the bear again “started developing bad habits,” Yamashita said.
The bear showed too much comfort existing near humans, including entering houses.
“Our plan at that time was to, if we caught it, to euthanize it,” Yamashita said. “At that point, it, for our agency, the way we see that is a human health and safety issue.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers set traps for the bear, intending to euthanize it when caught. But the traps never caught the bear. “And then it just vanished,” Yamashita said.
In late July, Colorado Parks & Wildlife stopped receiving calls about Bear 935.
“I don’t know where it went, what it did, how it stayed out of trouble, or why it decided to do that, but it changed its behavior,” Yamashita said.
The next time the bear resurfaced was when it emerged from hibernation in spring 2024. “The first knowledge we have of it was back again in the Vail area, and it was kind of replicating some of the same behaviors,” Yamashita said. “We were trying to keep tabs on it, figuring out where it was going to be, how we could catch up with it, and then it disappeared.”
The next time Bear 935 was seen was about a week later, when it showed up on Scott’s property, after traversing many miles along the Eagle River corridor.
Legally justified
Scott is a lifelong resident of Gypsum — he grew up on the ranch where he still lives — and has always been familiar with wildlife, though he has never been a hunter.
“I’ve had a few interactions where you back up and (bears) stay away from you, and you just go away,” he said.
This encounter was different.
“We try to stay out of their way and give them space, but there was no space in this incident,” Scott said. “It was very self-defense. I felt like I was being attacked.”
In 1992, Colorado voters outlawed the spring bear hunt by ballot initiative. Since 1993, it has been illegal for anyone other than a Colorado Parks and Wildlife agent to kill a bear by any means, including a firearm, between March 1 and Sept. 1.
However, Yamashita said, it is legal to kill a bear if the bear poses an “imminent threat” to the health of the shooter or another person nearby.
Following Bear 935’s death, Scott contacted Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Layton Stutsman, Colorado Parks & Wildlife district wildlife manager, responded to the scene and conducted a full investigation.
“Our officer responded, investigated it, and was able to determine that bear did pose a human health risk, and that he was justified in killing it,” Yamashita said. “Even without going through the process or procedure of trapping it and everything else, he was legally justified in doing so.”
According to the investigative report, Yamashita said, the bear “had every opportunity” to leave the scene while avoiding engaging with people, and yet it chose to move toward Scott. “It had space available to leave the area, to disengage and go elsewhere, and for whatever reason, it was choosing to walk back toward people, when people were shouting and screaming at it,” he said.
It was impossible to know what the bear’s intentions were, Yamashita said, and in that situation, “you can’t wait to find out.”
It is uncommon for civilians to shoot and kill bears in Colorado, Yamashita said. “And that’s not a bad thing that it’s rare,” he said.
Bears are often near people without posing an imminent threat to anyone’s life. Killing a bear under those circumstances would be illegal. Also, Yamashita said, shooting a bear can make the situation even more dangerous if the shooter is untrained.
Colorado Parks & Wildlife generally discourages people from using firearms to defend themselves from bears.
“You can make a bad situation worse if you injure a bear (and) don’t know what you’re doing,” Yamashita said. “We’ve responded to those incidents, too, and things can go bad quickly.”
Instead, Yamashita said, if facing down a bear, try to get to safety and then call Colorado Parks & Wildlife or local law enforcement and let them handle the situation.
Would a warning have helped?
Reflecting on the encounter, Scott said he wished his family had been warned that a nuisance bear was being relocated into their area.
“When you relocate these bears, it doesn’t matter where you put them, you’re still going to put them in somebody’s neighborhood,” Scott said.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not notify communities when a nuisance bear is relocated nearby because the goal is for the bear to be placed far enough away from people that the community never encounters the animal.
“We’re not going to take a problem bear from one town and drop it on the back door of another town,” Yamashita said.
Bears are deliberately relocated to areas where they could remain and live out the rest of their lives, with food, water, shelter and other necessities, without needing to travel closer to human settlements.
Once relocated, Colorado Parks and Wildlife does not track relocated bears through technology. If a bear does return to a neighborhood, the agency will note references to the bear’s ear tags on calls.
Was Bear 935’s fate inevitable?
While Bear 935’s behavior from last summer did not mean that Colorado Parks and Wildlife intended to euthanize it this year, the behavioral trends it displayed when it returned to Vail this year showed a concerning pattern. Before it temporarily disappeared this year, officers were planning to trap the bear.
“You can’t really untrain a bear from what it has learned,” Yamashita said. “So the most productive thing is on that proactive side of it.”
Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers take several steps before euthanizing bears, including extensive hazing with strong deterrents and relocation. By the time a situation requires a response from officers, however, it can sometimes be too late for the bear’s behavior to be altered. Officers make decisions about euthanizing bears on a case-by-case basis and spend more hours per year educating people on how to take proactive steps to deter bears than they do in the field responding to bear calls, Yamashita said.
The onus is on members of the public to do the majority of the proactive work.
The best way to keep bears alive is to keep them away from people. Teaching bears to steer clear of humans includes keeping food and garbage locked up and protected from bears, and hazing bears by yelling, banging pots and pans, and otherwise making their experience unpleasant when they come near human dwellings.
For assistance in handling bear encounters, call the Glenwood Springs Colorado Parks & Wildlife office at 970-947-2920.
