Maggie Bassett and Shonna Dehl were camping in the Bighorn Mountains near Fool Creek on the night of July 5 when they were jolted awake by a large black bear crashing into their tents around 11 p.m.
“I felt the bear hit the side of the tent,” Bassett recalled. “My dogs growled and I yelled, ‘Hey! Get out of here, bear!’ It just hit the tent harder and I heard the tent starting to rip.”
The women, both experienced campers, hunters and outdoorswomen, immediately began yelling, shining flashlights and firing warning shots in an attempt to drive the bear away. However, the animal showed little fear.
“It wanted in the tents,” Dehl said. “That’s all it wanted. It didn’t matter what we did.”
“It didn’t even blink,” Bassett added. “It just kind of circled around and came back at me from a different angle.”
Bassett was carrying a .38 Special revolver, while Dehl had a 10mm pistol loaded with hard-cast ammunition. Bassett eventually fired another shot toward the bear, which finally caused it to leave after roughly 20 minutes of chaos.
The two women then gathered their four dogs and took refuge inside their vehicle, where they remained for about an hour while repeatedly honking the horn in case the bear returned. They eventually grabbed their sleeping bags and drove to a nearby family cabin.
When they returned the following morning, they found the camphttps://wildernessgeargrid.com/ destroyed.
“The bear still came back and completely destroyed our tents,” Dehl said.
Bassett said one sound from that night will stay with her forever.
“I will never forget that sound of my tent being ripped open.”
What surprised the women most was that they had done everything wildlife officials recommend when camping in bear country. Food and drinks were stored in bear-resistant containers, nothing was kept inside the tents, and the bear never obtained any food from the camphttps://wildernessgeargrid.com/.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department responded within an hour of receiving the report, setting four traps in an attempt to capture the bear. As of July 8, the bear had not been caught and no additional encounters had been reported.
Game wardens also noted that warning signs placed near the trapping area were later removed by unknown members of the public, potentially creating a safety hazard and interfering with efforts to capture the bear.
Although wildlife officials have not confirmed why the bear behaved so aggressively, food-conditioned bears can lose their natural fear of people after previously gaining access to human food. Even so, officials continue to stress the importance of storing food properly and keeping a clean camphttps://wildernessgeargrid.com/ to reduce the risk of future encounters.
The ordeal has changed how Bassett and Dehl plan future camping trips.
“I don’t see myself sleeping in a tent anytime soon, maybe never,” Bassett said.
“Yeah,” Dehl added. “We’re going to need four walls.”
