Randy discusses the conundrum of the “grizzly bear recovery” program. After over 50 years on the endangered species list, the population has more than recovered, it is thriving.
Thumbnail photo by Cathy Selby.
There are two points in the video where there is a notice, “read the description”. Here are the 2 notes. Also, for more information, a great resource is Trinity Vandenacre of Life in the West. His YT channel [and other social media outlets] are a wealth of information on grizzlies, wolves, land use in the west, etc.
First note: Read the book, Playing God in Yellowstone by Alston Chase. He documents a lot of this, and more, about the ways that mismanagement in Yellowstone National Park has led to our current issues. Randy has also talked with feet-on-the-ground men who were working in the Park and surrounding area during the debacle that led to the listing as endangered.
Second note: “In the spring of 1961, the most photographed animal in Yellowstone National Park was a 225-pound grizzly bear mother named Sylvia who let tourists walk within arm's reach of her and her three cubs. The researcher studying her wrote six words in his journal: she will probably cause trouble.
John Craighead first encountered Sylvia in late July 1959 near the Old Faithful complex. He and his brother Frank had been retained by the National Park Service to conduct the first comprehensive long-term study of Yellowstone's grizzly bear population, a project that would run from 1959 to 1971 and produce the foundational science behind grizzly conservation in the lower 48.
They were trapping, tagging, and tracking every grizzly they could find in the ecosystem. They had handled bears that charged the trap, bears that destroyed equipment, bears that chased researchers to their vehicles. One massive male they designated Ivan, as in Ivan the Terrible, went berserk in the bear cage, injured himself trying to escape, and then pursued the research team by car after his release. Craighead described him in his journal as a giant berserk Frankenstein.
Sylvia was the opposite problem. She was the tamest grizzly the Craigheads ever encountered. She would calmly allow the scientists to approach within twenty-five feet. She did not bluff charge. She did not flatten her ears or pop her jaw. She grazed the meadows in front of Old Faithful Lodge with her three cubs, each one no larger than a lapdog, while tourists circled her with cameras. She ambled along the Firehole River in broad daylight. She appeared to pose beside the geyser itself. Visitors treated her like a park attraction. The ultimate souvenir from a 1961 Yellowstone vacation was a closeup of Sylvia and her cubs.
Craighead understood what the tourists did not. A tame grizzly is not a safe grizzly. A tame grizzly is a grizzly that has stopped calculating the risk of proximity to humans, and the moment that calculation fails, the failure is catastrophic.
The Craighead study ran for twelve years and produced science that fundamentally reshaped how the United States managed grizzly bears. Before the Craigheads, virtually nothing was known about grizzly reproduction rates, home range sizes, mortality causes, population structure, or habitat requirements. The brothers pioneered radio-collar tracking on grizzlies, developed the first population models for the species, and fought publicly with the Park Service over the closure of garbage dumps that had been feeding bears for decades. The Craigheads argued for a gradual weaning process.
The Park Service insisted on cold-turkey closure. The dumps were shut abruptly. Bears that had depended on garbage for calories dispersed into campgrounds and developed areas looking for replacement food. Many were killed by management actions. The grizzly population in Yellowstone crashed. The Craigheads' data showed the crash in real time. The Park Service terminated their research access in 1971.
Craighead's six-word journal entry was not about one bear. It was about a system. A national park was letting millions of visitors interact at close range with a wild grizzly mother and her cubs, and the only person writing down that this was going to end badly was a researcher whose access would eventually be revoked for saying so.”
Source: John Craighead journals, Montana State University Archives, via JSTOR Daily / Craighead, Sumner, and Mitchell, "The Grizzly Bears of Yellowstone," Island Press, 1995 / National Geographic Education Blog.
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![Randy tells of one of his solo elk hunts, NNW behind our home, which abuts the National Forest Service ground.
He details his processing process, with the added bonus of Cathy’s corned wild game recipe, below.
*Photos are not of this particular hunt as there aren’t photos of his solo hunts. Taken from Cathy’s stock pile of personal photos.*
CORNED WILD GAME via Cathy Selby’s Kitchen: The Real Gunsmith’s Wife
This is a combination of several recipes that I found for corned wild game.
In a saucepan combine ½ cup brown sugar and 8 Tablespoons Morton Tender Quick. 2 cups water. Stir and bring to a boil. Stir until dissolved. Cool to room temperature.
Add:
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 Tablespoons pickling mix.
2 teaspoons ground red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fennel seed
3 bay leaves, crushed
2 quarts water [+ or -, enough to cover meat fully]. Stir well.
3-5lbs. deer, elk or antelope, sheep, moose, buffalo…you get the idea…roast or heart well-trimmed.
Place roasts in LARGE GLASS jar or container [never plastic, ceramic or metal] and pour brining solution over to cover. Place lid or plastic wrap over container. Place in refrigerator. The recipes I used to combine for this mixture said anywhere from 5 days to 12 days, one even said 21 days. I went with the 12 days. In the meantime, every other day turn the roast[s] or heart. Do not use plastic or metal utensils. I used a large wooden spoon. For heart, which is denser, two full weeks works best.
When ready to remove from the brine, drain the brine from the meat. Rinse well. If you are going to freeze to cook later, pat dry, wrap and freeze. I have a LARGE glass container, that was a 36-volt battery container, so it is square sided. It fits well in the back of the fridge. I have had up to 5 large roasts in it at a time. That makes for hard turning so I just reach in and turn by hand.
For cooking: Slow cooker on low for 6 to 8 hours. Add a touch of brown sugar to the top of roast if desired, a bit of your favorite seasonings. Add, as desired: Cubed potatoes, carrots, celery, onion and/or cabbage, seasoned and added to roast. The meat is quite red even after cooking, that is normal. ENJOY! It is fantastic!! Even the veggies have a different and great flavor!
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Solo Elk Hunt with Recipe
The Real Gunsmith July 23, 2026 12:26 pm