SUBLETTE COUNTY – Confirmed grizzly conflicts with cattle rose significantly this past summer compared to the same period in 2022, according to Wyoming Game and Fish reports.

Pinedale Region’s carnivore biologist Clint Atkinson gathered the statistics in part for the upcoming Sublette County Predator Board’s annual meeting on Dec. 8, 1 p.m. in the Commissioners Meeting Room.

In summer 2023, Atkinson confirmed 101 grizzly bear conflicts in the Pinedale Region, 95 percent related to cattle. Twenty-four were outside the Upper Green River grazing allotments, meaning 77 conflicts took place on the Upper Green.

In 2023, 96 of the 101 Pinedale Region grizzly conflicts with cattle were confirmed as losses.

The other 5 percent were due to “unsecured attractants” like feed, fruit or garbage, he said.

In summer 2022, there were 82 grizzly conflicts with only 74 percent of those related to cattle with 61 taken by grizzlies. No other livestock such as sheep or horses were targeted by grizzlies, according to Atkinson.

The past July set a record for grizzly-cattle conflicts, he said.

“July was exceptionally busy,” Atkinson said. “We removed three depredating grizzly bears, which immediately led to lower rates of conflict after July.”

Two of the grizzlies were taken from the Upper Green and one outside the Upper Green rangelands. None were relocated this summer.

“It has been well documented that a select few grizzly bears can be responsible for more depredation because they key in on cattle,” Atkinson said. “A few select grizzly bears can result in numerous conflicts.”

He confirmed 11 black-bear conflicts this past summer compared to 21 in 2022, with all of them at campsites, homes or other places where attractants weren’t properly stored.

Nine wolves in the Game and Fish’s trophy management area preyed on cattle compared to 13 in summer 2022, he said.

“Wolf conflict trends are largely determined by Wolf pack sizes and the nutritional demand placed on packs as well as spatial overlap between wolves and cattle,” Atkinson said. “(Game and Fish) has been and is very successful in managing wolf conflict.”

USDA Wildlife Services “implicated” wolves from the Lava Mountain Pack and the Gypsum Mountain Pack and removed three from the latter pack, with legal hunters harvesting three more, he said.

No mountain lion conflicts were reported in summer 2023, with five reported in the summer 2022. Atkinson said the previous moderate winter seemed to bring more lions into areas where people spotted them, more visible than this past summer

Nonlethal strategies are very important to Game and Fish and livestock producers to manage large carnivore conflicts, he said, with hazing, electric fencing, relocation “as well as extensive efforts to promote bear awareness.”