Large black bear hit on N.M. 53

By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Mountain wildlife are out in numbers this summer, according to mountain residents and wildlife officials. Animals on the move are beautiful, but can present a hazard to drivers and themselves.

Early Sunday morning Clyde Boardwin was on his way home from the races, headed up Ice Caves Hill on New Mexico Highway 53, when he heard a loud bang and felt his pickup lurch, he said. Boardwin said he knew he hit something and turned his truck around to go back and find out what.

“What” was a large black bear, thrown across the road by the impact of the truck, traveling approximately 55 miles per hour. Boardwin said the bear came running nearly full speed out of nowhere at 2 a.m., Sunday, just north of the ice caves, when he struck the animal with his bumper, causing some damage to his pickup.

He said he got out of the truck, but when he saw the bear was breathing he got back into the vehicle, keeping his riled-up dogs in the cab with him until the sheriff’s deputies could arrive.

“I didn’t want a pissed-off bear,” he said, “I didn’t have my gun, I left it at home.” He added, “The bear was pretty damn tough. He got hit in the head and forty-five minutes later, he got up and staggered in the road.”

Sheriff’s deputies arrived on the scene and called for help in handling the injured bear. U.S. Park Service Law Enforcement Officer Fred Mooseman of the El Morro National Monument responded to the call and found the bear to be critically injured. He said it was clear the bear was not going to recover and had to be put down.

Bears are under the protection and control of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, Mooseman said. He called the department for authorization to dispatch the bear and shot the animal.

“He was a beauty,” Mooseman said.

District Officer Mark Bundren of the Gallup Game and Fish district arrived on the scene the following morning to look at the bear and pick up the carcass.

“He was huge, 300 pounds or more,” he said. He added that the bear was so big that he and Mooseman, both big men, had a difficult time loading him; the animal was bigger than the truck bed when they stretched it out.

This bear was a wise old man, Bundren said. It appeared to be about 12 or 13 years old, which is toward the end of a black bear’s life span of 15 years, and did not have any tags or tracking devices. Bundren said that indicates the animal had eluded wildlife managers so far in its life. The district officer said he had no idea why the bear might be running across the road in the middle of the night. Bears are not seen out of shelter very often.

Bundren said animals killed on the road are vulnerable to trophy hunters and have to be tagged and removed.

“People cut the claws off and leave the carcass,” he said.
Tagging indicates that the animal is accounted for in wildlife management head counts and alerts taxidermists that the animal is legal. An animal killed in the off season will affect tags issued for hunting season, Bundren said.

The carcass was sold immediately. The district officer said the meat was too old to use by the time the bear was picked up; probably the buyer will use the skin or have the whole carcass mounted.

Boardwin said Game and Fish would not let him keep the bear after he hit it and stayed until help came.

“They wanted to charge me $50,” he said. He added that it ticked him off.