Down From The Mountain: The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear

by Bryce Andrews

The story of a grizzly bear named Millie: her life, death, and cubs, and what they reveal about the changing character of the American West.
 
The grizzly is one of North America’s last large predators. Their range is diminished, but they’re spreading into the West again, where once they were king. The challenge: humans rule the roost now, and most are wary, at best, as grizzlies approach. 
  
In searing detail, award‑winning writer, Montana rancher, and conservationist Bryce Andrews tells us about one such grizzly. Millie was a typical mother: strong, cunning, fiercely protective of her cubs. But raising those cubs was hard. The mountains were changing, as the climate warmed and people crowded the valleys. There were obvious dangers, like poachers, and subtle ones, like the corn field that drew her into human territory, and sure trouble. 
  
That trouble is where Bryce’s story intersects with Millie’s. He shares both in Down from the Mountain, showing how this singular drama is a piece of a much larger one in the West: an entangled, bloody collision between people protecting a life they’ve known for generations, and the people fighting to preserve one of America’s wildest landscapes.

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature, Animals, Science, Environment, Conservation, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

First published April 16, 2019

Reviews

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mission Hills, Montana, a place that has long harbored and protected grizzlies. Millie's Woods, named after a grizzly who has roamed the woods theere, giving birth to several cubs. As more and more people move into the area, farmers, survivalists, people who just want to be alone, and of course those with no good intention, the grizzlies territory is shrinking. Now they are running into man and what man thinks is his. When the grizzlies discover corn fields, they decide to stay within the protected stalks, eating away, causing huge monetary losses for the farmer. This is a story of Millie, her fate and the fate of her two youngest cubs. A story of those who want to protect these animals, and how they try to do so.

When an author is do passionate about his subject it is impossible not to be drawn into the story and into his heart. As mankind goes about killing anything that gets in their way, men and women like those in this book, may well be the last defense. If you're an animal lover, an environmentalist, this story will be heartbreaking.

The author says it best in these words,

"Knowing how we have misused land and wildlife, I have precious little faith in humankind. I think it likely that we will go on wrecking the beautiful world. But, I put my hope in bears of Baptiste's sort ---hardy, seeking adaptable creatures. They will find away around or through our constructions to places that once belonged to them. Given the merest chance, they will live."

One can only hope.

ARC from Netgalley.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this book!

I happened upon this book as a new acquisition at my public library. I have an interest in wildlife conservation, especially the management of large predators in close proximity to populated areas. I was intrigued by the concept of a book about the life and death of a grizzly, a sort of wildlife conservation who-dunnit. I picked up the book on a Saturday and finished it on Sunday.....feeling cheated when I had to leave the book to do other things. Bryce Andrews weaves the story of Millie and her coming into conflict with civilization - and the aftermath - with such precision, such craft, that I felt like I was reading a novel. Every "character," human and animal, is real, accessible, understandable. He lived the story and did his research to fill in any gaps. He is a very gifted storyteller. He shows a deep respect for the need to keep what is wild, forever wild.....and for us humans to be aware of and prepared for potentially deadly encounters with predators. The whole story emphasizes the importance of preventing human/grizzly encounters and the responsibility humans have to ensure prevention. I will likely never live where I will encounter a grizzly, but Andrews makes all of his readers (Westerners and us East Coasters) feel deeply about the outcome for Millie and her cubs. If you care about wildlife conservation, read this book....and tell your friends to read it. I chose completely at random to read it, and I am so very glad I did!!

[Leo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read/listen to nearly enough animal books and picked this up on a whim as I like bears but don't know much about them. Enjoyed the narration as well as the writing

[CS · Rating 1 out of 5]

I genuinely do not understand the positive reviews of this book. It is 98% diatribe about building an electric fence. Coming off the high of reading the phenomenal American Wolf book, I thought I would foray into a grizzly book and Amazon suggested this one. The great bulk of this book is devoted to the testing an electrical fence around a corn field to prevent crop loss by consuming grizzlies. To call this the “life and death” of a grizzly is entirely misleading. You learn nearly nothing of the sow Millie’s actual life given the brevity the book spends on her) and the scant narrative provided for her life and her fate could be summed up in two sentences.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a heartfelt account of Millie, a grizzly sow with two cubs in tow, who is enticed down the mountain by a farmers corn crop. I loved the feeling the author conveys when he knows he is in bear country as I could relate because I was in Montana and Canada when I read this one. Nothing quite like being miles from your car, passing several signs about bear country, and then hearing a noise in the woods. It makes you hyper aware of your surroundings.
The tragedy that happens, and how unnecessary the outcome was, when nature meets man, was heartbreaking. This is yet another story of the impact that an out of control growth, and gradual push out of all things wild, has steadily caused many unforseen consequences.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is interested in nature and the destruction we cause with our consumption. Thank you to the publisher for providing me with this arc available through edelweiss.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that is less about the life of a bear and more about one man’s attempt build a fence to keep bears out of a man’s cornfield, the story becomes imprecated with the life and death of a bear. An interesting story of nature, man, the law and where they all collide.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I picked this up because I had seen it on a display in Barnes and Noble and thought it looked really interesting. Upon actually reading it, I was bored almost to tears. You know how the subtitle says The Life and Death of a Grizzly Bear? Well, it seems the author forgot that book was supposed to about, you know, THE BEAR rather his own personal memoir. I care about what he does and thinks only insofar as it helps to tell the story of the bear and illustrates a wider truth about human/bear interaction. Down from the Mountain reads like that might have been his intent, it was just executed badly. So very badly. As in, I was bored to tears because it is entirely possible a high schooler might have written this better kind of badly.

I'm just sorry I wasted my money purchasing the book and wasted my time reading this drivel. Happily, the book will be returned and I will get my money back. Unfortunately, the same is not true of my time, but I don't feel right writing reviews for books I didn't finish which is why I slogged through it. If you're looking for a better book on predator/human interaction and conservation in general, I highly recommend Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cat’s Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg. It is about mountain lions, not grizzly bears, but it does very well what I think Down from the Mountain tried and failed to do: use a single animal as a case study to illustrate wider truths about human interaction with animals, especially large, predatory ones who play significant ecological roles in the balance of nature.

[Van Reese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I debated giving this book 4.5 or 5 stars, finally deciding on the full 5. Perhaps it was because I am familiar with the area described in this book; perhaps it was due to my fascination with grizzlies. I have never run in Millie’s Woods, but I have run in the Jocko valley and the Evaro area. I remember once in the late 80s driving on Highway 93 and stopping in Ravalli. I thought at the time, “This is the most beautiful place on Earth. This is where I want to live and die”. Well, reality intervened, but the Mission Mountains are very beautiful and wild.
There is a tragic tone to this book, but there is also an element of hope and beauty. I recommend this book, and I recommend, if you can, visit the Mission valley. Perhaps you will imagine bears like Millie roaming in the woods, and perhaps it will change your life as well.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven’t been this affected by a book in a while. In short, I LOVED it and recommend it to anyone, no matter what you think your interest level is in bears, wildlife, etc. I cried at least twice while reading, and I’m actually considering sending the author a note telling him how much I loved his story.

I won’t go into details because you can read those in the book description and other reviews. But, I found the book very well written, compelling, and hard to put down. It will stick with me for a long time.

[Shaun Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye opening look at the state of grizzlies in Montana & how man’s never ending conquering of the land inevitably leads to conflict. Conflict that usually ends poorly for the bears. It’s obviously a very complicated issue & the book does a great job explaining it. Written with great prose. The story of MILLY & her cubs isn’t a happy one, but there is some redemption in the end. Great read & highly recommend.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking, humbling, riveting. I’m grateful for this beautiful and terrible look into one grizzly bear’s life in the Mission Mountains. Millie’s story killed me, but it didn’t surprise me. I grew up in Montana, and so much of this unfortunate story of bears and humans is familiar. I hope this book reaches a wide audience.

[Amy Sprenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard an interview with this author on NPR and was intrigued. A fantastic read, could not put it down. His description of walking in a corn field knowing there were bears nearby was riveting and I held my breath the entire time.

[Dlmrose · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Amy Pickett · Rating 4 out of 5]

As grizzly bears gravitate to agricultural crops in Montana's Mission Valley — especially corn — opportunities for dangerous encounters with people increase. The author's quest to find a solution that protects both people and bears parallels the journey of Millie, a grizzly bear named for Millie's Woods, and her two female cubs. Down from the Mountain's subtitle reveals Millie's fate. Her story "embodies the violence that mankind inflicts everywhere on wilderness and wild creatures." It's a tragic story, to be sure, but one that should be widely read by anyone who cares about nature, wildlife, and the changing American landscape. And I believe that should be all of us. After all, “The climate is changing, and empty places are filling up … and the vessel that holds us cannot grow.”

[Janette Mcmahon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, highly readable book on Western conservation of grizzly bears and the changing environment due to climate and human behavior. Beautiful descriptions of the area, of both the different types of people as well as the landscape. Highly recommend to anyone interested in nature and conservation.

[Vishal Katariya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Learnt a lot about bears. Note to whoever is reading this: please don't plant corn next to hills and forests where grizzly bears are known to live. You might think it'll kill you, but it actually kills the bears.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a beautifully written story. I learned about bears and understood Bryce Andrews’ attachment to Millie, the bear he couldn’t protect. For people who care about our wild spaces and species, this is a lovely, informative and easy-to-read book.

[Laura Hoffman Brauman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Down from the Mountain tells the story of a grizzly bear (Millie) and her cubs in Montana. She has a tracking collar and her story intersects with the work of Bryce Andrews as he partners with a local farmer to develop a solution to keep the grizzlies from eating his corn. Andrews makes you appreciate the raw power and majestic nature of the bears while still being completely aware that they are wild animals and should be respected and left alone. The book hits on many of the factors of protecting wildlife in rural America -- climate change, increased population, reduction of natural resources, and more. Very solid nature writing.

[Lizzy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bryce is a morose, self-absorbed, judgmental narrator. He likes the selfish dairy farmer who for some reason is raising dairy cattle and corn in prime grizzly country. But all those selfish “hobby farmers!” They’re the problem! And then the book ends with him becoming a “not like the other hobby farmers” hobby farmer himself. The problem is overcrowding with people in these areas and yet he himself has moved from Seattle to play at ranchhand and then become a Montana hobby farmer. He’s awfully understanding of all the ranchers (no mention of all the negative impacts of cattle on climate change). He’s very sentimental and romantic about nature. Everything bad done is anthropogenic! Wildlife doesn’t suffer, nature isn’t cruel! He goes on and on about his boring fence project whereas all I wanted to hear more about were the cool tribal bear biologists. He is judgmental about zoos and rescues and shows very little understanding of how they work. He judges visitors at the zoo. His last few pages are filled with melodramatic defeatist bitching about how much people suck. This book just had nothing inspiring or particularly educational. The science was very pop sci and digestible, with very little numbers or concrete facts you can sink your teeth into. It gets so repetitive too— the descriptions of the main area of focus and what bears eat and that they’re nocturnal. We get it. Much of the parts about the bears is fictionalized ideas of what he imagines the bear would’ve been up to. It’s not badly written. It just feels like a relatively minor part of the book. And also, in my line of work, I disliked a lot of the way he described the bear’s injury and how it was handled. Just love hearing inexperienced people giving their opinions and making judgements, without really knowing anything about it.

He often goes into how the bears make him feel or how he would imagine they feel. He gives us his opinion on everything. I’m sure he’s a smart guy, but I’m more interested in the thoughts of the experts he interviews. He doesn’t do enough to establish his own credibility. He come across like he’s so special for being this urban Seattlite who discovered natures and REALLY GETS IT, YOU GUYS. No one else really gets it like he does. Maybe I’ve just read too much in this “genre” on this topic. Bored me to tears and felt so superficial and heavily biased.

The writing is often pretty, I’ll give him that. But geez, give the readership some calls to action! What changes CAN be made? Why write a book like this?

[Terry Earley · Rating 2 out of 5]

https://radiowest.kuer.org/post/2019-...
We listened to this on a road trip, and would have stopped, but it was queued up and there was nothing else available. Tried again several times while driving locally, then just gave up once the bear was dead.

It should have been an in-depth article on the life of a grizzly bear and not the personal memoir of the author. I got pretty tired of the details of his life and work.

That said, I did learn a lot about these remarkable bears. Too bad it was not adequately edited to keep this guy on topic.

[Mackenzie Zerniak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Bryce Andrew’s knocks this out of the park. The amount of imagery in his writing with immense amounts of detail and feeling really put this book over the top for me. I felt like I was in the valley standing next to the corn field. This is inspiring, heart breaking and a reminder of how every little piece plays it’s part here on earth. This will forever be a book I think about and look back on.

[Nancy Schalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fast moving account of the life of a grizzly in the Mission mountains, all the more exciting as we live nearby and know the location as well as folks who appear in the story.
Very well written, perhaps a bit of exaggeration about the quality of the soil...but beautifully capturing the raw beauty and power of the wildness that clings to our valley.
As much as we have encountered black and grizzly bears out here and harbor a healthy respect for their fierce capabilities, I was also deeply grieved by the tragic outcome which continues to be an ongoing concern as humans encroach on the edges of wild places.

[Evan Yu · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible read about the difficulty of preserving conservation even in places as remote as Montana as humans continue our expansion in this world. Thoroughly enjoyed this anecdoctal account from Bryce Andrews despite growing up in an urban environment myself. A hidden gem that I'll be sure to remember.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and soft. I’m always grateful to be reminded of the animals whose home we share. Since my dad moved to Montana, I have developed a great love and respect for grizzlies. I have seen the contention between agriculture and nature. It’s nice to see these experiences put into words in a way that’s honest but not imploring. It gives me hope for progress.

[Joyfulkotheimer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was interesting having Bryce’s I put from the field and the strong story of human-wildlife conflict. Even though he was not a fan of zoos from what I could tell, he still appreciated the purpose (and second chance for some animals) and observed the VAST encounters/array of appreciation and knowledge base of the general public/visitors at zoos. Humans are such a huge impact on the chain of events with ecosystems and wildlife, which can be disastrous or beautiful and respectful.

[Emily Joy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has so much respect for bears, their habitat, and wildlife in general. It feels like a beautiful tribute to bears, as well as a serious warning for what happens when humans take over a bear's habitat and do not respect or sympathize with the animals they share land with.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love nature stories like this beautifully written book, which explores on a personal level what happens as the edges of wilderness vanish and whether man and grizzly can one day coexist. I read this one following our trip to Glacier National Park, as a companion piece to Night of the Grizzlies.

[Hildie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this look into conservation and protective efforts of individuals and communities that live side-by-side with nature; the good and the bad. It was hopeful and informative and a really fun read!

[Audrey Approved]

From the title, I thought this would be about the biology and behavior of grizzly bears, but Andrews himself takes the main center stage as he accounts his experiences/observations building an electric fence around a corn field in order to keep grizzlies out. 2 hours in (to the 7 hour audiobook), and I'm not interested enough to continue...

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Told with compassion and understanding of both nature and man, this book provides a viable perspective on the tragedies that can occur when the two intersect.