Bears I Have Known: A Park Ranger's True Tales from Yellowstone & Glacier National Parks

by Bob Murphy

In this very entertaining book, retired National Park Service ranger Bob Murphy recounts his most memorable experiences with bears in Yellowstone and Glacier national parks. Go behind the scenes as Murphy deals with grizzly and black bears in all situations—good, bad, tragic, humorous, and odd—from the 1940s through the 1980s. These are unforgettable bear tales.

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Lauren Goldman · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who loves bears and maintains a healthy level of fear for them while in their territory, parts of this book were really hard to read. There is an entire chapter dedicated toward hunting a male and female grizzly to taxi derm and put in a museum for crying out loud (I couldn’t finish this chapter).

But the author sums up chapters like this beautifully -

“IN coping with wildlife situations, we are sometimes hesitant to reveal our past, both bad and good. We have significantly changed our attitudes to a more protective nature, based on scientific and environmental concerns. Through more recent research we have learned to recognize methods of wildlife management that are beneficial to both the wildlife and the public. However, past practices are part of the record, and I cannot shun these experiences. I can only explain that attitudes are appreciably changed in today's environment.”

[JTrav · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy the tales from rangers and their frequent contacts with wild animals. This book was enjoyable except for a bad need of editing. Misspellings, word usage, and time jumping were frequent. Near the beginning of the book, I thought he was telling a story around 1940 but that reminded him of something in the present time so he talked about that for a few pages. I think he finally went back to the original story in another chapter. Some of the stories were simply we were doing this thing and we saw a bear off in the distance. The end. He seemed to not want to simply expand on an encounter for any reason. I finished reading the book just to finish and not to find any resolution

[Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is severely out of date, and far from being a journal of peaceful encounters, recounts the author's (a park ranger for the National Parks Service) encounters with bears he mostly had to kill or cull. Very graphic and very gruesome, the book details, among other things, the changes in policy for the park service itself, although haphazardly - the stories are NOT in chronological order. NOT FOR CHILDREN, as the accounts might well make them cry.

[Erin Gutish · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it. The point of the book is to show a moment in time, the old ways that park service employees were instructed to take care of bear issues. Although some stories are quite sad, it's informative and I enjoyed the authors writing. Not a book for people who don't want to learn about the evolution of bear handling procedures in Yellowstone.

[Claudia Guzmán · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read while traveling through Yellowstone and Tetons, so I enjoyed it. Real tales of encounters, but what makes it more enjoyable are the tales of old times, to have a better insight of how management has changed.

[Emily Bragg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read while at yellowstone - enjoyed it for what it was, and it was interesting how his perspective of good environmentalism shifted over the years

[Kristy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The experiences in this book occurred in the 40's and 50's. It is interesting to see how attitudes towards bears have changed.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bob Murphy was a kind man. And funny. And definitely a ranger of a different era. There are a LOT of stories about killing bears in this book. I knew that bears were more of a nuisance in the past but Bob and his fellow rangers certainly seem to have dispatched them quite often. His style of writing is certainly that of a ranger as well. Tell-it-like-it-is dry. Not uninteresting but not necessarily a fun read.