Page 21 of Three-Inch Teeth

“An FLIR won’t work for finding a grizzly,” Gordon said. “The bear’s hair is too thick to emit much heat, and it’s easy to mistake a bear-sized boulder that retains heat from the sun from a grizzly. Believe me, there are a million bear-sized boulders on this mountain.” Then, suddenly, she exclaimed, “Oh no.”

Joe turned to her, expecting to see her pointing at the target grizzly in the distance. Instead, she had wheeled completely around and was gesturing toward their vehicles parked across the river. At the altitude they’d climbed, they could see them clearly: three green Wyoming Game and Fish Department pickups.

A gleaming white new-model SUV was slowly making its way across the hay meadow toward their trucks.

“Oh shit,” Cress said. “It’s them.”

“How’d they find us so fast?” Hoaglin asked.

“This has been all over the news,” Brodbeck said.

“Who are they?” Joe asked. “Do you recognize the vehicle?”

Gordon turned and scowled. “Oh, we know them all too well. They’re known as the Mama Bears. They’ve come to save the life of our killer.”

“I wish we’d found her,” Cress spat. “It’s gonna be a shit show now.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Double Diamond Ranch

JOE PICKETT TRUDGED back down the mountain with Jennie Gordon and Bill Brodbeck to intercept the Mama Bears.

Brody Cress and Tom Hoaglin had stayed on the ridge to look for tracks and signs of the bear. Cress had already been on a satellite phone requesting flyovers by fixed-wing aircraft from the Game and Fish Department and the Wyoming Wing Civil Air Patrol.

Meanwhile, Hoaglin had climbed to the top of a large boulder and was sitting there, glassing the mountain meadows and openings in the timber for signs of the target. The two of them had agreed to stay put and in radio contact until Joe, Gordon, and Brodbeck could rejoin them.

Brodbeck had volunteered to return to the vehicles. Because the grizzly hadn’t been found in the first few hours, it would be necessary to set up trail cameras and snares with heavier-gauge wire to try and trap it during the night. Because Brodbeck was the youngest and fittest and newest to the team, everyone seemed fine with letting him shoulder the gear and equipment back up the slope.

“So tell me about the Mama Bears,” Joe said to Gordon as they worked their way down through the trees.

“Well, I’d say they’re well-meaning activists,” she said over her shoulder. “But we’ve got to try and persuade them to stay back and out of our way while we hunt for this grizzly. Of course, it’s for their safety as well.”

“The Mama Bears are a pain in our butts,” Brodbeck added from behind Joe. “They consider us the enemy because we’re out here trying to deal with these grizzlies—even when the bears are killers.”

“What can the Mama Bears do?” Joe asked.

“What they’ve done before,” Gordon said. “Try and save the bear from us evil, fanatical bear murderers. That’s the way they see it, anyway.”

“Where do they come from?” Joe asked.

“Jackson Hole.”

“I’m shocked,” Joe said.

Brodbeck chuckled.

Gordon said, “There are two of them. You’ve probably heard of that big ‘Save Our Bears’ fundraiser they do every year in Teton County. They bring in Hollywood celebrities and social media influencers and the national media covers it all. It makes a lot of money for their cause.”

“Even though they don’t need it,” Brodbeck interjected. “I’ve heard these two ladies are married to multimillionaires.”

“You have to be if you live in Jackson,” Joe said. “My mother-in-law lives there.”

Gordon said, “It’s amazing what happens when the Mama Bears show up on the scene. Our traps get sprung, and logs get pushed out in the road so we can’t drive where we need to go. People show up from all over the country to protest in front of our offices and block us from getting out. Signs go up saying we should be defunded. Posts appear on social media showing old photos of dead bears that were shot to death.

“We’ve never caught them in the act of messing up our snares or using air horns to chase the bears away,” she said. “But it’s not a coincidence that none of those things happen until the Mama Bears swoop in and start the outrage on social media.”

“Why do they do it?” Joe asked.

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