Montrose women report bear sightings

MONTROSE — Jody Fullerton never heard the intruder coming Sunday. She’s just thankful the visitor, a 150-pound bear, didn’t decide to become better acquainted.

“I happened to look up, and there was a bear walking right toward me,” she recounted Tuesday. “It walked right up to our house like it wasn’t afraid of people. I dropped the hose and walked into my house, told my husband. Then it was sitting right by our window.”

Fullerton’s husband, Bob, had to fire a shotgun to frighten the bear away from the house. It took two more blasts to get it to hightail it up the canyon.

The Fullertons live a few miles east of Montrose, on N74 Road. Jody Fullerton said although she and Bob keep a few bees, the bear hadn’t messed with the apiary, or approached their trash containers.

She was already somewhat concerned about bears in the area because her son reported seeing two on an earlier date, as he brought his horses across Highway 50 with his two children. One of the bears approached, she said.

As Fullerton had done, Maynes called the Division of Wildlife to report the bear. She said the officer told her many reports were received.

“I’d hate to come around the corner and face one of those things,” Maynes said. “If I was one of my neighbors, I’d like to know this is going on. If they’re this close to town, they’re going to be in town.”

“It’s not unusual that some folks would see bears,” DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said. “Obviously, areas around Montrose and toward Cerro Summit are great bear habitat. The best thing people can do is make bears feel unwelcome around their houses.”

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