BILLINGS — Ryan Aune, a wilderness guide in Cody, Wyoming, captured rare video of a grizzly bear family fighting over food, something so rare it’s gone viral.
Aune says he was out early one morning in Yellowstone National Park when he saw the grizzlies teetering in and out of a wooded area near a fishing bridge on Cub Creek at the East entrance.
“The bears were running on the road, fighting over something,” he said.
Soon, the encounter would turn into an adrenaline-packed moment for Aune. Thankfully he was safely inside his pickup.
“They come right at me, and it kind of startles me,” he said.
The up-close video shows a mama grizzly and her two cubs barreling out of the brush. One of the cubs has food in its mouth, which Aune believes to be a marmot.
Holding on to the snack tightly, one cub refuses to give it up to mom, while the other cub stands back.
The altercation ends with the group heading back into the brush, the cub still holding onto dinner in its mouth.
“There was something peaceful and majestic about it but at the same time the sounds were so adrenaline filling,” said Aune. “It was startling at the same time, that’s how I would say it was different than other experiences in the park.”
Aune owns Wyoming Wings and Water and guides in and around Cody and Yellowstone National Park.
But when he posted the video to his social media accounts, he was surprised at how it went so viral: “Now it has like three million views on Facebook."
Aune has had his business since 2020 and has even been featured in national publications including Shooting Sports magazine.
He says he was surprised at how he had to set the record straight on the specifics of the video to comments on social media.
“I was not looking for comments or any expertise by anyone, but everyone wanted to give me their expertise on what was going on and everyone wanted to share it and tell me,” he said.
But the video is clear: a hungry disturbance between sow and cub.
However, Aune is no stranger to interactions with grizzly bears after his own encounter with a grizzly in 2019, while pheasant hunting with his dad on the Clarks Fork River.
“It jumped, it lunged at me,” he said.
Aune had to fatally shoot the bear, an action that was deemed justified by Wyoming game warden investigators. Still, he says, the encounter left him with depression.
“It gives me goosebumps thinking of the scariness and the adrenaline, but also just that it was really sad,” he said.
So now he’s trying to keep things positive in life and on social media. But as far as capturing more viral moments like this, he jokes to not expect it.
“It’s honestly just so crazy.”
