A troublesome grizzly bear was captured and killed south of Whitefish and a black bear near Creston School was shot by an archer Wednesday.

Those are indicators that the fall season for bear trouble is getting under way in the Flathead Valley.

The black bear was seen moving south on Creston Road, where it ended up entering the Creston School playing fields and parking lot before moving off to the east on Tuesday. Its presence prompted school officials to keep students inside during lunch and recess.

“That bear was harvested by a hunter yesterday,”  Fish, Wildlife and Parks Regional Wildlife Manager Jim Williams said Thursday. “An archery hunter took it on private property in the area.”

Meanwhile, grizzly bear management specialist Tim Manley finally caught a grizzly bear that had been avoiding culvert traps with a leg snare in the KM Ranch Road area.

The bear was captured near Lincoln early in the summer after it had become accustomed to being around homes.

It had been relocated to the Coal Creek area in the North Fork Flathead drainage, but it quickly moved over the Whitefish Divide and headed south, getting into livestock feed, pet food, garbage, bird feeders and apples at various locations on the way to KM Ranch Road.

“One day we got six calls on him,” Manley said. “He was visiting everybody in that area, and he was avoiding the culvert traps. At one point we had four or five traps set for him.”

After the bear was snared Wednesday night, the decision was made to euthanize it.

“It got to the point where the decision was made to remove the bear. It was too habituated,” Williams said.

Manley is anticipating more bear activity in the valley as huckleberries wane at higher elevations.

“The huckleberries are variable right now. This is when the bears start coming down looking for apples and fruit along the rivers,” he said. “I figure by mid-September the huckleberries will start dropping off, and that’s when the bears will start moving far and wide.”

Manley urges people living in potential bear habitat to avoid bear conflicts by securing garbage, pet food, bird feeders, ripe fruit and other potential attractants.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by email at jmann@dailyinterlake.com.