Officials resumed the hunt on the ground and in the air this morning for the grizzly bear that attacked and killed a mountain biker Wednesday south of West Glacier in the Flathead National Forest.

An area surrounding the scene of the attack, from West Glacier south to Desert Mountain, had been closed to the public as of Wednesday night, said Flathead County Sheriff Chuck Curry, whose office is assisting wildlife officials from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Forest Service while the search for the bear continues.

“They have a couple traps out. They flew this morning with our aircraft, but they did not find a bear in that area,” Curry said this morning.

Rob Davies, Hungry Horse/Glacier View District Ranger for Flathead National Forest, said wildlife officials have bear DNA samples from the scene of the mauling, so if they catch a bear, they can match it up to make sure they have the right grizzly.

A large grizzly had been sighted in a marsh near the scene of the lethal bear mauling while crews searched for the body of victim Brad Treat on Wednesday afternoon, but Curry said searchers did not know whether it was the bear involved in the attack.

“There was a bear sighted by [medical helicopter] ALERT, but again, is it the right bear? There’s a lot of bears up there,” Curry said.

Fish, Wildlife and Parks spokesman Ron Aasheim said Thursday that the area is dense with grizzly bears and it may be difficult to find the one that killed Treat, who was a law enforcement officer with the U.S. Forest Service.

Treat, 38, lived in West Glacier and was riding with a companion when the grizzly attacked him on a popular trail in the Green Gate area near U.S. 2 north of the KOA campground.

The bear knocked Treat off his bike and killed him; the bicyclist riding with him was not attacked and rode back to summon help.

The fatal attack took place near the west entrance to Glacier National Park.