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As a lifelong Alaskan and Professional Master Guide here, I have had a great deal of experience with brown bear and grizzlies. Firstly, let me purpose that a distinction be made between brown bears, coastal grizzlies, and true Arctic Grizzlies. There is no such thing as a "Coastal Grizzly" as any bear of that species that lives within 50 to 75 (depending upon who you ask) miles of any coastline is a brown bear. If a bear of that species lives truly inland, at least 50 or 75 miles further away from any coastal waters it may then be considered a "Grizzly", which due to genetics and available food sources are inherently smaller than a brown bear, contrary to many peoples popular belief. A true, trophy grizzly will be in the 7 1/2' to 8 1/2' foot range (when squared), whereas as trophy brown bear will be in the 9 1/2' to 10 1/2' range.

I would suspect that bears of either sub-species that are not hunted will certainly become more comfortable around humans and thus become more bold. That is not a problem here in Alaska, as the current push within the state government is to increase the harvest of bears because of the predatory impact on the moose and caribou calves in the spring and the resulting lower number of subsistence animals that local hunters can hunt in the fall, which are primarily moose and caribou.

I don't know if this really helps to answer your question but I am increasingly frustrated with people calling brown bears in the coastal regions of B.C. grizzlies, because from a scientific stand point they are not grizzlies but brown bears!

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