Craig Clouatre Livingston Montana man killed by grizzly bear while hiking. Father of four was reported missing after failing to turn up at designated spot.
A Montana hiker and father of four reported missing earlier this week is believed to have been killed by a grizzly bear, according to law enforcement officials.
Craig Clouatre, 40, of Livingston, was found dead on Thursday after he had gone out hiking with a friend the day before – possibly to hunt for antlers — only to never show up at a designated meeting spot.
The Park County Sheriff’s Office in Montana provided no details on where he was found or why they believe a grizzly bear was responsible for the missing man’s death according to a Friday Facebook post.
The search began Wednesday night with teams on the ground and in helicopters concentrating their efforts on the Six Mile Creek area of the Absaroka Mountains, north of Yellowstone National Park.
‘They split up at some point later in the morning,’ Park County Sheriff Brad Bichler told the Livingston Enterprise. ‘When the other man returned to their vehicle and his friend wasn’t there, he called us and we began searching.’
Wild habitat frequented by grizzly bears
Clouatre moved from his native Massachusetts more than two decades ago to Montana, where he met his future wife, Jamie, and decided to make a home, his father told AP.
‘He was a joy to have as a son all the way around,’ David Clouatre said. ‘He was a good man, a good, hardworking family man.’
The mountains in the area where Craig Clouatre died rise steeply above the Yellowstone River as it passes through the Paradise Valley. Dense forests at higher elevations are home to bears and other wildlife, although dangerous encounters with people are relatively rare.
Clouatre frequented those mountains and others around the park, hiking in summer and ice climbing in winter when he wasn’t home with his wife and their four young children, said Anne Tanner, a friend of the victim.
Since 2010, grizzlies in the Yellowstone region have killed at least eight people.
