The Montana man killed by a bear near Glacier National Park was intimately familiar with both the beauty and the danger of the wild forest that spreads from the shadows of the park's rugged peaks.
But there was seemingly nothing that former park ranger and longtime U.S. Forest Service law-enforcement officer Brad Treat could do when he surprised the bear on Wednesday. Authorities say the bear knocked him from his mountain bike on a trail in that forest just minutes from his home.
Wildlife officials came up empty Thursday in their search for the bruin that killed the 38-year-old Treat, and they aren't certain whether it is still in the area. Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks' wildlife response team set up traps, installed wilderness cameras and flew over the area in a helicopter.
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