On June 10, an Idaho hunter contacted the Idaho Division of Fish and Sport to self-report that he’d shot and killed a grizzly bear that he’d misidentified as a black bear. Usually, the hunter would’ve confronted severe repercussions for the error. Grizzlies are nonetheless federally protected underneath the Endangered Species Act, and killing one for any purpose apart from defending human life can lead to steep punishments of $50,000 in fines and as much as a yr and jail. On this occasion, nevertheless, IDFG officers say the hunter was not cited as a result of they’d additionally misidentified the bear.
The company introduced Tuesday that it had concluded its investigation into the incident, which occurred over a authorized black bear bait website on U.S. Forest Service land close to the decrease St. Joe River and the city of St. Maries. IDFG pointed to “extenuating circumstances” across the hunt, together with the truth that grizzly bears aren’t identified to inhabit that a part of the Idaho panhandle. Wildlife officers additionally couldn’t justify citing the hunter as a result of they’d misidentified the identical bear only a couple days earlier than, successfully giving him permission to take the shot.
“Two days previous to the incident, the hunter recorded video of the bear on the bait website and despatched it to Fish and Sport for evaluate,” IDFG defined within the press launch. “The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and never a black bear. Sadly, Fish and Sport employees misidentified the younger bear as a black bear as a result of it lacked some frequent options of a grizzly, and shared that misidentification with the hunter.”
The company mentioned the incident underscores the significance of correctly figuring out black bears and grizzly bears, particularly since younger male grizzlies are identified to wander lengthy distances from their residence vary. Some black bears are brown, and a few grizzly bears are black, IDFG factors out, so hunters ought to give attention to just a few key options that grizzlies usually have, together with a dished facial profile, distinguished shoulder hump, and two- to four-inch-long claws.
That is simpler mentioned than carried out, nevertheless, and the important thing options IDFG factors to are extra distinguished one some bears than others. There have been a number of situations of hunters mistaking grizzlies for black bears within the northern Rockies, one in every of which concerned a deadly grizzly assault greater than 10 years in the past.
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Extra just lately, in a pair of separate situations that occurred in Could 2023, two skilled Wyoming hunters mistook grizzlies for black bears and killed them. Each hunters turned themselves in. Wyoming Public Media reviews that in a kind of court docket instances, Park County lawyer Bryan Skoric testified that within the final 20 years, there have been six situations of black bear hunters mistakenly killing grizzlies in his county alone.
“Folks make errors,” Wyoming Sport and Fish regional supervisor Dan Smith instructed the information outlet. Smith was referring to the Could 1 incident involving Patrick Gogerty, who mistakenly shot and killed a grizzly bear throughout a black bear hunt exterior Cody. “I feel the bulk, 99 % of hunters which can be bear hunters know precisely what they’re searching for. However errors occur.”
