On June 10, an Idaho hunter contacted the Idaho Division of Fish and Recreation 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 critical repercussions for the error. Grizzlies are nonetheless federally protected underneath the Endangered Species Act, and killing one for any cause aside from defending human life may end up in steep punishments of $50,000 in fines and as much as a 12 months and jail. On this occasion, nevertheless, IDFG officers say the hunter was not cited as a result of that they had additionally misidentified the bear.
The company introduced Tuesday that it had concluded its investigation into the incident, which befell 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 Recreation for evaluation,” IDFG defined within the press launch. “The hunter expressed concern that the bear was a grizzly and never a black bear. Sadly, Fish and Recreation employees misidentified the younger bear as a black bear as a result of it lacked some widespread 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 deal with a number of key options that grizzlies usually have, together with a dished facial profile, outstanding shoulder hump, and two- to four-inch-long claws.
That is simpler mentioned than finished, nevertheless, and the important thing options IDFG factors to are extra outstanding one some bears than others. There have been a number of cases of hunters mistaking grizzlies for black bears within the northern Rockies, considered one of which concerned a deadly grizzly assault greater than 10 years in the past.
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Extra lately, in a pair of separate cases that occurred in Might 2023, two skilled Wyoming hunters mistook grizzlies for black bears and killed them. Each hunters turned themselves in. Wyoming Public Media studies that in a kind of courtroom instances, Park County lawyer Bryan Skoric testified that within the final 20 years, there have been six cases of black bear hunters mistakenly killing grizzlies in his county alone.
“Folks make errors,” Wyoming Recreation and Fish regional supervisor Dan Smith advised the information outlet. Smith was referring to the Might 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 might be bear hunters know precisely what they’re searching for. However errors occur.”