In this industry, it’s incredibly difficult to beat out our favorite cervids such as deer and elk for the lion’s share of weekly headlines, but this week belongs to the bears. Brown bears particularly.
Combing over the headlines this week might fool you into thinking that a lot of outlets are paying a ton of attention to one particular grizzly story when the opposite is actually true. Grizzly bears are in the news this week as altercations have sprung up from Alaska, to Idaho and into Montana.
Idaho
In another case of mistaken identity, an Idaho hunter reported that he accidentally shot a grizzly bear he originally identified as a black bear. The incident took place in the northern panhandle of the state by an out-of-state hunter who obviously forgot to take the state’s identification exam.
He’s reportedly cooperating with the investigation. Charges are expected.
Alaska
Last weekend an Alaska man suffered non-life threatening injuries after he was attacked by a grizzly bear while rabbit hunting on the Kenai Peninsula, south of Anchorage. Nicholas Abraham, 34 of Sterling was attacked by a sow brown bear with cubs. Abraham was able to shoot and kill the sow with a 44 handgun.
Montana
A black bear hunter in Montana was attacked last week in southern Montana. Hunting the Madison Rnage outside of Ennis, MT, the bear reportedly charged the hunter in the remote backcountry on June 5. Drawing his pistol, the hunter killed the female bear that had been previously captured for research purposes by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The 15-year-old grizzly had no previous history of conflicts with humans and was reported to have no cubs nearby at the time of the incident.
The hunter promptly notified Montana FWP and the investigation remains ongoing.
