State agency played part in grizzly bear death

The hunter who shot and killed a protected grizzly bear near St. Maries earlier this month had doubts before pulling the trigger but was assured by Idaho Fish and Game officials his target was legal.

The agency said in a news release posted to its website Tuesday afternoon that the hunter recorded video of the bear at a bait site two days before the incident. He sent it to the agency and told officials there he was concerned it might be a grizzly. According to the news release, the agency “misidentified the young bear as a black bear because it lacked some common features of a grizzly, and shared that misidentification with the hunter.”

Grizzly bears are protected as threatened species in Idaho and the rest of the Lower 48 States. Unlike black bears, grizzlies can’t be hunted.

The incident took place June 10 about 5 miles outside of St. Maries. The agency issued a news release June 14 saying the hunter shot the bear in a place where grizzlies are not expected to be, self-reported and because of his cooperation would not be cited. But the release omitted the agency’s role in the animal being misidentified as a black bear.

On Tuesday, the agency announced in a second news release that the investigation was finished and included its role in the incident. T.J. Ross, spokesperson for the agency at Coeur d’Alene, said the agency typically gathers all of the information and waits for an investigation to conclude before issuing a news release. In this case, Ross said there was a desire to let the public know the incident happened and it chose to issue an initial news release.

“It’s a tough spot when the incident occurs and there is a time gap when the report is put together and summarized and conversations are had that need to happen,” he said. “It was more a desire to get the information out that this did happen.”

The area around Saint Maries and the lower St. Joe River is rural and heavily timbered, but it is not a spot grizzly bears are known to frequent. There are small grizzly bear populations in the Cabinet Mountains northeast of Sandpoint and in the Selkirk Mountains north of Sandpoint.

Young grizzly bears, especially males, sometimes disperse from established populations and seek out new territory. They have been observed in the Clearwater and upper Salmon River regions of the state in the past several years.

Some conservation groups have been critical of the department for allowing black bear hunters to use bait in areas where grizzlies may be present and for not requiring hunters to complete a simple online bear identification test.

On Tuesday, Jeff Juel of the Friends of the Clearwater said despite the agency’s role, the hunter should not be absolved of responsibility.

“That hunter violated the No. 1 tenet of ethical hunting, which is ‘know your target’ and nothing the state said took that responsibility from him,” he said. “If the state did not make that abundantly clear to the hunter, then the state is culpable for the death of the grizzly bear.”

The agency’s news release that includes two videos of the bear, as well as bear identification tips is posted at bit.ly/4eurEQ2.

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.