FWP clears hunter in griz shooting

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks officials have completed their investigation of a reported self-defense shooting of a male grizzly bear in the Lower Thompson River area on Oct. 26.

The investigation corroborated the information given by the hunter, and no criminal charges will be filed, the agency said.

The hunter said he was deer hunting along the Little Thompson River when heard a noise to his left and a large bear came running out of the brush toward him. He shot the grizzly in the chest when it was about 11 yards away with a .270-caliber rifle.

The bear ran off into the brush. The hunter and a companion followed the tracks of the bear briefly until they realized it was a grizzly, at which time they left the area and reported the incident to FWP.

“It is not illegal to shoot an animal in defense of human life,” FWP Region 1 Warden Captain Lee Anderson said.

State law require grizzly bear shooting incidents to be reported to FWP enforcement officials quickly so a thorough investigation can be done to determine what actually happened.

The bear was a collared male grizzly. It was first captured in a research trap in Elder Creek, B.C. in 2011. No radio collar was attached at that time.

FWP captured the bear following a livestock depredation south of Eureka on April 7. The bear was collared and released along the Camas Creek Road in Glacier National Park.

The bear was monitored monthly as it stayed in the North Fork area until late April before moving to the Middle Fork of the Flathead River drainage. The bear’s last location was in the Star Meadows area north of Whitefish in September.