Hunter kills grizzly bear in North Idaho
The hunter killed the grizzly in the Priest Lake drainage and immediately self-reported the killing using the Citizens Against Poaching hotline, according to a news release from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
Grizzlies in the Lower 48 are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. An investigation into the killing is ongoing, and the hunter is cooperating, according to Fish and Game.
The killing comes in the first season since Idaho began requiring black bear hunters to pass a bear identification test to help them differentiate between the two species. The requirement, which had already been in place in other states, went into effect on Jan. 1.
TJ Ross, a Fish and Game spokesman, said the hunter had taken the bear identification test.
Ross did not have more information about where the bear was killed. He also said there wouldn't be a decision on whether the person gets cited until the investigation is over, but that the agency appreciates that the hunter self-reported.
"People make mistakes, and we understand that," Ross said. "We always appreciate when folks are forthcoming and self-report. It makes the whole process much easier."
It's the third consecutive year that a black bear hunter has mistakenly killed a grizzly in North Idaho.
Last June, a hunter shot a grizzly near St. Maries after consulting with Idaho Fish and Game about whether the bear — which he'd seen on a trail camera — was a grizzly or black bear. Fish and Game officials had assured him it was a black bear.
A year earlier, a hunter killed a grizzly north of Priest Lake. That hunter was issued a citation.
In the release, Fish and Game officials said black bear hunters need to be aware that they could encounter protected grizzlies in the upper Snake River drainage and in the Panhandle, and that they should not rely solely on size and color to differentiate between the two species.
North Idaho is home to between 70 and 100 grizzlies from small populations in the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains, according to a Fish and Game document.
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