Hunter mistakenly shoots grizzly bear near St. Maries

A northern Idaho hunter shot and killed a grizzly bear last week after mistaking it for a black bear.

The hunter killed the subadult male grizzly on June 10 in the lower St. Joe River basin near St. Maries, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

Grizzly bears in the Lower 48 are protected as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The hunter identified the bear as a grizzly bear after shooting it and reported it to authorities, according to Fish and Game.

TJ Ross, spokesman for Idaho Fish and Game, said the hunter was given a warning and was not cited.

Ross said the decision was made because the hunter had been “extremely cooperative” with the investigation and because even though grizzly bears were present in northern Idaho, the bear was shot in an area where sightings are rare.

“This is an area where we wouldn’t expect to see a grizzly bear,” Ross said.

The bear was killed in Unit Six of the Panhandle, a large area that extends south of the St. Joe River-Coeur d'Alene River watershed. .

Wayne Kasworm, a biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's grizzly bear recovery program, said the closest established population is about 50 miles (80 km) to the north, in the Cabinet-Yaak ecosystem in the far northwest. of Montana and parts of northern Idaho. The Clark Fork River is generally considered the southern limit of grizzly bear range in this region.

Grizzly bears travel long distances, especially young males, and have occasionally been seen south of the Clark Fork River. Kasworm may recall bears that roamed the Cabinet-Yaak to the Kelly Creek drainage or the Selway-Bitterroot wilderness. He also said that years ago a bear wandered from the Canada-U.S. border in the Selkirk Mountains to Grangeville, Idaho.

In this case, he said it was remarkable how close the bear came to the town of St. Maries.

“There are definitely a few that have been successful there,” Kasworm said. “I think maybe one of the most interesting things about it was how far west it was.”

Where the bear came from is unclear. Kasworm said genetic testing could help biologists learn more.

This is one of the few recent sightings of grizzly bears in unusual locations. Earlier this month in Northeast Washington, a young male grizzly bear entered a chicken coop north of Chewelah. This bear had been trapped outside of Colville in the fall and relocated to the Selkirks.

In Idaho, Fish and Game officials reported recent sightings near Salmon and west of Interstate 15 in the upper Snake River region.

This is the second year in a row that there has been a case of mistaken identity of a bear in North Idaho. Last year, a hunter shot a grizzly bear north of Priest Lake after mistaking it for a black bear. The hunter received a summons to appear in court.

Black bear hunters in Washington and Montana must take a test to ensure they know the difference between black bears and grizzly bears.

Idaho has no such requirement. Fish and Game said in the release announcing the grizzly bear cull near St. Maries that it is the hunter's responsibility to know the difference between black bears and grizzlies and correctly identify their targets.

State bear hunting regulations warn hunters that they may encounter grizzly bears in Unit Six and other parts of the Panhandle region, and the agency is working to educate hunters on the differences between species.

“From our perspective, the best tool in the toolbox is the educational piece,” Ross said.

Size and color alone are not enough to determine the species of a bear. Instead, people should look for several characteristics, such as the shape of the bear's face, its ears and whether it has a hump on its shoulder.

Ross also said the bear killed last week was shot over a bait site. Using bait to hunt black bears is legal in Idaho, with some exceptions in districts known to have high numbers of grizzly bears, such as the unit in the northernmost part of the Panhandle.

WildEarth Guardians, Western Watersheds Project and Wilderness Watch sued the US Forest Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2019 over allowing black bear baiting in areas of Wyoming and Idaho that are also home to bears. grizzly bears.

After a judge ruled in favor of the federal government in 2023, the groups appealed the suit to the Ninth Circuit Court.