September 17, 2011 in Outdoors, City

Grizzly kills hunter near Idaho-Montana border

Hunting partner kills bear as string of attacks grows in West

• Print
• Email
• Share

BONNERS FERRY, Idaho – A grizzly bear wounded by a hunter later attacked and killed the hunter’s partner Friday after the two men tracked the animal in a remote area along the Idaho-Montana boarder, authorities said.

The dead hunter was identified by the Lincoln County Sheriff’s office as Steve Stevenson, 39, a member of a hunting party from Winnemucca, Nev.

The attack occurred about 10 a.m. PDT in a mountainous, heavily forested region in Lincoln County, Mont., near the Canadian border.

Stevenson’s hunting partner, 20-year-old Ty Bell, shot and wounded a young male grizzly, believing it to be a black bear, undersheriff Brent Faulkner said.

“They tracked the bear into an area of heavy cover where Mr. Stevenson was attacked by the wounded grizzly bear,” Faulkner said in a news release late Friday.

“Mr. Bell was able to shoot the bear multiple times, eventually killing it,” he said.

Bell used his cellphone to call for help but Stevenson died from his injuries, Faulkner said.

The area is extremely remote, with no roads and poor communications, said Ron Aasheim of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Authorities reached the scene in helicopters, he said.

“This is big-time back country,” he said. “There are no roads even close to this thing.”

Authorities said the two were part of a four-person hunting party going after black bears in the area when the attack occurred. Faulkner said the party had split up earlier into two-member teams.

The incident is under investigation. It is illegal to kill a grizzly bear, which is listed as threatened in the Lower 48 states. There was no immediate word if Bell would face any charges.

This is at least the third man killed by a grizzly since July. In late August, a grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park, some 400 miles southeast of here, mauled a Michigan hiker to death. In July, a female bear with cubs in Yellowstone attacked a couple from California, killing the man before fleeing.

This attack comes as Idaho’s congressional delegation has proposed amending the Endangered Species Act to clarify that it is legal to shoot a grizzly bear in self-defense or in defense of another person.

The legislation was in response to the case of a North Idaho man who shot and killed a grizzly cub in May after it and another cub and their mother wandered onto his property.

Jeremy Hill, 33, was charged with a federal crime of killing a federally protected species, but the case was dropped last week and he paid a $1,000 fine for a noncriminal infraction.

17 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

• 

  lewis8457 on September 17 at 7:30 a.m.

  good for the bear took a blood thirsty hunter down before meeting his maker. what a disgusting sport killing wild animals.

  if they like killing maybe they should become police officers. That way the game is walking down main street.

• 

  opiemuyo on September 17 at 7:38 a.m.

  Tell us how you really feel, Lewis, lol.
  When you go bear hunting, sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you. LITERALLY

• 

  dataxman on September 17 at 7:51 a.m.

  As an avid hunter even I find humor in this. Never have understood bear hunting as the majority of hunters are out for a run to put in the den - not food…

• 

  dataxman on September 17 at 7:52 a.m.

  *rug

• 

  kma on September 17 at 7:56 a.m.

  Here we go again. Killing a protected animal and for WHAT? They said they didn’t know it was a Grizzly, very flimsy excuse. If you are that uneducated about the difference betweena Grizzly and a Black Bear then you shouldn’t be hunting. I think it is horrible that they were hunting for black bears anyway. The bear was shot ILLEGALLY!!!! Now, another protected animal is dead for the sport of it.

  I am sorry for the family that lost a loved one, but they sure as H3LL can’t blame the bear!!!! And from Nevada, brother, now we are importing these hunters to kill for sport! Wonder if Otter paid their way and provided them lodging? Or maybe it was Painlin, no probably not, as she kills animals from helicopters.

• 

  kma on September 17 at 7:57 a.m.

  Very true dataxman.

• 

  mommie5324 on September 17 at 8:33 a.m.

  There is a difference between a black brear and a grizzly. A true humter especially a bear hunter you should know the difference.. No excuses the guy who shot the grizzly should be penalized Jail, license taken away for a certain amount of time and a hefty fine. Its people like that that give hunters a bad name. Youve got to know exactly what your target is before you pull the trigger.

• 

  whitewater509 on September 17 at 9:13 a.m.

  I was so happy when the details of this story broke late last night. It exposed the majority of the Spokesman posters for what they are, bafoons. You got on your soap boxes sounding off on something you knew nothing about and tried to further your personal agendas by trying to sound educated about a world you probably have never physically experienced. These hunters made fatal mistakes and nature called them on it. If outsiders want to come to our region and play with the big boys you had better know what you are doing or hire a guide. I don’t believe these clowns knew they hit a griz, any local knows you don’t go looking for an injured grizzly. Maybe all of you who made yourselves look like children yesterday by questioning the laws in place to protect these animals will begin to understand why we need them. I recreate and live in bear country and have never had a problem out of respect for the animal. I suggest you move to California of you want to play in the woods and not have to worry about creatures bothering you.

• 

  johnclarke on September 17 at 9:37 a.m.

  “A grizzly bear wounded by a hunter later attacked and killed the hunter’s partner”

  Exactly whitewater, this piece of information was missing from the original story. Hopefully this TRUTH will silence the anti-government conspiracy nutbags. The bear was essentially minding it’s own business and these poachers wounded it, and it attacked. Tragic, yet ironic.

• 

  force_vector on September 17 at 9:58 a.m.

  Makes me wonder from what distance was the first shot taken? Particularly given the dense vegetation. Was it ignorance regarding the distinguishing characteristics that differentiate grizzlies from black bears? Were they too far away to be able to tell? Either way, poor judgement led to this incident. Yesterday, when this news first started coming out, I encouraged people to consider the death of the man before the death of the bear. With this new information, I still feel that way. However, this story provides a great teaching opportunity in how not to hunt. Responsible hunting practices allow for cohabitation of the same area with minimal risk of incident. Clearly, an irresponsible shot led to all of this and therefore, they brought this fate onto themselves. I feel bad for the guy that got killed, but sheesh. Gotta use your head.

• 

  Liberty_Bell on September 17 at 10:51 a.m.

  We were like deer. They were like Grizzly Bears
  Chief Joseph

  It was the largest bear they’d ever seen, a great grizzly bear that weighed an estimated 600 pounds. A “most tremendous looking animal, and extreemly hard to kill,” wrote Lewis in his journal on May 5, 1805. Clark described the grizzly as “verry large and a turrible looking animal.” Clark and another member of the expedition fired 10 shots at it before it died.

  Several tribes of Native Americans had told Lewis and Clark about grizzly bears. The tribes would only attack these great bears if there were 6-10 people in their hunting party, and even then the bears would sometimes kill one of them. The first grizzlies Lewis saw during the expedition were two smaller bears. He and another hunter had easily killed one of them. That day Lewis wrote in his journal that although the Native Americans with their bows and arrows might have problems, the grizzlies were no match for skilled rifleman. He soon changed his mind.

• 

  liberal_in_right_wing_land on September 17 at 11:53 a.m.

  Where are the idiots that were posting on this story last night saying this is another example of why we should wipe out and kill all dangerous animals in North Idaho?

  I guess now that the facts have come out and we see these hunters were total effing idiots who got what they deserved, guess these people are keeping silent now.

• 

  kma on September 17 at 12:22 p.m.

  Great posts everyone.

  If it were up to the little Gov of Idaho, he would definitely have all the wild animals killed so he and all his boys could go horse back riding without a worry in the world. Build their illegal cabins and of course out of timber that was stolen and then deny it (Hart, you know the one that doesn’t pay his taxes either). This state has become a laughing stock of this country.

  Now, two beautiful animals in less 6 months have been killed for no reason. You know the other one, Hill, that said he was protecting his family and pigs. Well, if he and his wife were protecting their family, then why was he showering and she was sleeping while the little ones were out back without any supervision. I still can’t believe he got away with killing a protected animal but that is how Idaho is now. The good ole boys make up the rules as they see fit at that moment. Maybe Hill and his wife should be charged with child neglect. They knew they lived in Grizzly country and left their children unsupervised. Hello?????????? Oh, and the Grizzlys probably were just wanting some of their pigs. My thought, if you don’t want them on your 20+ acres, then put a a 20 foot wall concrete wall.

• 

  The_Seer on September 17 at 3:43 p.m.

  kivari musta gotten ett by one of those wuffs he’s afraid of…

• 

  dataxman on September 17 at 4:13 p.m.

  kma - did you miss the part about this happening in Montana? So was your anti-Idaho gov’t rant just about general dislike or are you just that uninformed?

• 

  Ed Byrnes on September 17 at 7:47 p.m.

  It appears to me that natural selection was in play this time.

• 

  metaline on September 19 at 7:53 a.m.

  All you folks attacking Idaho…….this bear was killed in Montana.