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Imagine hunting with your kids and your worst nightmare unfolds before your eyes. This exact scenario happened on May 16th in eastern Idaho. A man and his young son were hunting black bears when a grizzly wandered into the meadow they were glassing.
When the man and boy alerted the grizz to their whereabouts, in an attempt to avoid a conflict, the bear began rapidly advancing on them. Ultimately the bruin broke into a full on charge. The hunter killed the bear virtually at his feet with his hunting rifle while protecting both himself and his young boy.
The hunter contacted Idaho Game and Fish authorities who investigated the scene and ruled the incident a case of legitimate self defense.
What a breath of fresh air!
Not that long ago an incident such as this would have resulted in a laborious investigation, fines and possibly jail time for the hunter who was simply defending his and his son’s lives. It’s about time that common sense, which isn’t very common, rules the western landscape in regard to grizzly bears. While the bears remain under Federal protection, current population estimates put their numbers far above recovery goals and traction has been gained toward a delisting from the ESA and a return to State management in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming and law enforcement’s approach to self defense against grizzlies has seemingly shifted.
The recent shift in the treatment of folks who kill a g-bear in self defense makes it easier to recreate in grizzly country. Knowing that IF you have to lethally defend yourself or others and honestly be treated as innocent until proven guilty is reassuring. That wasn’t the case only a few years ago and it kept a lot of folks I know from enjoying some of their favorite places. They weren’t afraid of the bears, they were afraid of what the government would do to them if they had to kill a bear. Thankfully we seem to have moved beyond that.
For many of us the country we enjoy best just happens to be ideal grizzly bear habitat as well. Knowing that legitimate self defense against bears isn’t the automatic legal debacle it used to be is reassuring and a shift in the right direction.
