Grizzly kills hunter on
Buckhorn Mountain
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September 16, 2011 |
A Nevada hunter was attacked and killed by a
grizzly bear on Buckhorn Mountain at about 10:07
a.m. today, and Boundary County Sheriff's
deputies, Idaho Fish and Game and U.S. Fish and
Wildlife personnel spent hours getting the the
site, only to discover that the incident
occurred on the Montana side of the border.
As of 7 p.m., both Boundary County and Lincoln
County personnel had cleared the scene, though
details surrounding the incident remain sketchy.
Lincoln County emergency services personnel are
expected to meet at the Libby rescue center
within an hour to meet and debrief, after which
additional information may become available.
Positive identification of the victim has not
been made official as yet and the family of the
victim has not yet received official
notification of the death.
Information available thus far indicates that
the three men hiked into Montana from the Idaho
side to hunt black bear, the season having
opened Thursday, September 15. By all accounts,
the remote area, deep in federal land, largely
roadless and deep within an identified grizzly
bear recovery zone, is a popular hunting spot,
and the Boundary County Sheriff's Office fielded
numerous calls throughout the day from people
worried that the victim might be family.
The report was made by cell by a person
obviously distraught, reporting that a member of
the hunting party had been attacked and that
another member of the party, seeing the attack,
shot and killed the bear.
Deputies, Boundary County Search and Rescue
personnel and state and federal conservation
officers were immediately dispatched, but it
took several hours to reach the site, as it was
inaccessible by motorized vehicle. The first
people on the scene walked in; later arrivals
came on horse, and they were able to guide
helicopters to an area suitable for landing,
though still a considerable distance from where
the attack occurred.
Once Boundary County deputies, led by
investigator Dave McClelland, arrived on scene,
it was determined that the site was just across
the line into Montana, and the Lincoln County
Sheriffs Office, already coming to assist, was
the agency with legal jurisdiction. Boundary
County teams then shifted to a support role, and
assisted until released by Lincoln County
authorities.
There has been no information released as yet as
to the age or sex of the bear, a question asked
by many, especially in the wake several recent
news stories involving the bears that have
gained widespread attention, including the case
of Jeremy Hill, who shot and killed one of three
grizzlies who came within a few yards of his
home near Porthill on Mother's Day while his
children were outside playing basketball, and
the support the Boundary County community showed
for him after he was faced with federal charges.
Several in the media and here locally have
wondered if such human/grizzly encounters are
common in Boundary County, a small area with
perhaps the most federally designated grizzly
bear recovery habitat of anyplace in the
continental United States, and the answer is
"no."
Except for times the stuffed grizzly owned by
Idaho Fish and Game will go on display in local
schools or at the county library, or when the
Bonners Ferry Badgers happen to face a team by
that name, there's been no such news for more
years than most up here can remember, until now.
Two such stories in one year, both tragic,
indicate to many Boundary County residents that
the federal government's efforts to bring about
recovery of the grizzly bear, listed as
threatened under the Endangered Species Act in
1975, has been highly succesful ... evidenced by
the fact that human/bear contact have become so
prominent.
A few see that as a positive sign of progress,
and proof that the ESA works. Jerry Pavia, a
world-known outdoor photographer and perennial
candidate for a seat on the Board of Boundary
County Commissioners,
told Los Angeles Times reporter Kim Murphy that
many Valley residents believe people need to
work harder to accommodate the bears.
"I'm proud to live in a place where they have
endangered species," he said. "That's one of the
reasons I live here, as we have an opportunity
to actually see one of these animals."
Many others remember the day not so long ago
when the federal government paid a bounty on a
dangerous "varmint" that killed people and ate
their livestock ... a detriment to the goal of
progress, commerce and westward expansion.
Three people on a mountain in North Idaho today
were less than happy to see a grizzly ... and
it's likely that grizzlies, as a class, are
going to come, once again, to regret their
recent notoriety.
We stopped eating them and voluntarily moved out
of their most essential range, giving up local
jobs, prosperity and with much grumbling ... but
the bears obviously show no reciprocal
inclination, since their rebound, to give up
their taste for us or what we grow, in or out of
range. |
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