Grizzly kills hunter on Buckhorn Mountain
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.