By Logan Finney, Idaho Reports
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game is reminding residents and visitors that grizzly bears can be found in more areas of Idaho than people might realize. The department also encourages brushing up on bear identification skills to avoid mistaking a grizzly for the more common black bear.
Black bears are common across Idaho. While grizzly bears are most commonly observed in the north in the Cabinet and Selkirk mountain ranges and in the east in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, they can be encountered in much of the Panhandle and Upper Snake regions.
The most recent example of mistaken identity in Idaho occurred in early June, when a nonresident hunter killed a male grizzly bear north of Upper Priest Lake. The hunter contacted IDFG upon identifying the bear as a grizzly and is cooperating with their investigation.
"The incident serves an important reminder that grizzly bears can be found in game management units in the Panhandle, in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, and grizzlies are known to occasionally visit portions of the Clearwater Region,” IDFG said in a news release.
The accidental kill happened just one week after a coalition of wildlife groups asked Idaho and Wyoming to require bear identification courses for hunters with black bear tags.
Grizzly bears in the contiguous U.S. are protected as a threatened species, which means they are considered likely to become an endangered species in the future.
“All hunters are encouraged to review their bear identification skills to avoid mistaken identity. Size and color of the animal are not reliable indicators of species. It’s best to look at multiple features in order to make the right call,” IDFG advises.
Roger Phillips, public information officer for IDFG, told Idaho Reports earlier this month that cases of mistaken identity, while rare, do happen in Idaho.
“Every hunter needs to know his or her target,” Phillips said. And for those who do inadvertently shoot a grizzly, “they can absolutely be cited for that.”
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team issues an annual report on grizzly bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, which for each of the past five years has noted one or two grizzly bears mistakenly killed by black bear hunters and about a dozen or so grizzly bears killed in self-defense.
“It is illegal to harm, harass or kill these bears, except in cases of self-defense or the defense of others,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Idaho state officials have made moves to sue the federal wildlife agency after it rejected Idaho’s request to delist the grizzly bear in the lower 48 states under the Endangered Species Act.
(courtesy Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee)
Logan Finney | Associate Producer
Logan Finney is a North Idaho native with a passion for media production and boring government meetings. He grew up skiing, hunting and hiking in the mountains of Bonner County and has maintained a lifelong interest in the state’s geography, history and politics. Logan joined the Idaho Reports team in 2020 as a legislative session intern and stayed to cover the COVID-19 pandemic. He was hired as an associate producer in 2021 and they haven’t been able to get rid of him since.
