Hunter shoots bear in its Den!

[Mtnman Mike]

It would be interesting to know what some of you think of a hunter who shoots a bear hibernating in its den.

If the guy needed food etc. maybe it would be ok but he must have been pretty desperate to get a trophy bear, to go into a den to shoot it >>

"A hunter from Craig may have killed one of the biggest bears ever in Colorado.

But how the hunter bagged his prize is creating quite a controversy, according to CBS affiliate KCNC.

Richard Kendall told The Craig Daily Press that he tracked the 700 pound bear to its den north of Meeker, then waited five hours for it to come out.

When the bear did not emerge, he went in and killed it.

The Division of Wildlife says it has been getting lots of calls from people outraged about how Kendall killed the bear.

"There are certainly ethical standards within the hunting community: Don't shoot ducks on a pond. Don't shoot turkeys on a roost. Don't shoot bears in a den," Hampton told the station."

full story here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_1...68-504083.html


Much more on the story with a new pic of the bear hanging > http://www.gjsentinel.com/outdoors/a...d_bear_attract

[Camp10]

This is a pretty complicated question to answer. The knee jerk reaction is to attack the guy for being unethical but it says he tracked the bear to its den. He didnt expect the hunt to end with the bear in bed and because he waited 5 hours makes me think he is an ethical hunter who just knew what a trophy he was following.

While hunting is about meat at most of our level, it is about so much more when you back up and look at the full picture. There is quite a bit of science behind the decisions that the state biologists and conservation officers make when determining what zones are open and how many tags are issued. The harvest is also about protecting the population of an animal and keeping it healthy.

There was a study several years ago up here and while I cant remember the real numbers anymore, it was determined that for every whitetail taken in Maine it would keep x number more from starving to death. It seems it was around 6 or 7 back then but I really cant remember...

The other side of it is that the animal was a trophy. The idea of getting a "trophy" is what makes people spend millions and millions of dollars on the sport. That money opens up land for everyone to use and enjoy..not just hunters. That is a pretty important part of hunting that so many people want to ignore. There are lots of state parks all over this country closed to hunting even though it was their dollars that made them possible. It also helps finance the studies that keep the animal levels at a healthy level.

I agree that there is a level of sportsmanship that says dont shoot a sleeping animal, a sitting bird or the younger animals but it was a fair chase hunt that just ended in the bears bedroom...every deer hunter has jumped a deer bedded down,there isnt much difference IMO.

[Rick]

+1 Camp. Not much to add. The guy didn't do anything illegal. While it may not seem like an appropriate thing to do that is only a matter of opinion and we all know about those.

[BENESSE]

That's a new level of low. Just 'cause it's legal doesn't make it right.

[Justin Case]

I think Killing for a trophy is just wrong,,,

[kyratshooter]

Is one person making more money than another wrong?

Is competing for a footbal/baseball/basketball trophy wrong?

Is being the best wrong?

Is pursuing the biggist baddest bear in the state wrong?

Does shooting a scroungy meat deer make you more noble than taking a 10 point monster that is standing right behind it?

JC you have swallowed the southern Kalifornia thought process hook line and sinker!

Anyone here want to crawl into a hole in the ground with a 700 pound bear that might or might not be asleep?

Personally, I think the guy should have stood beside the den opening and thrown rocks inside until the half asleep critter came to the door and shot it. I have no idea why he told anyone the bear was in den when he shot it. I would have hooked it to the pickup and drug it out before anyone got there.

The western states take in a big part of their WMA revinues from people going there to hunt species not available in their home areas. Many of my friends spend thousands of dollars on hunts to Wyoming, Montana and Colorado each year pursuing elk, mule deer and bear.

I am sure the loophole in the law will be closed next year after all the left coast liberals impose their wishes on the Colorado WMA.

[Justin Case]

WHY do you keep making reference to where I live ? Thats just stupid ! I think killing for the hell of it is wrong,, Thats all,, Take it or leave it, I think people that take the life of another "Animal" just to have a trophy are A$$ Holes !! BTW,, Lots of people "Hunt" in California,, LOL

[Pocomoonskyeyes3]

Every animal I have ever hunted was a "Trophy" to me. No, none of them had big horns/antlers, they weren't larger than others, nothing "Special" to anyone other than me. Yet every single one was a trophy, from the doves to the deer.
Tracking an animal to it's lair/Den Usually poses it's own difficulties. Think it's easy? Try it.

Hunting a bear, can be very dangerous all in itself(Especially tracking them on the ground). The fact that this guy waited 5 hours outside HAD to be very stressful all in itself. "Do I wait?" "Do I go in?" "What if the bear smells me and rushes me?" "Should I wait, should I go?" "It's starting to get dark... gotta' do something soon." "If I leave him, will he wake and hunt me?" Took me only a couple of minutes to come up with those thoughts.... he had 5 hours.

Now I'm sure he KNEW he had a "Big 'un" holed up there, but whether he "knew" he had a "Trophy" is debatable. Tracks in snow can deform and make a smaller track look MUCH Bigger, especially on a sunny day. People have found bobcat tracks in snow and "Just KNEW" they had found Mountain Lion tracks. A Mountain Lion is an Animal that is easily twice the size of a bobcat, with a track that is Remarkably larger by far. All I can read from what I know about hunting into this story is this.... He knew he had a bear, he knew it had been active recently,possibly debating on whether to attack him or not.

While I personally don't think it's ethical to do what was done..... I can understand perhaps some of the thoughts that may have crossed his mind. I don't think I would have left the bear alive either, even considering my thoughts on this type of hunting.... Bears are faster, more stealthy, better senses, and sometimes they can hold a grudge even where no reason may exist. It could have just boiled down to what is "Prudent"... a simple question of "Me or him". This story could have a totally different ending had he decided to leave the bear, It woke up, and hunted and bagged him instead. Then people would be saying "Why didn't he just kill the bear?" Well he did. I guess it's just a matter of " Durned if you do, durned if you don't." If it hadn't been a "Trophy bear" would this story have garnered the same attention? I doubt it.

[KhonHd]

Hunting is hunting, killing is killing. Shooting from a tree stand or going into the den. It all hunting weather you like it or not... There is no sanctuary where the bear can call "time out". Just like the bear wouldn't walk away because a moose calf was small and with its mother... It would snatch the calf and start eating. It called hunting. Now I would never condone a person taking a sow with cubs. That is just wrong.

He didn't bear any laws. So if he has the stones to go into the den, all the power to him. I would personally soil my pants just thinking about going into the den...

[BENESSE]

Good lord kyrat, you're all over the place!!!
If you could settle down for a sec. you'd realize that competing for a footbal/baseball/basketball trophy or being "the best" has squat to do with shooting a sleeping bear in his den and calling it "sport".
If we want to open up the floodgates, I could think of a s-load of things I'd like to do just for sport. Turning a rooster into a chicken would be on top of the list.

[ClovisMan]

I tell you one thing, it takes some pretty large cajones to go into a bear den. I'll call it a good hunt.

[Rick]

There was nothing in the article that said he hunted just for trophy. He might have been hunting for food and happened upon the tracks of what turned out to be a trophy sized animal. There's nothing in the article that says he wasn't trophy hunting either.

Whether you sit in a blind and call in animals/waterfowl or sit in a tree or bait a hook or crawl in the den if you are trying to get food it's all good in my book. When I go squirrel hunting I sit in the woods and look nuts. Is that fair?

[Reverend Greg]

Personally I think that it was not right to have gone into the den and shot the bear....he should have waited longer or lured the animal out.I also think if you are not going to use a great majority of the beast then you shouldn't kill it.My son trapped a large raccoon at my fathers house and wanted me to come shoot it and skin it.Well....I don't like 'coon meat,and we were only going to use the skin and a few of the bones...so I had my Dad take it to the relocation site he takes all of the squirrels and other varmints from his neighborhood....does that make me better than the cat who shot a resting bear?I don't think so,I just have hippy streak is all.Besides there is a 'coon in his back yard that expired form acute high speed lead poisoning,and rabies that will be ready to harvest bones from soon...
(G)

[Mtnman Mike]

Thanks for the comments guys. I guess there are no gals posting in this thread?

In a couple other places I posted 99% have taken the bear's side. And some seem to actually hate the guy by saying he should have his ..... nevermind..


I wonder what people would think if a news headline was "Bear shoots hunter sleeping in his den ?

Here is what would happen in an animal dominated world >

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[Rick]

Yes, there are women on the board. We refer to them as Goddesses, however. Some even posted to this thread.

[klickitat]

Camp 10 and Kyratshooter are both spot on!

The only thing I would add is that the guy actually had the balls to go in there and face his prey. How many in here would go in after a 700 # bear not knowng if it was sleeping or awake?

I'd sit down at camp with guy any day of the week.

[SARKY]

If he went into the den with just a knife I have no problems. Shooting a bear in it's den I do have a problem with. There were a number of things he could have done including smoke the bear out.

[BENESSE]

"There are certainly ethical standards within the hunting community: Don't shoot ducks on a pond. Don't shoot turkeys on a roost. Don't shoot bears in a den." --quote from the article.

If you're not going to be an ethical hunter, you are not going to be ethical anything. People who operate on a personal ethical sliding scale are probably doing more than shooting hibernating bears in their den. And it doesn't take balls.

[kyratshooter]

Say B, that's your second reference to testicular equipment, which is a personal jibe and has nothing to do with hunting.

I know lots of female hunters, I married one from New York.

I do believe that your desire to do a sex change on hunters not making your prefered behavior list is quite unsporting!

All of those "Dont's" you point out are not laws, they are the standards set by aristocratic hunters on food hunters to seperate "sport hunters" from market hunters back in the early 20th century.

People that did not need to worry about having food on the table could be picky about when, where and what they shot. Somehow, modern people instantly take the stand that no one HAS to hunt so everyone should follow the "sporting" rules.

This particular person may have mixed sport hunting with subsistance hunting, but he broke no laws. In one state hunting over bait is illigal, in another it is OK. In some states chasing deer with dogs is legal, in others it is not. In one state shooting deer with buckshot is legal, in others it is not. In my county I can shoot an unlimited number of deer, one county over I can only take 2.

It is up to each state to set their standards and sitting in KY or NY or CA gives me zero authority to tell Colorado what to do or how to write their game laws.

[crashdive123]

Oh for goodness sakes!

If you want to comment on the OP, then by all means do so - but drop the personal jabs. They do little to further your argument.