IDFG says Idaho is ready to manage grizzlies

After a Fremont County jury found a Newdale man guilty of illegally killing a grizzly bear, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said the state is ready and able to manage grizzly bears.

It is the first state court case since the grizzly was listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act in 1975.

Kenneth Tyler Sommer, 23, claimed he and his wife were hunting for black bears near the Rock Creek Girl Scout Camp on May 7. In a statement to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigator, Sommers claimed the bear charged him, and he shot it.

But, Fremont County Prosecutor Karl Lewies argued the bear had not been charging when Sommers shot it. Idaho Fish and Game Department officers said they could find no physical evidence the bear ever charged Sommer or his wife. Investigators concluded the bear had likely been standing still when Sommers shot and killed it with a single bullet to the center of its forehead.

Idaho Fish and Game Regional Conservation Officer Doug Petersen said he and two other investigators looked at footprints and bear prints, among many other things.

“We looked at the direction of the shot, the direction of the individual shooter of the bear,” said Petersen. “The bear was walking down the road, and it was a perpendicular shot to the bear. It put the bear down in one shot.”

Magistrate Judge Gilman Gardner sentenced Sommer to the maximum fine of $1,000, a $400 civil penalty, 30 days in jail, a one-year hunting license revocation and two years of unsupervised probation.

The jail time and $500 in costs were suspended on condition Sommers successfully completes probation.

“This is the first case in Idaho where there was a successful prosecution in state court of a grizzly bear taken unlawfully,” said Petersen. “From the officers’ detailed investigation, through partnership with Fremont County’s prosecutor, this sets the record straight that Idaho is prepared to manage grizzly bears as a big game species in Idaho.”