This one has been on another hunting site. Heres a quote from someone who I assume works for the MDFG.
" Jim Vashro, regional fisheries manager for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Kalispell. Here’s what he wrote back:
This is an oldie. It happened in 1987 here in the Flathead. A grizzly was trapped on the Blackfeet Reservation and was to be released in the South Fork Flathead. That’s Lou Kis, our warden captain, on top of the trap. There was a national Outdoor Writers convention in town and several were invited to ride along.
Lou opened the gate and the grizzly was a little grouchy about the unwanted ride. He turned and grabbed the trap. Our traps are fastened into the pickup, this tribal one wasn’t, so the trap and Lou tumbled out on top of the bear.
The bear’s first bite was in the middle of Lou’s chest but his Nikon camera saved him a nasty wound. The bear then switched to Lou’s leg. By then Lou had his service revolver, a .357, out and he unloaded 6 shots into the bear’s head at point-blank range. The first 5 shots ricocheted off, the 6th shot caught the corner of it’s eye, entered the skull and killed the bear. Lou said he kept clicking on empty chambers for a while.
This all happened in a few seconds, about then one of our biologists got there and pumped in several 12 gauge slugs but it was unnecessary. Lou ended up with a broken leg and several nasty wounds that had to be treated for infection. And the writer got a major story and was the hit of the convention.
Protocol changed after that. We make sure the traps are securely fastened in. The gates are now operated by a winch operated from inside the truck. And the trucks are kept idling for a getaway in case the bear doesn’t take off (which most do).
The exception is an aversive release where the bear is pelted with bean bags and cracker shells and hounded by Karelian Bear dogs to give it the idea it really doesn’t want to return to that locality (this is done to train bears to stay away from cabins or food sources where they have been getting in trouble – it works)."
