Killing a denning bear? What say you?

[high country]

I'm not quite sure what the big deal is? This bear was in a hole? So what?

According to the article the bear was not sleeping. Following the biggest bear track you have ever seen into a den and shooting him is a whole hell of a lot more impressive to me than having 10 dogs run him up a tree. He was no less "trapped" in this den than he would have been up a tree.

The only issue I saw reading the article was the whole flashlight incident.

I am in your camp. I have trouble with the light, and the fact that guys might read this and go poking their heads into a den.....all that aside, he did track and kill a bear

[runamuk]

according to the dept of wildlife no law was broken 

Kendall’s actions, while a bit unusual, were legal, said Division of Wildlife spokesman Randy Hampton.

“Currently, there are no regulations prohibiting someone from crawling into a den after a hibernating bear,” Hampton said. “This is the first instance we are aware of a bear being taken in this manner.”

[Ray]

I wouldn't kill a bear in the den. I just don't see that the bear has much of a fighting chance once they hole up for the winter. I'm not saying the guy did not work at harvesting the bear. However once a bear dens up for the winter they are obviously a lot more vulnerable. I don't think it is quite comparable to a spring bear roaming as others have mentioned. In the end he seemed like he was protecting his life when he shot it so I don't have strong criticism against him. It's a bear and I am not upset he killed it. There are plenty more. As far as needing a light, it basically underscores why I don't believe that harvest is of the best way to go about it and I wouldn't shoot a bear in a wintering den and call it a hunt. Not sure if that bear was holed up for the winter, but seems like it might have been just about so.

[Houndhunter]

. Following the biggest bear track you have ever seen into a den and shooting him is a whole hell of a lot more impressive to me than having 10 dogs run him up a tree. He was no less "trapped" in this den than he would have been up a tree.

dogs are way more impresive, but thats just me

i would shoot it, be quite a rush i think. not as cool as seeing 10 dogs run one up a tree, but that bear wouldnt tree anyways

[uplandhunter870]

i dont have a problem with this at all, well the flashlight part a little.  the dude is a crazy moron he lucky a bear that sized gave him some warning gestures instead of simply just swinging for the fences at the idiots head

you want to crawl into the den of a 6.5 foot bear while hes in it, head first, you go right ahead ill be sitting on a large rock a ways away writting your application to the darwin awards comittee

[Gutpile]

i dont have a problem with this at all, well the flashlight part a little.  the dude is a crazy moron he lucky a bear that sized gave him some warning gestures instead of simply just swinging for the fences at the idiots head

you want to crawl into the den of a 6.5 foot bear while hes in it, head first, you go right ahead ill be sitting on a large rock a ways away writting your application to the darwin awards comittee

    

[Ray]

I suspect the only reason he was able to crawl in there with the bear is because the thing was basically trying to hole up for the winter. Definitely a Darwin moment in my book. It's a fine bear and I am sure he will be telling that story for a long time.

[Woodchuck]

well said, i dont believe i have the sack for it, go right ahead buddy

[Hornseeker]

I concur with Miller... the bear was no more trapped than if we treed it with dogs... or caved it with dogs which I've done many times... I've also crawled into caves trying to pull dogs out...and let me tell ya, its a hair raising Muther Huncher, cause that bears not just chill and hanging out, hes in there fighting....

The guys got sack...if you say he doesn't, you've probably never tried crawling into a dark cave with a bear...

I'm also with Houndhunter... Much more exciting and fun having the dogs run him. But that bear would have never treed, which would have been more exciting yet, getting in and killing a bear that big on the ground would be the ULTIMATE!!! DAM!

[cmiller85]

. Following the biggest bear track you have ever seen into a den and shooting him is a whole hell of a lot more impressive to me than having 10 dogs run him up a tree. He was no less "trapped" in this den than he would have been up a tree.

dogs are way more impresive, but thats just me

i would shoot it, be quite a rush i think. not as cool as seeing 10 dogs run one up a tree, but that bear wouldnt tree anyways

Well I must admit i've never actually witnessed first hand 10 dogs tree a bear. Being that your handle is Houndhunter, I will take your word for it.  

My point was that some hunting methods are more harshly scrutinized than others for reasons that sometimes don't make much sense. Well, at least to me.  

[BlackRidge]

I wouldnt do so, but I certainly wouldnt give anyone grief over it... he abide'd by the regs, so who cares what some non-hunters w/ their panties bunched up have to say. Wish they'd just stfu and worry about their own problems

[the1rod]

i have no problem with what he did. he was crazy enough to do it so good for him. if the flashlight was illegal im assuming something would have been done about it so im not going to get into that. what really bugs me about this story is all the comments from other hunters slamming this guy and bitching about it, because of the bitching the article mentions a possible rule change. i think its bs that someone is going to get their rights taken away because of someone elses ethical views. it you dont agree with what another hunter is legally doing then dont take part in it, but dont take action that is going to get hunting rights limited. us hunters need to stick together and not get someone else's rights taken away because of how one group may feel.

[Tony 270]

Favorite quote in the article, “I think these (critics) are just jealous of what I did."

  the argument for when you have no argument, throw out the jealousy card 

[YellowDog]

The story said "when he shined the flashlight on the bear he laid back his ears" he did not specifically say that he had the light on him when he shot him.  I don't know home many of you would want to or could accurately fire a 45/70 lever action with one hand so my guess is that he shut the light off or dropped the damn thing and fired.  I'm not really in favor of this type of hunting but the Wildlife Officers determined no law was broken so as far as I can tell he broke no law and he should be left alone.  Its no different than the hate mail, threats, etc. that the wolf hunter in Idaho got when he killed the first wolf LEGALLY.  It was legal so leave him alone.  If you don't like the manner in which he killed the bear, push for a change in the law, don't bitch about the fact that he killed the bear. 

Again, I wouldn't have done what he did but we all make our own decisions on ethics when we go into the woods and as long as it is legal we should stand behind this individual as a legal hunter.  At the same time we are supporting him, if we disagree with the law, we can push for a change so it doesn't happen again. 

As we know, there are people who believe that hunting with hounds or over bait is unethical and look how easy it was for the antis to take that right away.  We need to stand together more often in my mind.  For the record, if I lived in that state, I would want the law changed so that you can't take a hibernating bear but if he was able to track the bear, crawl inside the cave, see it awake, growling, jaw popping, etc. in my mind it wasn't hibernating.  Like someone else said, if this is outlawed, I think you would have to outlaw shooting a bear when running hounds and they run them into a cave. 

[grundy53]

Who cares where it was killed he broke the law to do it.  If he went in without a flashlight it would have been legal, stupid but legal.  HE broke the law according colorado state

maybe but the law might have been taken out of context. it seems to me that after all the public copmlaints to the game department they looked into it and said he didn't do anything illegal. I think that the game department in Colorado probably knows their laws better then us.