A former beauty queen who hosts an Outdoor Channel adventure show illegally shot a grizzly bear in Alaska and tried to cover it up, according to charges.

Theresa Vail, 25, from Kansas is the star of Limitless with Theresa Vail and is charged with killing a grizzly bear in May without possessing a state bear tag for the animal.

Vail was praised in 2013 when she became the first Miss USA contestant to display a tattoo.

Investigators say she held a single bear tag and shot a male grizzly bear, attempted to kill it with a second shot, and instead fired and killed a second bear, a sow grizzly.

View photos Theresa Vail is a former beauty queen who has been charged with illegally killing a grizzly bear. Photo: LiveLeak More

View photos Theresa Vail was Miss Kansas 2013 and participated in the Miss America 2014 pageant. Photo: Facebook More

Prosecutor Aaron Peterson in a criminal complaint said Vail signed and backdated a big game tag record to make it appear she had purchased the tag before shooting the bear.

Also charged in the case are master guide Michael Wade Renfro, 46, and assistant guide Joseph Andrew Miller, 45.

Renfro's attorney Myron Angstman said he had not seen the criminal complaint but was aware of the charges.

"It's an unfortunate event," Angstman said. "It was an accidental shooting of a second bear while a person was lawfully engaged in shooting a first bear," he said. "Those kinds of things happen once in a great while."

View photos Theresa Vail walks with a hunting party in Chase County. Photo: AP/The Wichita Eagle More

Messrs Renfro and Miller conspired to cover up Vail's violation by obtaining the second bear tag after the bears died and submitted wrong information to game authorities, charging documents say.

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