A Bozeman hunter shot and killed a charging grizzly bear Saturday outside of Pendroy, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said.

“The investigation is ongoing, but it looks like a self-defense incident,” said Wesley Sarmento, an FWP grizzly bear management specialist based in Conrad.

Two pheasant hunters from Bozeman were walking along an irrigation canal on a farm a few miles southeast of Pendroy when a female grizzly charged out of a patch of willow trees after one of the hunters shot a pheasant, he said.

Pendroy is 79 miles northwest of Great Falls, and just east of U.S. Highway 89.

At first, the grizzly bear charged at a dog, Sarmento said.

One of the hunters yelled at the bear, then the bear turned and charged the hunter.

The 69-year-old hunter fired a round from a 12-gauge shotgun in the air.

“The bear kept coming, and then he shot the bear twice,” Sarmento said.

The final shot came when the animal was within 10 feet of the hunter, FWP said.

The bear was shot in the chest and face. It later died after returning to the willow patch, Sarmento said.

The female was 9 years old and weighed about 500 pounds.

She had three 10-month-old cubs.

When FWP returned to the scene Sunday morning, the cubs were gone.

The chances of survival for the cubs, which weigh about 100 pounds, are low, Sarmento said.

In recent years, grizzlies are following irrigation canals and streams and coming out onto the prairie from the Rocky Mountain Front, Sarmento said.

“They like to use willow cover and other forest cover to bed down during the day,” he said.

The grizzly bear that was shot probably had a day bed in the willows, Sarmento said.

Bear spray is statistically more effective for personal protection compared to a firearm when faced with a charging bear, he said.

With bird hunting under way, hunters along the Front, especially in riparian areas, need to be aware they are in bear country, FWP said.



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