"In his prime, he was about 600 pounds," said Kerry Gunther, bear management biologist in Yellowstone National Park. "That's about as big as they get in Yellowstone."

Wyoming photographer Sandy Sisti remembers seeing him for the first time in 2011. After that she photographed the bear or saw him at least once a year, not surprising since male grizzlies have an average home range of 338 square miles and that Scarface spent most of his long life inside Yellowstone.

"I saw him along Yellowstone Lake in October," she said. "I was concerned about him. He looked terrible and was very thin."

Sisti was upset that Scarface had been shot instead of dying a natural death, especially since it was evident that his health was declining.

"I'm just really kind of choked up," she said. "He was an icon in the park. There was just something about him. He had so much character and, oh my gosh, he'd been in the park since before the wolves were introduced."

No. 211 probably got his scars from fights with other male grizzlies for females during mating season or when claiming deer, elk or bison carcasses. The scars were first noted by bear researchers in 2000 when he was 11 years old — which is the average age at which most male grizzlies in Yellowstone die, Gunther said.