Should You Report a Grizzly Bear Self-Defense Shooting?

Decades ago, the USA Fish and Wildlife Service created a regulatory requirement to report the self-defense taking of grizzly bears in the lower 48 states. From 50 C.F.R. 17.40(b)(1)(i)(B)

The penalties for not reporting to the authorities within 5 days are up to six months in prison and a $25,000 fine.

Tim Sundles of Buffalo Bore recently created a video about handguns for defense against wild animals. He has interesting experiences and views. At about 33:00 minutes, he puts forward his opinion about the requirement to report grizzly bear self defense shootings. He talks about the Fifth Amendment. From the transcript:

And another thing about these protected grizzlies, you know, if you shoot one in self-defense, okay, now you’ve got a certain number of I think it’s 2 days, 3 days to get somewhere to a fishing game department and and notify them. Incriminate yourself. Yeah. And that goes completely against the fifth amendment. There is no law that is legal that says you have to go self-incriminate. Um that’s what the fifth amendment is all about. 

As Sundles mentions, reporting a self defense shooting has risks. If the government decides to prosecute, it could cost a hundred thousand dollars in defense bills, and take up months or years of time.  The risks have little to do with the penalties for not reporting. The risks are primarily from being charged with killing a grizzly without justification. The legal standard for justified shooting of a grizzly, even in the lower 48 states, is not high.

Sundles does not mention the risks of not reporting such incidents. The reporting, itself, implies a level of innocence. Not reporting can imply a desire to conceal.  The penalties for not reporting are small compared to the other risks of not reporting. Not many people are convicted of not reporting the self defense shooting of a grizzly bear. A recent case resulted in a plea deal. It appears Othel Pearson did not claim self defense. From justice.gov:

MISSOULA — A Troy area man who admitted to killing a grizzly bear on his property in 2020, not reporting the shooting as required and throwing the bear’s GPS collar in the Yaak River was sentenced today to two months in prison and fined $10,000, U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich said.

The defendant, Othel Lee Pearson, 80, pleaded guilty in February to tampering with evidence, a felony, and to failure to report taking of grizzly bear, a misdemeanor.

According to the court records, Pearson went to considerable lengths to conceal the bear’s killing.

Pearson cut a GPS collar that had been fitted to the bear and discarded the collar nearby in the Yaak River. Pearson also cut paws, ear tags and an identifying lip tattoo from the bear carcass. Pearson then concealed the bear’s claws and an ear tag in a hollowed-out tree on Forest Service land near his residence. Meat from the bear was discovered in Pearson’s freezer inside his home. 

The remains of the butchered carcass was dumped some distance from Pearson’s home.  The resources devoted to solving this case were substantial. The tracking collar was found in the river. The GPS unit had been destroyed. The data on it was recovered. It showed the death of the bear occurred about 40 yards from Pearson’s residence. DNA testing was used to tie meat in Pearson’s freezer and remnants on Pearson’s truck to the dead bear. DNA testing tied the bear claws hidden in a hollowed out tree and discovered by hikers 18 months after the killing.

©2025 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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