The decision to shoot came quickly for a group of hunters participating in a special elk reduction hunt in Teton National Park last Thanksgiving weekend. Five shots were fired at a charging male grizzly bear by a father and sons hunting party in a matter of seconds. The volley killed the bear.

    After an investigation and consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Grand Teton National Park law enforcement rangers, the U.S. Attorney announced Thursday there would be no charges filed against the hunters for killing the grizzly.

    In a press release from the National Park Service, it said the loss of the bear was regrettable, but unavoidable.

    “Although Grand Teton National Park managers regret the loss of an adult male grizzly bear due to human activities, it is important to note that the hunters involved in the incident made sound decisions after their bear encounter ended,” the release said. “They immediately reported the situation to park authorities and fully cooperated with the ensuing investigation, which concluded that the overall encounter lasted less than 10 seconds.”

    The investigation showed that the hunters deployed bear spray and discharged firearms against the charging grizzly. Park rangers and science and resource management personnel stated they believe that both the bear spray and bullets contacted the grizzly bear at nearly the same instant.

    According to reports analyzed in the grizzly killing case, at 7:25 a.m. on Nov. 22, two Grand Teton National Park rangers on routine patrol at Teton Point Overlook reported hearing five gun shots in less than 5 seconds; the first two shots were followed in rapid succession by three more.

    Ten minutes later., a woman called the Teton Interagency Dispatch Center to report that her husband and sons had been charged by a grizzly bear and they shot at the animal. She also reported that they were in the process of hiking out from the location where the shooting occurred and she informed the dispatcher that no people were injured.

    The Park Service news release said law enforcement rangers and wildlife biologists responded and began a systematic investigation into the incident. Rangers met with the hunting party and all three men fully cooperated with the investigation.

    The three hunters, ages 48, 20 and 17, all from Wyoming, had permits to participate in the elk reduction program at Grand Teton National Park. All three carried bear spray as required for this wildlife management program.

    According to interviews, the hunting party left the parking area at Schwabacher Landing at first light and had just entered into a timbered area in the Snake River bottom, slightly north of Schwabacher Landing and west of Teton Point Overlook, when the oldest of the group first noticed the bear. Although he tried to scare the bear off, it began to charge the group from 42 yards away.

    One member of the group described the grizzly bear as moving “like a cat,” incredibly fast, snapping tree branches, and moving very low to the ground.

    The hunters told investigators the father immediately deployed his bear spray while his sons raised their rifles.  When the grizzly bear came within 10 feet of the young men, they both fired shots. Three bullets impacted the grizzly—one on the back and two in the head—and immediately dropped the animal to the ground.

    The investigation revealed the hunters had walked near a partially consumed and cached elk carcass about 50 yards away, leading park biologists to conclude that the bear was defending its food source. The dead male bear weighed 534 pounds and was estimated to be 18 to 20 years old.   

    According to the news release, this was the first grizzly bear killed by hunters in Grand Teton National Park since the elk reduction program began in 1950. The largest source of known grizzly bear mortalities in Grand Teton have actually resulted from vehicle collisions, with a total of five grizzlies killed on park roads during 2005-2012 alone.

    The Park Service said that during the last 20 years as the Yellowstone ecosystem grizzly bear population has recovered and regained formerly occupied habitat, including in Grand Teton National Park, bear maulings have increased. Grand Teton has documented six attacks since 1994 when a jogger was mauled on the Emma Matilda Lake trail.

    Other maulings occurred in 2001, 2007 and 2011.  A mauling also occurred in the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway in 1997. None of these bear attacks resulted in fatal injuries to humans.

    In the fall of 2012 there were an estimated 608 grizzlies living in northwestern Wyoming neighboring parts of Idaho and Utah, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

    The shooting of a grizzly bear near Island Park, west of Yellowstone Park, on Sept. 22 of last year by five hunters armed with a shotgun and five large-caliber pistols also resulted in no charges after an investigation by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

    Reports from that incident said an archery hunter shot a six-point bull elk and later returned with four friends to retrieve it. A grizzly charged. They fired 12 shots at the bear and wounded it. The wounded bear was never found.

    The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will remove federal Endangered Species Act protections for Yellowstone area grizzlies in 2014 and turn over bear management to the states.

    Although possessing and carrying firearms in national parks is legal, the “use” of firearms is still prohibited, unless permitted for specific purposes such as the elk reduction program. As a condition of their participation in the elk reduction program, hunters are only permitted to shoot an elk.

      In light of the Teton Park incident involving the fatal shooting of a grizzly bear—the first ever recorded in Grand Teton National Park—managers are reviewing steps that might be taken to reduce such incidents in the future.