Idaho hunters kill grizzly bear after one hunter is attacked

An archery hunter in Idaho was knocked to the ground and bitten by a grizzly bear Sunday, but he and his partner pulled sidearms and killed the bear.

Both men dialed 911 after the incident. As Monday afternoon, the injured hunter was recovering from non-life-threatening wounds at Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center.

According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, the hunters were targeting elk west of Henrys Lake in Island Park when the attack occurred.

“Both men were able to utilize their sidearms to shoot the bear, deterring the attack,” Fish and Game explained in a news release.

Conservation officers responded to the scene and determined “that the hunters acted in self-defense during a surprise encounter with the bear from a very close distance.”

Grizzly bears are protected by state and federal law. Killing them while hunting is legal only in self-defense.

Henrys Lake is in the Caribou-Targhee National Park, about 15 miles west of Yellowstone National Park.

–Grizzly bear image courtesy of the Idaho Department of Fish and Game