Hunters in Grizzly-Free Country - Sidearm for Archery / Scouting?

[kpalu]

Had a black bear come up and get uncomfortably close to an elk carcass a few years ago in Colorado. Turns out CPW had relocated a couple problem bears in that canyon during the summer, they had no fear of humans at all. Every since then I always carry a side arm with me, even when not in Griz country

 

[TheGDog]

All, this thread seems to be a little bit old but I wanted to follow up on this topic. I am aware that you are allowed to carry a sidearm for protection, and protection only. I'm going out to Colorado for archery elk / deer. If this question was already answered in the five pages that have been on this thread, I'm sorry that I perused past the answer, but I'm interested on what happens if you actually do shoot a bear or another predator for protection, and how the back and forth goes with a game warden and having to prove that it was in self-defense. I assume that if you call the game warden, say, 'hey I had to shoot a bear out of self-defense, it was charging toward me and wouldn't stop and I wasn't going to wait until mauled before shooting... here is the location of where the carcass lies' hopefully the game warden comes out and inspects it, and good for you for doing the right thing by notifying them, and that is what it is and nothing more. But I'm curious, is there some sort of drawn out investigation process? On the other side of the coin, I would assume that there has also been instances where somebody that legitimately doesn't care about the rules and wants to harvest a bear and keep its fur, would call the warden, and give the same blurb I mentioned above and lie about shooting one in self-defense, to give the guise that they are trying to do the right thing....and then says, 'well I would hate to have this animal go to waste, do you mind if I salvage the meat and take it to a taxidermist?' Any wardens in this thread?

Pretty sure you can NOT harvest that animal if it's a self-defense shooting. Unless valid method of take and it's during hunting season. They do inspect the area around where the event took place to make sure your story checks out, in terms of the claim the animal advanced upon you, and not the other way around. For sure they will want to take down contact info from you, and probably an initial statement.

And I'm saying this because I remember reading a story about a guy who had to pop a MtnLion that crept up on him from behind and had lept at his back. Apparently the guy was calling for predators facing the other direction while up on a hill. I wanna say he was lying down or seated or something? That he heard something at the last second and rolled over to his side and shot. And in the story they mentioned how the DFW concluded from the evidence at the spot that he wasn't lying. My takeaway was that they take it seriously and want to prove to themselves you're not BS'ing.

 

[mtwarden]

definitely make the call; if you don't make the call it could end badly

yes they will investigate the shooting, if it was in self defense there won't be any problems

most states you won't get to keep the bear or lion