Large carnivore specialist thought he was shooting black bear; turned himself in  

A local Wyoming Game and Fish employee may face some steep financial penalties after mistaking a grizzly bear for a black bear while hunting on his own time last year.

Ellsbury immediately reported the error to his supervisor after the Sept. 6, 2013, shooting and gave a full account to investigators, court records say.

He pleaded guilty to the two misdemeanor counts at his initial Monday morning appearance in Park County’s Circuit Court and sentencing was set for Oct. 9.

Ellsbury’s attorney, Nick Beduhn of Cody’s Goppert, Smith and Beduhn law firm, said more time was needed because he and Park County Attorney Bryan Skoric “are still discussing the restitution.”

Past Park County cases involving hunters who mistakenly killed a grizzly and reported their error have resulted in financial penalties ranging from $7,500 to $14,000, mostly made up of restitution to the state for the loss of the bear. The current bond amount for the offense is $3,500, having been lowered from $7,500 in 2009.

The case was investigated by Game and Fish Wildlife Investigator Scott Browning of Lander and David Rippeto, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Cody, court records say.

In an interview with the two investigators recounted in charging documents, Ellsbury explained he’d seen a rather large black bear while working in the Sweetwater Creek drainage along the North Fork of the Shoshone River.

After he finished his day’s work with the Game and Fish, Ellsbury bought a bear license, picked up a friend and went back to the area, Browning wrote of Ellsbury’s account.

Ellsbury and his friend found a bear about a quarter-mile from where he’d earlier seen one of the animals.

The two men parked along the highway and spent about 10 minutes watching the bear as it walked through a patch of chokecherries, getting quick side views of its head.

Ellsbury — whose work includes managing conflicts between bears and people — told Browning he went through the attributes that distinguish black bears from grizzlies. The animal’s face appeared to have a straight profile and — while he couldn’t get a good look at its back or feet — Ellsbury spotted “really tall” ears rather than the short, round ones possessed by grizzlies.

“Ellsbury kept looking at the tall ears,” Browning said. “The bear looked solid black.”

Ellsbury and his companion agreed it was a black bear, and he drew his rifle. As he watched through his scope, the bear sped up while passing through a small opening.

“Ellsbury said he had just the one opening before the bear would be gone. He had only a couple of seconds to judge if it was a black bear or grizzly bear,” Browning wrote. “Ellsbury said the bear did not have a hump. The bear looked good, was black in color, and had tall ears and no hump.”

He fired one shot and killed the animal, still 100 percent sure it was a black bear. Only as Ellsbury walked up to the animal did he notice blond tips that he hadn’t seen through his scope and the falling rain.

“Ellsbury looked at the claws and the head and knew it was a grizzly bear,” Browning wrote.

He immediately drove to where he could get cell service to report the mistake and was interviewed the following day by Browning and Special Agent Rippeto.

Browning said the bear was a roughly 200-pound male grizzly, dark in color and brown or black on its rear end and lower legs with blond tips on its back, upper sides and around its head. The animal also had long front claws, a back hump and a somewhat dished facial profile, Browning said.

Browning found Ellsbury had fired the shot roughly 23 feet from the edge of U.S. Highway 14-16-20, which qualified as shooting “from, upon, along or across a public road or highway.”

Editor's note: This version of the story removes incorrect information that Ellsbury had previously served as a bear management specialist and then became a large carnivore biologist; they are actually the same position described in different ways. It also removes incorrect information indicating that a mistaken grizzly case prosecuted by Skoric resulted in a $7,500 penalty. His office was not involved in that case as it was cited as a bondable offense that did not require a court appearance.