GREAT FALLS, Mont. — One of Montana’s biggest grizzly bears, a male that stood more than 7 1/2 feet tall and was informally known as Maximus, has been found shot to death, and state and federal wildlife officials are investigating.
The bear didn’t have a history of feeding on livestock or having run-ins with people, and was shot outside of black-bear hunting season, said Mike Madel, a grizzly bear management specialist with Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Hunters sometimes mistake grizzlies for black bears.
The bear was discovered Aug. 12 by a rancher near Dupuyer in northwestern Montana. Madel thinks the 9 1/2-year-old had been dead for about four weeks. “Someone just indiscriminately shot the bear,” he said.
Madel captured Maximus in 2007 while doing a population study. The bear weighed an estimated 765 pounds.
