Minnesota Man Illegally Killed 700-Pound Black Bear: Feds

RED LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION — A Brainerd, Minnesota man faces federal charges of wildlife trafficking and trespassing on Indian lands in connection to the killing of a 700-pound bear on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

Authorities say on Sept. 1, Brett Stimac used a compound bow to shoot and kill the large American black bear near the reservation’s garbage dump. Stimac is not a member of the Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians, federal authorities noted.

He later posed for photographs with the bear’s carcass and shared the pictures on Facebook, police said.

Because of the bear’s large size, Stimac was unable to move the bear from the reservation, and instead removed the bear’s head and paws, and harvested some of the meat, according to investigators. He left the remainder of the carcass on the reservation, authorities say.

The Red Lake Band of Chippewa Indians does not permit non-Indians to hunt bear, a clan animal, within the boundaries of the Red Lake Indian Reservation, due to the bear’s spiritual importance to the Band.