Merle F. Quinn, of Newman Lake, Wash., pleaded guilty to the charge of taking a grizzly bear without a license, according to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. His employer, rancher Regan Smith, of Powell, was found guilty of failing to report the incident to authorities, department officials said.
Quinn was interviewed by a federal agent on Oct. 12 after a citizen reported finding the partial remains of a bear on the Shoshone National Forest, officials said. Scavenging wildlife had exposed the remains. Quinn told authorities he shot what he thought was a black bear that had been chasing his sheep on July 15. He said buried it the following morning near Pat O'Hara Mountain Road because the sheep would not stay in the area with a dead bear, officials said.
Smith told authorities that three days later, Quinn told him he shot a depredating black bear. Smith did not contact authorities, in violation of the state wildlife damage law, officials said. Federal authorities declined to prosecute the men under the federal Endangered Species Act, which protects grizzly bears as a threatened species.