Man devastated after trophy hunter shoots the 900 pound bear he had fed for years

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bluemike807

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Curious as to peoples' take on this:

November 20, 2010

Leroy Lewis stood in the doorway of his tiny mobile home in Bushkill on Monday evening and wept as a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer told him his beloved bear, Bozo, had been shot by a hunter.

Seventeen years of memories filled Lewis' mind as he digested the news that Bozo was dead. In those years, Lewis watched this wild animal-turned-pet grow as he hand-fed it table scraps and store-bought pies and other sweets.

When Bozo was shot by a hunter Monday, he weighed nearly 900 pounds. That made Bozo the largest black bear ever killed in Pennsylvania.

A trophy for David Price, the hunter, the kill was a heartbreak for Lewis.

"I'm devastated. I'm just devastated," he said Friday. "I mean I feel like I lost a friend. He used to come knock on the door when he was hungry."

Price shot the bear with a crossbow on the opening day of Pennsylvania's new archery season for bear hunting. The game commission says Price followed the law when he bagged the giant bear.

Price killed the bear near Lewis' trailer, which sits between Fernwood Resort and the border of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Lewis said he started feeding the bear when it was maybe 2 years old.

"He was just so friendly that I felt like feeding him," he said. "I never felt like I did anything wrong."

The game commission, in fact, thought Lewis was doing wrong by feeding the bear. It cited him in October for feeding wildlife.

On Friday, Lewis flipped through stacks of photos, some featuring him posing with the bear and even draped over the bear.

"I fed him for 17 years and I raised him from a cub," Lewis recalled. "He loved doughnuts and anything sweet. I was never scared of him."
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300Spartans said:
Sad for the guy who fed Bozo, but awesome for the hunter who bagged him. A 900 lbs blackie taken with a crossbow is sweet.
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even when the thing is so socialized that it would probably eat out of your hand?

in my eyes, david price is far from any sort of apex predator.
 
How many hunters check if the bear will eat out of their hand before shooting it?

Not a great situation, and I would feel like a douche if I shot it.

Well until I tasted what pie-fed bear tastes like, I bet it is great!
 
Here is a pic:

yogipicnicbasket.gif


The guy had almost completely domesticated it, but the other woodland creatures are still in mourning:

smokey2.jpg
 
The moron that hand fed the bear was the Bozo.His feeding the bear likely contributed to it getting killed.The hunter may very well have had no idea that the bear was so tame,so I in no way blame him.
 
Good job Leroy. You fed Bozo and made him big and attractive to trophy hunters. You removed his natural fear of humans. Who killed Bozo? You killed him.

And I must agree with pie1 - feeding pies to a bear is a serious dessertfail.
 
stubblejumper said:
The moron that hand fed the bear was the Bozo.His feeding the bear likely contributed to it getting killed.The hunter may very well have had no idea that the bear was so tame,so I in no way blame him.
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x2

The reason that bear was killed was because the idiot fed it and tamed it, so it had no fear of humans, and likely stood still offering a good shot.:p
 
Gatehouse said:
x2

The reason that bear was killed was because the idiot fed it and tamed it, so it had no fear of humans, and likely stood still offering a good shot.:p
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the reason that bear was killed is because someone decided to fire an arrow at it.

the fact that the conservation officers went to buddy's house to tell him about the bear's death shows that it was common knowledge in the area that the bear was hand fed.


id bet money that david price knew the whole situation before he shot it.
 
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