Browning man fined for killing three bears

GREAT FALLS — A man who killed three grizzly bears near his Browning home last summer has been ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that 75-year-old Everett Skunkcap was sentenced in connection with his guilty plea to one count of taking a threatened species.  

Skunkcap said during a hearing earlier this month that he killed all three bears in defense of his grandchildren who were 100 feet away at the time.

Skunkcap used a rifle to shoot a 17-year-old grizzly bear and two male cubs west of Browning on Aug. 6.

Skunkcap told Blackfeet wildlife department employees that he also shot a grizzly bear in 2013 and would do so again. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge John T. Johnston also gave Skunkcap a six-month jail term, which was suspended on the condition that he pay the restitution in a timely manner.