Judge sends man to prison for shooting bear on reservation

ST. PAUL, Minn. – A federal judge has sentenced a Brainerd man to 15 months in prison for killing and then beheading a 700-pound black bear on the Red Lake Indian Reservation.

U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson sentenced 39-year-old James Stimac on Wednesday.  According to prosecutors, Stimac used a compound bow to shoot the bear on the reservation in northern Minnesota in September 2019.

Stimac isn’t a tribal member and entered the reservation without permission. Stimac returned to the reservation the next day, posed for photos with the bear’s carcass but couldn’t remove the bear from the reservation because it was too big.

He used a saw to remove the bear’s head as a trophy.