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At Wyoming’s first grizzly bear hunt in 4 decades, photographer says he’ll shoot with camera, not gun

Posted at 8:34 PM, Jul 27, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-27 23:13:48-04

Thousands of Wyoming residents and hunters across the country put in for a chance to take part in the state’s first grizzly bear hunt in in 44 years.

And of the 10 selected in the lottery, and one says he doesn’t plan to take a shot with his gun.

Tom Manglesen is a world-renowned photographer and long-time critic of grizzly hunting who said Friday he plans to take his camera out on the hunt.

“About fell off my chair because I didn’t think there was any chance in hell. I’ve never entered a lottery. I’ve never bought a ticket for anything. I grew up as a hunter, really avid hunter, in Nebraska. I grew up with a father who hunted ethically… We eat everything we shot,” Mangelsen told MTN News.

He drew number eight on the list that will allow hunters into the field in mid-September.

Mangelsen is one of many conservationists around the country who applied for a tag as a means to slow the hunt. Wyoming game officials voted this spring to open a hunt a year after grizzly bears were removed from the federal Endangered Species, and thousands submitted comments opposing the move.

“They were an endangered species a year ago, and now this year, we’re hunting them. It’s kind of a sad state,” Mangelsen said.

The tag cost Mangelsen $600. Wyoming special grizzly bear hunt runs from mid-September through mid November.

Reporting by Zachary Schellin for MTN News