Ever since a grizzly bear near Yellowstone Park that had just been trapped, tranquilized and released by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team killed Erwin Evert on June 17, agency representatives have told the media Evert had no one to blame but himself. They claimed the trap site was closed and posted with warnings. On June 19, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service grizzly bear recovery coordinator Chris Servheen told the Billings Gazette, "We try to do everything we can to minimize the risks. But we can't protect ourselves against people that ignore every warning we give, and we can't protect people against themselves."
On July 16, the U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service issued a 105-page report about Evert's death that said, "There were no warning or closure signs at the incident location where Mr. Evert approached this site when he was killed."
The Interagency Grizzly Bear Study Team (IGBST) had been trapping near Evert's cabin on Kitty Creek in the Shoshone National Forest for about three weeks before his death. The IGBST failed to notify Evert, or 13 other cabin owners in the area, of it's activities.
The IGBST did not do a news release so the local media could warn people about bear trapping at Kitty Creek.
The cabins along Kitty Creek are located on Forest Road #448. The road ends just beyond the cabins, where Kitty Creek Trail #756 begins. There were no warning signs at the trailhead.
Evert was killed about two miles up the trail. It was perfectly legal for Evert or anyone else to head up the trail.
The IGBST set bear traps at numerous sites in the Kitty Creek drainage over the course of three weeks. The trap sites were posted with signs that said, "closed." Evert was well aware of bear trapping in the area, but never went beyond the closed signs.
The 430# male grizzly bear that killed Evert was released at trap site #3 at 12:30 p.m. "With the bear showing signs of recovering, the crew removed the snare equipment and closure signs in the area and left."
It was noted that "the bear had a large open wound behind its left shoulder and numerous scars and fight wounds on its head and neck."
Evert left his cabin and headed up Kitty Creek at 12:45 p.m.
Meanwhile, the IGBST bear trapping crew moved on to another site, and processed another grizzly. At 5:10 p.m. they rode down the trail. They did not cross paths with Evert. They thought the whole operation at Kitty Creek was over.
Evert was supposed to return by 4:30 p.m. He was late. When Evert's wife Yolanda saw members of the IGBST ride by her cabin around 6 p.m., she asked if they had seen her husband Evert.
One member of the team rode back and found Evert's body just 21 yards from trap site #3. Evert had been curious about bear trapping efforts in Kitty Creek, but the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service report says, "There is no evidence that Mr. Evert had ever been to site #3 prior to 17 June 2010."
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