Man gets prison sentence for beheading bear on reservation

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced a man to 15 months in prison for killing and beheading a 700-pound black bear on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson sentenced 39-year-old James Stimac on Wednesday. Prosecutors say Stimac used a compound bow to kill the bear in September 2019. Stimac, of Brainerd, Minnesota, 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.