A Haines man says a mix of ignorance and bad luck on a recent mountain goat hunt led to his killing of a brown bear in self-defense and potentially $1,500 worth of fines.

On Sunday, Oct. 29, 33-year-old Ethan Julian was issued three citations by the Alaska Wildlife Troopers for failure to salvage all edible meat from a goat, failure to salvage the hide and skull of a brown bear and unlawful possession and transportation after he took two claws off the brown bear as a trophy. Each citation was paired with a $500 fine. All are considered minor offenses.

In an interview on Tuesday, Oct. 31, Julian said he would not be protesting any of the citations he received, but said sharing the story behind the charges and the lessons he learned could be valuable for other hunters in the future.

“It was a big mess. A lot of it was my fault for being unaware of the laws and I take responsibility for that,” he said. “It wasn’t malicious, but I should have known the laws and it’s one of those things that you think, ‘It’s not going to happen to me.'”

Julian said in mid-October he had gone out solo goat hunting near 18-Mile of the Haines Highway. After successfully shooting a goat he came face-to-face with a brown bear. He said he had left his bear spray down at his camp and, fearing his safety, he shot at the bear twice, killing it.

“The bear attacked me while I was on the goat carcass,” he said. “It reared up on its back legs and came running straight towards me – when I shot it, it was right on top of me.”

Julian said after killing the bear, he left the carcass on the mountain but illegally took two of its claws, which he said he was unaware was illegal and resulted in a citation.

“I should have known the law,” he said. “It wasn’t something I was trying to hide, I wasn’t trying to be sneaky, but it’s one of those things where I should have known the law and I didn’t.”

Julian then packed up the goat’s meat to bring down the mountain but left behind the rib meat and bones, resulting in another citation. According to state regulation, hunters are required to salvage all of the edible meat from a goat kill.

“It’s one of those things I have to take responsibility for, I should have known the law and I didn’t, so I totally deserve that,” he said.

In Alaska, bears killed in defense of life or property belong to the state, and regulations require any person killing a bear in defense of life or property to remove the hide from the carcass and salvage the skull.

Julian said he was not aware of that requirement until he was nearly off the mountain and called the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. He said he attempted to retrieve the skull and hide a week later. However, when he arrived at the location he discovered another bear on the carcass of the dead bear. He was able to scare off the bear, but he could not find the dead bear’s hide or skull after an hour of searching.

“All I could find was a single paw,” he said.

According to Carl Koch, a wildlife biologist with ADF&G, it’s not uncommon for bears to drag or partially bury a carcass to protect it to eat later. He said bears are most often killed in self-defense during nuisance situations in towns, like breaking into homes or trash. He said it happens less often in the wild, but especially when hunting, a person can startle a bear if they’re being quiet or wearing camouflage.

Koch said it’s important for hunters to notify ADF&G if a situation similar to this happens to them and to know state laws and regulations before going out into the field. He said it is a hunter’s choice whether they bring bear spray or a gun out in the field, but noted that hunters must retrieve the skull and hide if the bear is killed in self-defense.

“The one thing he did right was he didn’t wait to tell Fish and Game as soon as he killed the bear,” he said. “People that try to hide stuff can get in a lot more trouble and get a lot more serious charges.”

Alisha Seward, the incident commander for Alaska State Troopers who issued the three citations, said a person not knowing laws and regulations doesn’t stop her from issuing a citation.

“It’s important to know what you’re doing. Not knowing regulations a lot of the time is what gets people in trouble,” she said. “This experience hopefully helps him for when he goes out on his next hunt.”

Seward encouraged hunters to read up on regulations and laws before going hunting and bring a regulation booklet with them when out in the field.

Julian has an arraignment set for Dec. 6 in Haines District Court.

The Haines area goat hunt closed earlier than usual in the end of October after hunters exceeded the harvest goal.