Troy Gentry was arraigned on August 15, 2006, in Federal Court for the District of Minnesota. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of conspiring with a licensed commercial bear guide and the owner of a private game farm in Minnesota. While up in a tree stand, Troy used a bow and arrow to kill a bear that was running free in & several-acre fenced area in the game farm.Troy is an avid environmentalist and hunter who supports and follows all game laws. Before he killed the bear he was told by the bear guide that it was proper and legal to kill the bear which was not a tamed bear and was never in a pen or cage. Troy used his correct name on his Minnesota bear hunting license and never attempted to disguise his identity.The allegation that the video of the bear shoot was edited for the purpose of mischaracterizing the circumstances of the bear shoot is false. The only editing done was to remove the "dead time" from the video tape (more than one hour long) reducing the tape to about 15 minutes. The video was for Troy’s personal use and was never intended to be and was not used commercially. The bear hide was shipped under Troy’s name to a taxidermist in Kentucky and prepared into a taxidermy mount. Troy is accused of knowingly and willfully conspiring to violate federal law by taking the bear and transporting its hide from Minnesota to Kentucky and later to Tennessee. Troy absolutely denies that he knowingly and willfully did anything illegal and is confident that he be exonerated.
I do not know about you, but where I grew up killing a bear was not a sport.
