Clayton Stoner’s Father Issues Statement

AP Photo/Tom Mihalek

By Michael Walters

In light of the recent news surrounding Clayton Stoner and the 2013 bear hunt, his father Ken posted a statement on January 28th at approximately 2:22PM on his personal Facebook page.

“I have chosen to go public with the real story about this bear hunt to put it in the proper light. It is not meant to promote hunting and it is not in support of the anti-hunting groups, it’s just “the truth”. I hope it helps show the public the level that supposedly “good people” are willing to lower themselves to for their cause, not caring whose reputation they destroy along the way.

When we met Robert Johnson the First Nation watchman in Kwatna (an extremely remote part of the province) he told us he could not stop us from hunting there but asked that we respect the land. The entire time we were there we were under the impression Robert had befriended us, he ate with us, he drank with us, and he shared stories with us. He was very helpful with his directions on how to get up the river to where we got the bear. When we got the bear back to the main boat and Robert was taking a few hairs for DNA samples I asked him if he had ever seen this particular bear bear before and he told me he had not but that “it was not uncommon for bears to pass through there”. The entire time we spent with Robert he never mentioned anything about a bear named “Cheeky” or any other bear that he or anyone else had a relationship with.

When the story broke it was extremely hard on our entire family to listen to and read all the lies that were being told. To set the record straight the head and paws were not severed, the bear was not 5 year old Cheeky, it was not shot with a shotgun. This was a very large 18 year old male, the exact type of bear the BC Wildlife Service asks you to harvest. And when Robert was supposedly in his tent crying over the loss of Cheeky he was actually on our boat drinking and did so until 3-4am.

The possibility that Clayton wasn’t a resident never crossed anyone’s mind, he was born in the province, raised in the province and owned a home in the province but under the wildlife act he fell a few days short of the required amount of days to be classified a resident. I don’t believe there ever was a bear named Cheeky and I believe once they found out Clayton played in the NHL they saw it as a way to bring awareness to their cause.

The truth is:
Our Vancouver Island born and raised son grew up hunting and fishing. He lives between Canada and the US because of his seasonal job. He shot a legal bear, in legal season, in a legal area with a licence that he incorrectly assumed he was qualified for. He is only guilty of a miscalculation of the days he lived outside Canada that year.”

Ken Stoner has sent this statement to several news outlets to be published. He is trying to spread the word about what really happened and we wanted to help. If you wish you can visit his facebook page and share his statement. It has over 2300+ shares in less than a week.

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