West Virginia mascot who kills bear told not to hunt with musket

West Virginia Mountaineer mascot Jonathan Kimble, who famously appears in an ESPN commercial staring down football analyst Lee Corso, has been told to stop using his musket on hunting excursions after killing a black bear on Monday.

“While Jonathan Kimble’s actions broke no laws or regulations, the university has discussed this with him, and he agrees that it would be appropriate to forego using the musket in this way in the future,” university spokesman John Bolt said.

Kimble says that hunting with the musket is a Mountaineers’ mascot tradition.

“Other Mountaineers have gone and shot multiple deer with it before,” Kimble said. “I’ve taken it with me deer hunting before also.”

The fact that there is video of Kimble actually shooting the bear while in a tree is probably more disconcerting to folks than the fact he’s using a university-issued weapon to do so.

“Hunting can be a controversial topic,” said Kimble, who was hunting with family and friends when he killed his first bear. “I apologize to any of those who took offense to the video. It definitely wasn’t my intent to offend anybody.”

And for those who haven’t seen the ESPN commercial featuring the West Virginia graduate student, check it out below.

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