Pamela Almli loved hiking the Sauk Mountain trails, her grieving husband said Sunday, and that’s where she was when she was shot by mistake by a young bear hunter.

“She was a wonderful person,” said William Almli of his 54-year-old wife. “We hiked up there all the time. She loved the outdoors, hiking … cross-country skiing.”

“All I can say is that it never should have happened,” Almli said in a telephone interview with the Skagit Valley Herald from his home in Oso. “I have to say that I’m feeling bitter about this.”

The Almlis have a son and three grandchildren. Their home is in the tiny town of Oso, in Snohomish County about halfway between Arlington and Darrington.

Pamela Almli was hiking with a friend about 10 a.m. Saturday morning. When the pair were about five to 10 minutes from the trailhead, Almli was struck fatally by a single bullet, the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office reported.

The shot came from the rifle of a 14-year-old Concrete boy who was hunting on Sauk Mountain in the company of at least one adult, the Sheriff’s Office said. It was the first day of bear hunting season.

The entire Sauk Mountain area is open for bear hunting, including the areas with well-maintained trails popular with hikers.

John Koenig, a fishing and hunting guide in Rockport, said Saturday that he prefers to take hunters to the more rugged north side of Sauk Mountain, where few hikers venture.

He said the standard for any hunter is not to fire until the target is absolutely identified and the shooter is certain of the bullet’s trajectory.
“You can’t just see a black spot and shoot,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Office and an agent from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife are investigating the circumstances of Pamela Almli’s death.

What little information has been released by the Sheriff’s Office as of late Sunday indicated that the woman had paused on the trail to put something in her backpack when the shot was fired.

The boy told investigators that he mistook the hiker for a bear.

“How do you confuse a woman with a bear?” William Almli asked. “It just makes no sense.”

He said that he has not been contacted by the Skagit County Sheriff’s Office.

“I haven’t heard a word; absolutely nothing,” he said.

The Sheriff’s Office released no further information on the case on Sunday. It was the Almli family that confirmed that Pamela Almli had been the victim of the shooting.

It was unclear Sunday what course the investigation would take. Nobody has been taken into custody.

William Almli said his feelings of grief over the loss of his wife are mixed with anger at the way she died.

Asked what kind of work his wife did, he responded: “She was my wife. She took care of me and our grandchildren.”