Cornell Students Shock Campus After Skinning Bear Inside Dorm

Dorm life usually means late night snacks, loud playlists, and maybe a frantic cram session or two. At Cornell, though, two students decided to swap the usual chaos for something out of a hunting lodge. Their weekend ended not with a movie marathon but with a black bear in their residence hall.

The Hunt Was By the Book

This wasn’t a case of sneaky or illegal activity. The students held valid New York hunting licenses, and officials confirmed the bear, about 120 pounds, was taken in a lawful hunting zone several counties away from Ithaca. Everything about the hunt itself was within state regulations.

From the Woods to the Dorm Room

Here’s where things take an interesting turn. Instead of leaving their catch with a butcher or storing it off campus, the two carried the bear back to their dorm. Once inside, they skinned and butchered it right there in the residence hall. Imagine expecting a study group in the lounge and walking in on that instead.

READ MORE: Strange Cornell University Tradition Involves a Dragon

Complaints Triggered an Investigation

It didn’t take long before word got out. Someone filed a complaint, campus police wrote up a report, and state environmental officials arrived to investigate. After looking into it, authorities confirmed there were no violations of law or policy.

No Jail Time, Just Dorm Fame

No tickets, no arrests, no broken rules. Still, while the Department of Environmental Conservation closed the matter, being remembered as the students who skinned a bear in the dorm is a reputation that may linger a whole lot longer.

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Cornell’s Newest Dorm Room Legend

Every college has its campus legends. At Cornell, this one now involves two licensed hunters, one very surprised dorm community, and a black bear that went from the forest to the hallway of a freshman dorm.