An NHL player is taking heat from a British Columbia First Nation after he shot and killed a grizzly bear in a trophy hunt this spring.

Minnesota Wild defenceman Clayton Stoner was photographed by a Heiltsuk Tribal Council field technician with parts of his grizzly kill – including the animal’s severed head and paws.

The band says the bear its field crews named "Cheeky" was shot three times by trophy hunters last May, its head, fur and paws were removed and the body was left to rot in the Kwatna Estuary.

Stoner, who's a B.C. native, issued a statement addressing his involvement in the hunt, saying he has no plans to quit hunting.

“I grew up hunting and fishing in British Columbia and continue to enjoy spending time with my family outdoors. I applied for and received a grizzly bear hunting license through a British Columbia limited entry lottery last winter and shot a grizzly bear with my license while hunting with my father, uncle and a friend in May," he said in a statement released through the Minnesota’s Wild public relations department. "I love to hunt and fish and will continue to do so with my family and friends in British Columbia.”

“It’s such a barbaric practice,” said Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. “Mostly non-resident hunters from outside the country, they pay outrageous amounts of money to go in by helicopter or other means and they shoot the animal, skin it out, and they leave the carcass to rot.”

The Heiltsuk say Stoner's hunt is an example of why trophy hunting should be banned along coastal B.C., saying it's at odds with First Nations' values to shoot an animal and not use its meat.

“It made me sick, angry, built up. And I wanted to do anything I could to stop anything like that in the future,” said Jason Noody. “I want to talk to him, I want to try to change his mind. I think it’s a bad habit that he’s got that maybe has been taught to him, I don’t think it’s just something where you say all of a sudden, ‘Hey, I want to kill stuff.’”

The band claims trophy hunting makes no economic sense compared with eco-tourism, isn't sound science and that it has the responsibility to protect the culturally-significant bears.

With files from CTV British Columbia's Scott Roberts and  The Canadian Press