Its harder than I would have thought fifty years ago.. Not even camping next to a dead half eaten caribou in the Yukon brought griz.
But the first night we were visited by a griz who sought bagels. Without Lox. I figure this was because everyone on the Snake, as exploratory as it was 20 years ago,flew to Duo lakes to start there. Ergo the bears knew the plane brought...food.
2012 trip on the Yukon: two swimming bears..one black one griz..neither interested at all in us
Wabakimi.. usually one bear sighting a trip.. including the one where we canoed after the bear pell mell and got within 30 feet of it.. I didn't know what the swimming animal was and wanted to ID it.. It got out shook its butt and it was obvious.. Never gave us a head shot. Also Wabakimi...watched a bear claw a tree violently about 200 feet from camp. Never came to camp.
In Maine in the spring we were 12 guides in a van.. all excited about an early spring trip back around 2000. Saw a bear cross the road.. Stopped van and do just what you should not do.. chase the bear for a better look.
Who chases who?
Yosemite early 80's was a scary standoff..we hiked around a corner and lo there was mama and cubs.. They did not want to move. We backed up.. ( and I had two little kids..Gave the bear room to leave which they did)
Yosemite same trip.. Watch bear enter tent by open door and watched occupant leave by same door...bear made new door.. Doritos were the quarry .
Yosemite same trip ( perhaps same bear) . Watched bear dismantle Coleman stove with food droppings on it.. Watched owners of stove come back to site and run after bear with ax. Bear was faster.
French River.. Berrying bear. Wabakimi.. Berrying bear ( It took me a while to realize that bruin was berrying near where I was berrying)
Glacier 2012.. Griz through campsite. Campsite surrounded by berries.
Don't camp in a berry patch.
Back in Yellowstone when I was a little kid.. remember the lines of cars and the bears ambling down the center line stopping at each car for a handout.
Moosonee.. Tours of dump at night to see bears. Kind of neat to see them way up a pine tree
Indian Lake NY 1970's. Lacking a drive in we went to the town dump to watch the bears climb over everyone's car.
Forgot the best. 1981 Yosemite.. We took the jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. For some reason we had something metal.. We had a picnic lunch next to a waterslide and then enjoyed the waterslide.. While we were in the bear came to rummage our pack cause yep the peanut butter.. He chewed the pack and then chewed the lid and meanwhile really POed my husband cause his watch had been on top of the pack and was now in the water. We threw rocks at the bear and then I grabbed the pot and started banging on it.. The bear was not wanting to leave his beloved peanut butter so it took a while and there was some bluffing returning.. Not teeth gnashing but he kept coming back as if to say "you don't really want me to go, do you?"
Forgot one more. I saw the hind end of a bear on the Donald- Upper Kukagami portage.. Grabbing my camera running to get a better shot (chasing the bear..yes..is there a pattern here?) I stepped in a pile of berry laden bear poo.
Lots of bear encounters probably a function of time out there and age.. nothing more.
My neighbor went to the mailbox ( we have a set of cluster steel boxes) to see where the new dog on the block might have come from. She thought it was a Newfie.. But it was a blackie ..perhaps waiting for a Harry and David cheese shipment. If she had worn her glasses, she would have know sooner it was ursus not canis.
My most fun bear watching was in Algonquin.. Three cubs followed mama to the end of the log... Mama jumped in the water and one by one the cubs followed.. Mama swam back to the shore by the log, climbed out.. Cubs did too.. Repeat.
Then the Girl Scouts in a fleet of Grummans showed up and the bears swam across the river got out and left. Triplets are rare but the berry crop the year before was huge.
But the first night we were visited by a griz who sought bagels. Without Lox. I figure this was because everyone on the Snake, as exploratory as it was 20 years ago,flew to Duo lakes to start there. Ergo the bears knew the plane brought...food.
2012 trip on the Yukon: two swimming bears..one black one griz..neither interested at all in us
Wabakimi.. usually one bear sighting a trip.. including the one where we canoed after the bear pell mell and got within 30 feet of it.. I didn't know what the swimming animal was and wanted to ID it.. It got out shook its butt and it was obvious.. Never gave us a head shot. Also Wabakimi...watched a bear claw a tree violently about 200 feet from camp. Never came to camp.
In Maine in the spring we were 12 guides in a van.. all excited about an early spring trip back around 2000. Saw a bear cross the road.. Stopped van and do just what you should not do.. chase the bear for a better look.
Who chases who?
Yosemite early 80's was a scary standoff..we hiked around a corner and lo there was mama and cubs.. They did not want to move. We backed up.. ( and I had two little kids..Gave the bear room to leave which they did)
Yosemite same trip.. Watch bear enter tent by open door and watched occupant leave by same door...bear made new door.. Doritos were the quarry .
Yosemite same trip ( perhaps same bear) . Watched bear dismantle Coleman stove with food droppings on it.. Watched owners of stove come back to site and run after bear with ax. Bear was faster.
French River.. Berrying bear. Wabakimi.. Berrying bear ( It took me a while to realize that bruin was berrying near where I was berrying)
Glacier 2012.. Griz through campsite. Campsite surrounded by berries.
Don't camp in a berry patch.
Back in Yellowstone when I was a little kid.. remember the lines of cars and the bears ambling down the center line stopping at each car for a handout.
Moosonee.. Tours of dump at night to see bears. Kind of neat to see them way up a pine tree
Indian Lake NY 1970's. Lacking a drive in we went to the town dump to watch the bears climb over everyone's car.
Forgot the best. 1981 Yosemite.. We took the jar of peanut butter and a jar of jelly. For some reason we had something metal.. We had a picnic lunch next to a waterslide and then enjoyed the waterslide.. While we were in the bear came to rummage our pack cause yep the peanut butter.. He chewed the pack and then chewed the lid and meanwhile really POed my husband cause his watch had been on top of the pack and was now in the water. We threw rocks at the bear and then I grabbed the pot and started banging on it.. The bear was not wanting to leave his beloved peanut butter so it took a while and there was some bluffing returning.. Not teeth gnashing but he kept coming back as if to say "you don't really want me to go, do you?"
Forgot one more. I saw the hind end of a bear on the Donald- Upper Kukagami portage.. Grabbing my camera running to get a better shot (chasing the bear..yes..is there a pattern here?) I stepped in a pile of berry laden bear poo.
Lots of bear encounters probably a function of time out there and age.. nothing more.
My neighbor went to the mailbox ( we have a set of cluster steel boxes) to see where the new dog on the block might have come from. She thought it was a Newfie.. But it was a blackie ..perhaps waiting for a Harry and David cheese shipment. If she had worn her glasses, she would have know sooner it was ursus not canis.
My most fun bear watching was in Algonquin.. Three cubs followed mama to the end of the log... Mama jumped in the water and one by one the cubs followed.. Mama swam back to the shore by the log, climbed out.. Cubs did too.. Repeat.
Then the Girl Scouts in a fleet of Grummans showed up and the bears swam across the river got out and left. Triplets are rare but the berry crop the year before was huge.
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