Close Encounters of the Bear Kind!
If you Google “How many types of bears are there?” you will get an answer back ranging from a low of 8 to a high of 13. I’m sure there is much mud in that water as you can probably get the experts arguing about sub-species and the like. As far as I am concerned there are just two…the ones who have been hunted and fear man, and those who do not see man as a threat nor meal.
I have been blessed over the years to visit several hotspots for bear activity and capture both the Black and Coastal Brown/Grizzly (based on their location) bears in the complete range of available ages. Of my hundreds of bear photographs, some shared, most not, this one is the only time I was threatened.
Of all the other shots shared, whether in Katmai National Park at Morain Creek or Brooks Falls, or Alligator River NWR in North Carolina…or Wyoming, Florida, Tennessee or Montana…for the most part, they were bears that did not see humans as a threat, nor a source of food. Thus, you are relatively safe as long as you play by the rules and don’t do anything stupid.
This guy however was spotted on the scent of something and in a ¾ gallop coming down the side of a mountain when I spotted him from my car on the Teller-Nome Highway back in July. As I sped up the gravel road to get closer to my perceived location where his angle, if maintained would intersect the road. I stopped the car some 100 yards from that spot and set up my camera, and my 600mm lens on a monopod.
All this time I could clearly see that he was so locked on that scent that the old, fat Italian guy in the silver Ford Explorer, slamming his door on departure wasn’t even noticed! I started taking my safety shots as he continued his quest, downhill at the same gate. Then without warning, he went full stop (and because of my inability to calculate angles on the fly, he was now some 40-45 yards away) and started snorting, huffing and puffing! If I were a little closer and the wind down a bit, I’m pretty sure I would have heard a growl or two mixed in. I could see the confusion, the frustration in his eyes. He was torn with continuing on his quest or kicking my behind for interfering. For the record…I never meant to get this close, nor interfere in the hunt…either for prey or the ladies!
For a few seconds, maybe 10, he stayed in one location, doing half circles and expressing his displeasure. I took a few shots, comfortable in the knowledge that I had bear spray on my hip, a pistol in my hoodie pocket and a vehicle 25 feet away. When he decided to lunge in my direction as if coming out of an Olympic starting block…I snapped this shot and ran like hell for the car!
Getting into the car with my big lens attached to an extended monopod would normally be quite the trick, but with a pissed off bear danger close, all of me and it fit in there lightning fast.
I started the car and put it in gear before even looking out the open window to check his status. Once I did, I could see that he had closed the gap between us by some 10-15 yards and was doing his half circle thing again. After a second or two he made his choice and decided to continue his quest, crossing the road in front of me and disappearing in the roadside bushes of the open tundra.
I rolled up my window and detached my camera from the lens so I could review the encounter. An encounter that made me happy with getting a shot of the lunge and the whole “my survival” thing…but also feeling a bit stupid as either I really miscalculated the angle or he changed it. Either way, I was stupid close and neither of us needs to feel threatened, and it was all my fault.
Surviving another stupid human stunt before dementia!
Close Encounters of the Bear Kind!
If you Google “How many types of bears are there?” you will get an answer back ranging from a low of 8 to a high of 13. I’m sure there is much mud in that water as you can probably get the experts arguing about sub-species and the like. As far as I am concerned there are just two…the ones who have been hunted and fear man, and those who do not see man as a threat nor meal.
I have been blessed over the years to visit several hotspots for bear activity and capture both the Black and Coastal Brown/Grizzly (based on their location) bears in the complete range of available ages. Of my hundreds of bear photographs, some shared, most not, this one is the only time I was threatened.
Of all the other shots shared, whether in Katmai National Park at Morain Creek or Brooks Falls, or Alligator River NWR in North Carolina…or Wyoming, Florida, Tennessee or Montana…for the most part, they were bears that did not see humans as a threat, nor a source of food. Thus, you are relatively safe as long as you play by the rules and don’t do anything stupid.
This guy however was spotted on the scent of something and in a ¾ gallop coming down the side of a mountain when I spotted him from my car on the Teller-Nome Highway back in July. As I sped up the gravel road to get closer to my perceived location where his angle, if maintained would intersect the road. I stopped the car some 100 yards from that spot and set up my camera, and my 600mm lens on a monopod.
All this time I could clearly see that he was so locked on that scent that the old, fat Italian guy in the silver Ford Explorer, slamming his door on departure wasn’t even noticed! I started taking my safety shots as he continued his quest, downhill at the same gate. Then without warning, he went full stop (and because of my inability to calculate angles on the fly, he was now some 40-45 yards away) and started snorting, huffing and puffing! If I were a little closer and the wind down a bit, I’m pretty sure I would have heard a growl or two mixed in. I could see the confusion, the frustration in his eyes. He was torn with continuing on his quest or kicking my behind for interfering. For the record…I never meant to get this close, nor interfere in the hunt…either for prey or the ladies!
For a few seconds, maybe 10, he stayed in one location, doing half circles and expressing his displeasure. I took a few shots, comfortable in the knowledge that I had bear spray on my hip, a pistol in my hoodie pocket and a vehicle 25 feet away. When he decided to lunge in my direction as if coming out of an Olympic starting block…I snapped this shot and ran like hell for the car!
Getting into the car with my big lens attached to an extended monopod would normally be quite the trick, but with a pissed off bear danger close, all of me and it fit in there lightning fast.
I started the car and put it in gear before even looking out the open window to check his status. Once I did, I could see that he had closed the gap between us by some 10-15 yards and was doing his half circle thing again. After a second or two he made his choice and decided to continue his quest, crossing the road in front of me and disappearing in the roadside bushes of the open tundra.
I rolled up my window and detached my camera from the lens so I could review the encounter. An encounter that made me happy with getting a shot of the lunge and the whole “my survival” thing…but also feeling a bit stupid as either I really miscalculated the angle or he changed it. Either way, I was stupid close and neither of us needs to feel threatened, and it was all my fault.
Surviving another stupid human stunt before dementia!