[lomcevak]

After arriving in Haines AK we asked the desk clerk at our motel about spots
to photograph wildlife, and were told there were eagles at the Chilkoot State
Recreation area, as well as reports of a bear near the weir on the river where
the State was conducting a salmon census. The eagles were easy to spot but not
flying much and my wife was chatting with a lady from North Carolina about eagles
when a young grizzly wearing a tracking collar walked out of the woods and onto the
road about 40 feet from my wife. The bear proceeded down the road a bit and then
worked down to the river's edge where he/she began to browse along the shoreline.
I got caught with the 400/2.8 on the D300 and the 24-70 on the D3, so I went with
the big lens and had to hand hold to try and keep up with his steady progress
downstream. Shots 1-3 are from day 1.

Next day we were back but the bear didn't show and we had packed up to head back
to the motel when he appeared again, this time working upstream along the bank. I got
off a quick shot with the 24-70, but a tour bus passing through spotted him and
disgorged about 30 folks with point and shoots, and he didn't seem to care for all
the attention so he sped past us all on the riverbank, taking a little time to trash
a salmon fisherman's tacklebox on the shore. We hopped in the car and headed upstream
along the road to try and get another shot of him from out in front, and when it seemed
we had to be well upstream of him my wife hopped out and headed through some trees toward
the river to see if she could spot him. He popped out from behind some brush about 10
feet away and she got off a couple quick shots which drew his attention for shot #3, after
which Gail went west, he went north and everybody was happy. He snagged a salmon from the weir
and disappeared back into the woods about where he popped out the day before.

Both days he seemed fairly unconcerned with people, and it wasn't until about a week later
at Denali that we got a possible explanation. Our shuttle bus driver mentioned that if
any of us were going hiking in the park to allow a 300 yard buffer zone if we spotted a bear.
Her explanation was the inland bears feed primarily on berries and vegetation and they have
to cover a lot of ground to rustle up enough berries to fill a hungry bear, so they tend to
get feisty when anything intrudes on what they perceive as their feeding area. Coastal bears
on the other hand feed on fairly abundant salmon in addition to berries and don't seem to
worry so much that somebody close by is a threat to their food supply.

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This post has been edited by lomcevak: 29 August 2009 - 11:53 AM

[Christy]

What a great series and fun trip to be on! Looking forward to seeing and reading more. :)

[katanaismybike]

what a great set of shots. i like the 4th, showing him on the riverbank.
SS

[Chimper]

You know I love wildlife and sports and this is a real treat for me thank you. I bet you wish they did not put the collar on him. The tack sharpness of the photos make the intensiveness of the photo. ;) great photos like always!

[barmstrong]

Excellent series! The fourth and fifth shots are the best for me as they do not shot the radio collar. I really like the eye contact on the last shot.

[Mike4C]

great shots , you look very close to the action.Do you have a gun with you just in case?

This post has been edited by Mike4C: 30 August 2009 - 06:59 AM

[lomcevak]

Mike4C, on 30 August 2009 - 06:57 AM, said:

great shots , you look very close to the action.Do you have a gun with you just in case?

No, we weren't armed and the last shot was much closer than we intended - the bear had covered more
ground than we thought he would and he popped out right in front of my wife. The State guy conducting
the salmon census grabbed a rifle when he saw the bear at the weir with the 30-odd tour bus passengers
closing in on foot, but the bear grabbed a salmon and scooted back into the woods.

[boomboom]

That is very cool! I would so love to have been there to see a bear in the wild. Thanks for sharing the story and the great pics.