I suspect there is more telephoto than what you think. Unless this photo was taken in Yellowstone- where bears are more accustomed to people- I doubt Mr. AnthonyS was able to get that close to what appears to be a grizzly. I could be wrong however, maybe posted this from the bears tummy.
I'm no bear whisper', but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.
Actually, stepping quietly away would be more appropriate. Running tends to ignite a chase the prey reflex in mr/mrs grizzly bear. Awesome picture though. What is the story behind it?
This warning coming from several recent fatalities in our national parks.
Warning: The National Park Rangers are advising hiker's & biker's in Glacier National Park and other Rocky Mountain parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.
They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking & biking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance and not be startled by a hiker or biker accidentally sneaking up on them. This might cause a bear to charge.
Visitors should also carry a pepper spray can just in case a bear is encountered. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear's sensitive nose and it will run away.
It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear scat [droppings] so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognize the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.
Black bear droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur. Grizzly bear droppings tend to contain small bells, bike parts and smell like pepper.
this photo taken? Your recent photos have been New Mex and Crested Butte. If you're still in those areas..a grizz sighting is huge. Last know grizz in Colorado was in the 50's.
We have strayed too far from wonder when a picture of a bear makes us reach for rulers and relativism rather than any sense of WOW.
This was taken yesterday near Taggart Lake, in the southern end of Grand Teton National Park. I had stopped to walk around for a bit with a camera. It was quite early in the day. I had almost considered letting Grendel poach a little bit of NPS trail, but decided better of it for the reason that I was in bear country. So it was with a mixture of surprise and resignation that I saw this juvenile come crashing out of the brush as I walked up a little meadow. I froze and started reading body language as fast as humanly possible. He clearly knew i was there,and was clearly ignoring me. He worked his way along the brush near the top of the meadow, stopping to grub in several places. I slowly backed off, giving him more room. I had one of the cameras in hand, but it had a ridiculously wide angle lens mounted. Once I had backed off enough,a nd satisfied myself that he was more interested in foraging than me, I eased off my backpack and grabbed the other camera with a (modest) zoom lens and started working him over.
It was right about here that I decided to put away the toys and remove myself from the scene. That sideways look, he catches your eye for a moment... That's when it can suddenly go any number of directions.
I put the camera down and looked at him a moment or so longer, wanting to see him with my own eyes, and then eased back down the meadow.
A pleasant, if alarming surprise, to be sure. I had come to the park looking for this:
Grand Teton NP is awesome. Only been there once, but I'd love to go back. Great shots and nice bear. Probably a good call on deciding to leave the scene. There is a slim chance that a bear attack might ruin your day.
WOW! Did I mention WOW? Your pictures aren't bad either. I may use that last one for my screen saver, with your permission of course. I'm sure glad to see you were using your head and gave him plenty of respect and yourself by reading his body language. I would hate to see this site lose one of its prize photographers due to a greedy mistake in such an encounter. BTW did you check his 'scat' for any signs of bells and pepper spray?
We have strayed too far from wonder when a picture of a bear makes us reach for rulers and relativism rather than any sense of WOW.
Indeed. Didn't mean to take the wind from your sails. I have seen this particular species of WOW animal much closer than I would have liked when I was younger. I was in Alaska with my father and his friends on a hunting trip and we ran across a grizzly, about 150 yards away, and the guide proceeds to tell us we definately need to move out of this area!
10 mins. later down the trail he looks at me with a smurk and tells me " You are not the highest link on the food chain in Alaska. That really sticks in a 14 year olds head.
Lucky you to have captured the bear on film Anthony.
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