Trying to give an idea about how something as large as a bear can disappear at short distances in the Alaskan bush.

My lady and I had a great trip today, took a jet boat tour out of Talkeetna and went up the Susitna River and ran the rapids in Devil's Canyon. Part of the tour on the way back was a stop for a, "Nature Walk" with recreations of a native fish camp and a trapper's cabin. Get off the boat and onto the dock and outsteps out Naturalist who had been with us for the entire tour. A young 20 something who still runs her family's off-grid homestead with her sister. And she's got a Mossberg 590 Mariner slung over her shoulder.

Yes, tour guides with 12 gauges. Where else but Alaska?

That's a great pic of the bear. It is amazing how animals can vanish in a few feet of cover.

At least he popped his head up for a minute to pose for the photo-op.

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Originally posted by 2000Z-71:
A young 20 something who still runs her family's off-grid homestead with her sister. And she's got a Mossberg 590 Mariner slung over her shoulder

I was just thinking, "Oh does she have a sister?"

That's pretty thick foliage there. Even a drag queen in neon pink can disappear behind that.

Excellent picture, how far away were you, I know you don't want to get close to them at all...

They are getting better at using cover and concealment

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Yes, tour guides with 12 gauges. Where else but Alaska?

How about expedition guides in Greenland and Svalbard carrying .30-06 and .308 rifles?

Nice Photo!
I smiled when I read about your guide. There are many articles about what gun to carry in bear country. One could do a whole lot worse than her carry. I bet that she's pretty proficient with that 590.

I've often wondered how a mature bull elk can disappear behind a 6 inch in diameter tree. Sneaky bastards they are.

We had a big black bear walk across the trail about 50 yards ahead of us in the Grand Tetons last month. There was only about 20 yards of woods between the trail and the lake, yet somehow he managed to absolutely disappear in there and I couldn't see where he went. That was a little unnerving, to think how many we'd walked past without even knowing they were there.

92 - My wife and I has the same thing happen to us a few years back in the Tetons. Except is was a Grizzly. Good news - it was a juvenile that still had the blonde back-fuzz going and it was moving downhill in a hurry. We were returning from a Cascade Canyon day-hike and were adjacent to Jenny Lake.

quote:

Originally posted by 2000Z-71:


Trying to give an idea about how something as large as a bear can disappear at short distances in the Alaskan bush.

My lady and I had a great trip today, took a jet boat tour out of Talkeetna and went up the Susitna River and ran the rapids in Devil's Canyon. Part of the tour on the way back was a stop for a, "Nature Walk" with recreations of a native fish camp and a trapper's cabin. Get off the boat and onto the dock and outsteps out Naturalist who had been with us for the entire tour. A young 20 something who still runs her family's off-grid homestead with her sister. And she's got a Mossberg 590 Mariner slung over her shoulder.

Yes, tour guides with 12 gauges. Where else but Alaska?

I don't see it.

When I was Dove shooting long time ago, I was sitting at an outside corner of a standing corn field, and about 100 yds down the edge of the standing corn a baby black bear poked his head out, looked all around, then disappeared back into the corn. After that I was a little worried about mama bear, she could have been ten feet from me and would have never known. Sometimes ignorance is good for the soul.

As the small homestead type family farms disappear here in upstate NY, and those farms return back into forest, the black bear population has exploded.
Black Bears have learned how to thrive in those fringe locations between true wilderness and suburban civilization.

25 years ago, the only places in NY you would see or could hunt black bears was the Catskill Mountains and Adirondack Mountains.
Upstate NY is "sandwiched" between the Catskills and Adirondack Mountains and the New York black bear primary range now includes upstate NY.
NYS DEC (Fish & Game) now has black bear hunting seasons for the areas near my home, and my cabin. Basically 20 or so miles apart straight line driving distance.

This bruiser was seen and photographed near my home earlier this year. He sat in my neighbors back yard looking at the people taking his picture from the elevated deck.
1.25 miles from my home to the photo location.
The pelt on this one looks like he just returned from the car wash or beauty parlor!
Later photos when he destroyed my neighbors greenhouse showed gigantic gonads along with a smaller female bear with at least two cubs.

IMG_20260409_211835 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Near the somewhat more remote cabin on the recreational property, my adjoining neighbor got this trail camera photo on his land. I have a rough idea where his cameras are located, and the
camera that took this photo can't be more than 1/4 mile from the front door of my cabin. It gives new meaning to being properly armed and equipped with adequate flashlights/lighting when skulking around in the woods when doing deer hunting and getting out to and returning after dark from your various deer stands and blinds.

Letting the dog out to do his business after dark at the house and cabin is also now a new concern.

IMG_20260526_210839 by cee_Kamp 32ACP, on Flickr

Many (most) people unfamiliar with upstate NY, think that upstate is just like New York City. It couldn't be farther from the truth.

2000Z-71, good for you and your lady for getting out in nature and spending time together there. It's how you build memories!

I have had a few bear encounters. One evening just at dusk. Walked out the front door about 15 yards to my right we had a couple composters. One was open and a young black bear was sitting on the rim. His feet inside of it and was hunched over digging in the compost with his front paws for goodies. turned around and went back in the house

One of the things that bothered me about our Revelation Pass hike a few weeks ago was that I wasn't allowed to bring a gun. The organization that put the trip together had had problems with people doing stupid stuff in the past, so their rule was only the guides would be armed, the rest of us got bear spray. I get it...you don't need somebody doing something stupid and shooting somebody out in the backcountry on your watch, and they didn't know me from Adam, but not having my .44 didn't give me the warm fuzzies, especially when the bears started popping out around the lake.

Our lead guide was a really experienced dude, and has hunted bears including a trip to Kodiak where he took a big brown. He was carrying an XDm in 10mm, but told me that he typically prefers a .44 revolver. His thinking is that if he ever is charged by a bear he's not going to have time to get off more than a shot or two anyway, so he'd rather have as much thump behind it as possible. The organization's guide program and qualification required a semi-auto, though, so he was borrowing the XD from a buddy.

A pump shotgun definitely seems to align with his way of thinking, and if you're not hiking miles out into the Backcountry with a pack, or hauling out a bunch of meat, it definitely seems like the tool to have.

We saw 14 bears on the trip, but thankfully most of them were at a distance, they all seemed happy and well fed, and we had no conflict with any of them. Spotting and watching them was one of the highlights of the trip.

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Originally posted by 92fstech:

We saw 14 bears on the trip, but thankfully most of them were at a distance, they all seemed happy and well fed, and we had no conflict with any of them. Spotting and watching them was one of the highlights of the trip.

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Awesome pictures, that first one with the fish is great, and the last one shows the minimum proper distance when near wild bears!

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Originally posted by HRK:
the last one shows the minimum proper distance when near wild bears!

For sure! And that's cropped and using a 300mm equivalent lens!

Most of the bears were so far away that I probably would have never seen them had it not been for the two bear hunters in our group. One guy was so good at spotting them it was like a superpower...we started calling him "Vortex" after the optics company, lol. He'd be like "hey, here's a bear up there" and point to a little spec over a mile away up the side of the mountain. You'd look and not see anything, and then sure enough that spec would start to move.

The big fella in that picture was fun to watch. He was eating berries and would waddle from one patch to another and just flop down on his belly and munch until he'd eaten everything within reach, then get up, waddle over to another spot, flop down again and repeat. He was clearly living his best life!

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Find the Bear

Bear? What bear?

He’s looking at your pic-a-nic basket……