Bear Spotting

While I was up in Vancouver we had allot of good opportunity to go out and explore the city and the surrounding wilderness after work. Being the sun didn't go down until 10 PM you had plenty of daylight to venture. One night we went out with a local "Bear guide" for what they called a Bear spotting trip. While you were not guaranteed to see a bear on the trip and no money back if you didn't see one, we were lucky to this beauty. The trek is was no joke and nothing to be taken lightly, infact our guide carries a variety of Bear replant and two large shotguns incase you run into trouble. To see a bear in the wild was a thrill for me, I love bears, there's just something awesome about them. Here's some pictures, all these were taken with my 400mm at a distance of about 100 to 300mm. I was in total awe.

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/Bear1.jpg

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/Bear2.jpg

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/Bear3.jpg

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/Bear4.jpg
Look at the claws on this beast! I can't even imagine taking a blow from this animal.

http://www.nycaviation.com/hosting/Bear5.jpg

Bearry nice pics!

I must be tired, or just want a beer because I thought it said beer spotting.... I was like how the hell do you do that? But nice shots Tommy.

Oh wow sweet! I've only seen bears in the wild on three occasions. The first was during survival training, a mother bear kept raiding the instructors' stuff, so they shot it. A day or two later I saw the baby bear, wandering around I guess looking for it's mother. (kinda sad I know).

The second time I saw multiple bears was from the air, doing low-level flying in the C130 in Alaska. We were flying maybe 200 feet AGL, for 6 freaking hours, during the middle of summer, so all we'd do in the cockpit was look out the window at the wildlife and all... Didn't see any grizzlies or Kodiaks, but that would have been sweet!

And just recently I saw two bears out in Colorado. Was driving along in a neighborhood, when these two things come darting out of a yard and run right across the street. At first I thought they were deer (cause there are deer everywhere out there) but it was two "little" golden bears. Pretty sweet sight to see! I have some friends who live up there (right along the foothills) who say the bears always come around, looking for food or anything they can chew on/eat.

Looks like you got real close to that sucker though! Hope they had the guns drawn on that thing during your trip!

I disagree with having guns drawn in the sense that you are in their terratory and invadeing theri land so to speak. All in all those picture a friggin awesome Tom, maybe yuou have a second career in wildlife photography!

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Originally Posted by USAF Pilot 07

Oh wow sweet! I've only seen bears in the wild on three occasions. The first was during survival training, a mother bear kept raiding the instructors' stuff, so they shot it. A day or two later I saw the baby bear, wandering around I guess looking for it's mother. (kinda sad I know).

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Oh man Clark that just killed me.... :cry: :cry:

Oh Ryan we weren't in any danger, we were on an embankment above the bear, but if it did come down to the bear or me...I choose me.

[quote=T-Bird76]

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Originally Posted by "USAF Pilot 07":b1eed

Oh wow sweet! I've only seen bears in the wild on three occasions. The first was during survival training, a mother bear kept raiding the instructors' stuff, so they shot it. A day or two later I saw the baby bear, wandering around I guess looking for it's mother. (kinda sad I know).

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Oh man Clark that just killed me.... :cry: :cry:[/quote:b1eed]
Ditto

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Originally Posted by hiss srq

I disagree with having guns drawn in the sense that you are in their terratory and invadeing theri land so to speak. All in all those picture a friggin awesome Tom, maybe yuou have a second career in wildlife photography!

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Screw that, lol.... If a bear comes running at me, and I have a gun, that sucker is going down, and I'm shooting until he stops moving!

What a cute bear though! He would look great stuffed, standing on his two back legs in the corner of my living room! :P

But seriously, great pics. I keep going back and looking at them. It's amazing to see how docile and how cute and friendly they look, it's like I want to go pet him, yet I know that they can, and will rip you to shreds in a matter of seconds....

Nice pics of a fuzzy bear :D

What kind of bear is that?

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Originally Posted by GothamSpotter

What kind of bear is that?

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One with fur that goes rawr and such :mrgreen:

Great shots, Tommy! It's neat that you were able to get so close to nature. I've seen lots of deer in the backyard out in Pennsylvania, and others have seen a bear go by, but I haven't seen one myself yet.

Of course, when I saw the thread title, my first thought was "No, Ryan, when you are out shooting without clothes, it's "BARE" spotting". :D

Tommy

As always very nice photos!

Here was Tommy afterwards, when one of the bears did not want their photo taken.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=bs0O7Hns2Ew