Saturday, December 4, 2010

CARNIVORES: Bear Stories - Part XIII

Continuing with Black Bears, I was fishing at Island Lake on another occasion when a Black Bear came slowly through the thicket. It was September as I recall, and the berries were out. The Bear didn't notice me in the water only about 15 feet or so away. As I put my fly rod down and got out my camera, he finally noticed me. He seemed surprised. So, after taking the photo I back peddled a bit to increase my distance from him. He too decided to move back and eventually leave the area:



Learning how to take good wildlife photos takes time. And, you learn a lot by making mistakes. I was driving along in British Columbia toward Tunkwa Lake and came across a young Bear by the side of the road. I drove to a point just 10 feet away from the Bear. But because he was on the passenger side I really could not get a good angle through the passenger side window. So I got out of the truck, and walked to the front and used the hood as a tripod. At this point I was just 8 feet away. This was early on in my photo career. I was still transitioning from fly fishing. What was going through my mind was: Am I safe?? I not only had the truck between the Bear and me, there was also a barbed-wire fence between us. I though this would be a great photo. Never occurred to me that I might be too close to get a clear photo. The result was a photo out of focus.

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