BEAR HUNTING
Being a photographer back in the 1900’s. I remember keeping rolls of Kodachrome 25, then later, Kodachrome 64 in my pants pocket. Both were slow slide films with little exposure latitude. In other words, you had to be pretty much on the money with the exposures. An early spring photo trip took me into the Yellowstone backcountry with my dad’s horse, Stormy. I was hunting grizzly bears in hopes of getting photographs. I saw just one grizzly, above. I followed his tracks for a while and spotted it again as it was topping the next ridge over. He was gobbling up the miles, hunting new elk calves, I figured.
THE MOUNTAIN GRIZZLY
HOW CLOSE IS TOO CLOSE?
My too-close proximity had annoyed the bear. He was displaying warning signs after a four-hour photo session. I had crossed a blurred line. The bear moved closer to me and drank from the small creek, then stepped into the water and lay down. Sitting up, he stared at me and yawned.
He moved on down the creek a bit, slowly grazing on grass. Through my viewfinder, I could see a big yellow canine flash as he growled.
Suddenly he came up the creek bank and charged. I clicked off a couple of pictures and ran out of film. I sat down on the tundra and changed film.
When I finally looked up he was rolling on his back. I think he was wishing he was elsewhere as much as I did. Rolling onto his feet the bear walked away.
A few days later, I ran into my big, blond buddy again. Even though I kept my distance, staying about a hundred yards away, his reaction was swift and violent. Grabbing a nearby willow, he ripped it out of the ground and carried it across the wide river bar. I did not follow.
TUNDRA GRIZZLIES
BEAR HUNTING
These pictures were taken just minutes apart. The black bear (above), feeding on fresh grass, was clearly nervous, watching his back trail and frequently smelling the wind for any sign of danger. The grizzly, below, paused to smell the fresh scent of the nearby black bear, and suddenly switched from grazer to predator. Moving uphill a few yards, the grizzly began to parallel blackie’s course, stalking by sight. When the grizzly closed the distance to about a hundred feet of his quarry, he charged, crashing through the brush. The black bear was going full throttle in two jumps and managed to stay ahead of the grizzly. I could keep track of their progress by the commotion of the bruins poking holes through the scenery. The chase broke off as I heard the black bear shimmy up a skinny lodgepole pine.
GRIZZLIES ON TOP OF THE WORLD
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
FIRST LIGHT IN ELK COUNTRY
