Springtime brings out the mother bears with cubs. A long winter, nursing and all that babysitting probably takes a lot of energy out of the mother. Another typical early morning except that I was supposed to be photographing a moose. This particular location was frequented by a moose with a calf. I was ready. Very low to the ground. My longest lens on the camera to get me distance from the pond and the moose. An occasional bee rushing around, air rising to the surface in the bog around me, and the infrequent bird flying over was the only sounds to be heard. Except the new sound behind me. Without turning to look I was sure a marmot,or squirrel rustled the brush. Then I heard it. The lapping of a tongue. The unusual breathing. Then the "grunt". I best turn around and see what was ready to be photographed behind me. A great photographer told a group of us once to always look around you 360 degrees when photographing in the wild. If not you may miss something. As I turned I remembered the brush behind me was smothered in berry's. A beautiful purple colored fruit. In the middle was a black bear. What you see above is how a bear looks through a 600mm lens at about 100 feet. Magnified to about 840mm through a D200. One hundred feet from an eating bear with two cubs is about 1000 feet too close! Fortunately I had my monopod to defend myself. RIGHT! Can you say scared to death, scared spit-less or crapping little green apples? After a few prayers and of course a few hundred frames the bear(s) moved along the brush line gorging themselves. After what seemed like a very long time, the mother bear looked directly at me. Her hunger must have preoccupied her until this point. Was she thinking.."berries or a fat human"?. The good thing was that I had not shaven for a few days and was wearing 2 day old clothes. A little repugnant was I..thank goodness. I out lasted the family and was back at the truck 2 hours later. Next time I carry all the anti bear equipment. A bell, a noise maker, bear pepper spray, a shorter lens and eyes behind my head.
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