A black bear who paced on the shore,
Had breakfast, but said he’d like more,
The man in the boat,
Just continued to float,
Avoiding the blood and the gore.
Category Archives: Bears
Not so Grisly Grizzlies
If you’re lucky enough to have a boat and can travel up Canada’s west coast, when you get close to the US (Alaska) border, you may find yourself near the Khutzeymateen Inlet, behind Somerville Island. You would then be in grizzly country. A few years ago, a friend anchored in this inlet and saw some of these wonderful bears on the beach nearby. He took these photos and I am posting them with his permission. Farther up the inlet, south of the Kateen River, is an area that, in 1994, was declared the Khutzeymateen Grizzly Bear Sanctuary.
This might not be the best place to go ashore to stretch your legs.
In case you were in doubt about what kind of bear this is, check out the hump on his (or her) back that identifies him (or her) as a grizzly. And no, he/she’s not a camel.
Camel, you say? Come over here and say that! Bruno, did you hear what he said? Just because my back has a hump….
Yeah! I heard. You’re no camel. I’ll “back” you up on that, Honey. Get it? Get it? Ha ha … “back” you up? Although … that is quite a hump you have there.
Now that’s enough out of you. You shouldn’t forget who your friends are. I might have to swim over to that boat and climb aboard to teach that guy a lesson.
It’s okay, Honey. Calm down. He’s just another gawking human. I’ll keep an eye on him from here while I eat some salad. Hmm … I wouldn’t mind a bit of hamburger with my grass. But I don’t see him coming ashore any time soon.
My thanks to Ken Johnstone who kindly allowed me to use his photos.
Discretion and Valor
If you love fishing and camping in solitary places, you might want to scout out your surroundings, before you go too far afield.
This mama grizzly and her two cubs (probably last year’s) like fishing and hanging out in solitary places too.
The fact that she still has both cubs could possibly mean that the fishing has been good and that mother and cubs are healthy and doing fine. However, people and grizzlies in close proximity to each other are usually not a good combination. I hope, for the grizzlies’ sake, that there is no interaction that will cause them to be trapped and “dispatched.”
These bears are on Vancouver Island where grizzlies are making an appearance in the last few years. They swim over from the mainland, island hopping to shorten the distance they need to swim. It’s possible that in this case the mother is trying to keep her cubs safe from male grizzlies who would be a threat to them. In some species, the male would kill the young to gain access to the mother and “have some fun with her.” The big cats are another example of this.
This photo was taken by a friend of the Captain near a favourite fishing spot. Sometimes, discretion is the better part of valor, hence the blurry quality of the photo. If the photographer had gone closer, the picture might have been clearer, but he might not have been around long enough to send it.
I think the friend probably decided to take a raincheck on fishing that day.
Beary Scary
Years ago, before I got a good camera, I took this photo of a grizzly. It’s not very clear, but I really didn’t want to do a close-up.
This is the Orford River which flows into Bute Inlet on the west coast of British Columbia.
We had tied the fish boat to a small dock in a bay around the corner, and then took a ride up the river in our aluminum skiff. The area was known for grizzlies and we wanted to see one, but I hadn’t counted on two things:
that we would actually see one not too far away,
and that the mouth of the Orford has a lot of sandbars.
I’ve had nightmares about bears forever, but it would still be a big deal to see one. I knew if a bear actually came along and tried to chase us, we could just turn the skiff around, rev up the outboard, and roar out of there.
On the way upriver though, we were pushing the boat off one sandbar after another with the oars to keep in water deep enough to use the motor. These sandbars were spotty and just when you thought you were in the clear, up popped another one. So I was even more nervous than usual. And of course that’s when we saw him.
Even with his hind end in the water, as he swatted at salmon going by, I could tell he was huge. We watched for a moment or two, but when he saw us, we knew it.
His head came up and he stretched his neck up tall. Then as he sauntered in our direction along the fallen log that you see lying across the river, we thought it was time to get out of there.
There are some things you do in your life that seem okay at the time, and later you say to yourself, “What was I thinking?!”
This was one of those times.
It was a big thrill to see the bear, but what if he hadn’t been so agreeable? Didn’t I know how fast they can run for a short sprint? And what if we had gotten high-centered on one of those sandbars in our haste to get away.
Everything could have ended up differently.
And I wouldn’t be able to tell you anything about it,
because bears don’t have Internet inside their bellies.
Giant Cedars
Do you see a tiny dark creature at the base of one of the forest giants? It’s Emma the Explorer.
Look at me, Anneli. I’m at the foot of the Empire State Tree. I can’t climb, and there’s no elevator. It sure looks huge from where I am. Click to make the picture bigger and maybe you’ll see me. I’m black and have a white nose.
Giant cedars standing tall, Many here have yet to fall, Others tumbled to the lake, Fell so hard the earth did shake. Still they keep their feet on shore, Though they won't grow anymore, Flooding waters soaked their boots, And by force they lost their roots. What these giant trees have seen, Since they first began to lean, Has a bear once scratched his hide, On the cedar's sunny side? Has a buck his antlers rubbed, Losing velvet as he scrubbed? Did an eagle perched aloft, Make his nest there, downy soft? Cedars lying in the lake, Tangle trout that lures do take, Lucky fish will break the line, Swim away and feel just fine. Silent sentinels await, And one day they'll meet their fate, Younger trees will then stand guard, While the old ones fall down hard. But the cycle carries on, Wood in water will be gone, Many seasons come and go, And the young have room to grow.
Valor
It’s good to have a hobby. In the case of the Captain, fly fishing is no longer just a hobby, it’s … well … to use his father’s words, “an obsession.” But when you’re obsessed with something, and you do it a lot, you get to be good at it. Fishing from the beach in the fall when the cohos are hovering nearby, is one of the big thrills of the Captain’s life.
Photo by Ken Thorne
Here is a coho, thumbing his nose at the Cap, just after the line has been laid. Chances are good that this very salmon might swim near where the Cap has gently landed a fly he has tied. The coho won’t be able to help himself. He’ll snap at the fly and then wonder why he is being dragged slowly towards the shore, no matter how hard he fights to swim the other way.
Photo by Ken Thorne
But things are not always so easy. Sometimes the Cap arrives at his favourite beach to find that it is already occupied. It’s a family having a picnic. Mama Bear is near the shore, easily turning over 70+-pound rocks with one flick of her wrist, to expose little rock crabs that scurry for cover after they get over the shock of the sudden daylight. Mama Bear grunts for her two cubs to come have breakfast. See the second cub way over on the right, by the big log?
This day, the Cap putters on a little farther in his skiff to find another beach. Mama Bear can get a bit tetchy over unexpected company coming near her cubs.
This photo was taken by the Cap with his point-and-click Fuji. A bit blurry, but it’s the best that tiny camera can do.
The Cap gets up very early to take his place on the beach, but apparently bears get up even earlier, and since they are bigger than he is, he abides by the well-known saying, “Discretion is the better part of valor.”
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