Ursus Americanus

Over the weekend, a team of hikers went over California's Kearsarge Pass along a trail of about 21 miles (in a day). Along the way, I found this Black Bear cub in a tree. He was a realy cutie until he got stressed, and when he started calling for Mama Bear, we decided it was time to get out of there.

---Bob Gross---

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

Nice photo. Good job mama bear was not closer.

Mark

What a cutie! Nice catch. If it were me, I think I would have gotten the hell out of there right after taking the picture too... Mama Bear usually isn't as cute as her young'uns.

CUTE! What a nice experience.

VERY nice catch Bob. I agree with leaving before Momma showed up.
-Bruce

Great shot Bob!

Very good capture, Bob.

It's amazing that such a powerfull creature has to look so damn much like a puppy dog!
Great shot

This one is a first-year cub, and it probably weighed 100 pounds. Its year-older sibling was 100 feet away, and it probably weighed 200+ pounds. Mama Bear might go 300 pounds, and she could tear your face off with one swipe of a paw. Papa Bear might be a little bigger yet, but he was probably busy terrorizing some backpackers.

---Bob Gross---

Bob:
You have violated the forum's policy against political discussion by posting a photo of a tree-hugger.

It's a great shot, and I can't help thinking how difficult it must have been to take while constantly looking over your shoulder for the rest of the family.

Beautiful shot - I remember in Banff National Park they used to hand out leaflets telling you what to do if you encountered a bear that wasn't too friendly - first thing was to throw your backpack and expensive camera at it to play with while you shin up the nearest tree - the catch? the nearest branch was likely to be 40ft off the ground and the only bears that cannot climb trees are adult grizzlies!! So glad you didn't hang around too long!!

You could have waited for momma, took her picture, and entered it in the "this is the last picture this photographer took" contest. Maybe you would end up with something like this.

HOSTED PHOTO
please log in to view hosted photos in full size.

thomascanty wrote:
What a cutie! Nice catch. If it were me, I think I would have gotten the hell out of there right after taking the picture too... Mama Bear usually isn't as cute as her young'uns.

I remember when I was about 10 years old, my parents took us on a family vacation to the Smoky Mountains in North Carolina. We stopped at an off-the-road rest area because there was a momma black bear and her 2 cubs eating out of a trash can. There were already a lot of other people there watching and taking pictures. I wandered over to pet one of the cubs (without my parents noticing) and in a flash momma bear came charging at me. Fortunately I didn't freeze. I ran around our station wagon and with a mighty leap that Superman would have been proud of, I jumped up on to the roof of our car. Just like that it was over and I learned a very valuable lesson. NO, THEY ARE NOT CUTE LITTLE TEDDIE BEARS!

Wonderful capture. Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you had the sense to get out of there faster than I did.

Great capture Bob!

Good thing you didn't tangle with mom...

KAC

Wow! There for a second I thought you were going to call me a Republican, or something.

Actually, I was not the least bit worried about Mama Bear. I saw the yearling bear first, and I was trying to shoot it in the dim light. Unfortunately, my camera's exposure compensation was set at -2 (from what I was doing one minute previously). So, in the dim light, the lens was hunting in and out. Then I saw Junior hanging in the tree. Right there in front of me! I fired off two or three with him looking the wrong way, and then the built-in flash got his attention, and he looked around at me. Snap.

I am generally very careful not to get between a mother bear and her cub. However, in over 25 years of backpacking in Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, I have never ever seen any bear make an aggressive act. They are sneaky, they are cunning, and they are fast. I know, I know. One day I will get a shot of Mama Bear chomping down on my 100-400 lens.

---Bob Gross---