Brown Bear Cub

Let me just say that sometimes TOURISTS P!&S me off! This young cub has been hanging around the Bear Creek weir for the past several weeks. I have been over twice to watch him and take pictures from my car, and I would like to say to anyone that wants to come to Alaska to enjoy the wildlife, please be sure you respect the wildlife. This cub is feeding from a creek that flows through a neighborhood here in Seward, and there is a little pull out on the road about 250' from the river bank. In this area every trea is plastered with signs warning you to stay away from the river and that a sow and cub are active in the area. Of the two times i have been to view this bear i have witnessed two sets of "tourists" that ignored the warnings and walked right up to the rivers edge, and both times they were "surprised" when the cub came walking their way from the rivers edge. This makes me sad, because i know that this cub, who is already very comfortable around humans, will most likely turn in to a problem bear, and i think we all know how that will turn out. I enjoyed the short time i was able to view this cub doing what bears do, but i will not be going back as i don't want to be a witness when the sow decides to show up and some tourist tries to get closer. Sometimes i just want to walk up to people and as them what the hell they are thinking. Ok i will get off my soap box now,

enjoy the pictures,

sorry for the quality, it was low light and i had to use ISO 800 to get any shutter speed.

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Soooo cool! Fantastic pictures!

Nice shots despite ISO. Why not just tell the tourists of their mistake? They probably don't realize.

sparker1 wrote in post #6001395
Nice shots despite ISO. Why not just tell the tourists of their mistake? They probably don't realize.

I think thats a great idea. I would.

rr3507 wrote in post #6001689
I think thats a great idea. I would.

I do try to be nice about it and tell them that it is best to stay in their cars, and just view them from a distance, but some people just don't understand, or simply don't care. It just gets to be a little frustrating, and i know that 95% of people just need to be informed, but the other 5% just don't get it no matter what you do. I guess what really got me was that in both of the situations i was witness to there was someone else there telling these people to get back and to keep their distance, but they just simply didn't listen. I just hate the fact that it will be this animal that will suffer because a few people were being irresponsable.

thank you for the comments, i think i just needed to vent it out.

First off - Great captures. One of these days I'll have to pick up something longer than the 70-200. FWIW, your exif actually shows that these were taken at ISO 1600.

As for the tourists, I know what you mean. It's a shame that people can't enjoy nature without interfering with it. But I wouldn't avoid going there just because of them. They just don't seem to care, since they will probably never return - so they create problems for the residents and future visitors.

dphillips81 wrote in post #6002402
I do try to be nice about it and tell them that it is best to stay in their cars, and just view them from a distance, but some people just don't understand, or simply don't care. It just gets to be a little frustrating, and i know that 95% of people just need to be informed, but the other 5% just don't get it no matter what you do. I guess what really got me was that in both of the situations i was witness to there was someone else there telling these people to get back and to keep their distance, but they just simply didn't listen. I just hate the fact that it will be this animal that will suffer because a few people were being irresponsable.

thank you for the comments, i think i just needed to vent it out.

Only 5%? Hell, the population won't even miss them. And, the Bears will eat well...

Sadly folks forget that wild life is wild. Your right this bear cub could become a problem bear, and it is the fault of people, not the bears!

WOW awesome...

moeronn wrote in post #6002482
First off - Great captures. One of these days I'll have to pick up something longer than the 70-200. FWIW, your exif actually shows that these were taken at ISO 1600.

As for the tourists, I know what you mean. It's a shame that people can't enjoy nature without interfering with it. But I wouldn't avoid going there just because of them. They just don't seem to care, since they will probably never return - so they create problems for the residents and future visitors.

Oopppps!! 1600 you are right. I will probably avoid going back though, i have noticed that when people see the 400L sticking out the window they tend to stop and try to figure out what i am doing.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #6002535
Only 5%? Hell, the population won't even miss them. And, the Bears will eat well...

Agreed!!!

DigitalSpecialist wrote in post #6002557
Sadly folks forget that wild life is wild. Your right this bear cub could become a problem bear, and it is the fault of people, not the bears!

I couldn't agree with you more.

Sarab wrote in post #6002628
WOW awesome...

I am glad you liked them!

Thank you all for looking, and for allowing me to vent a little.

Amazing shots, I really love just watching him be a bear.

Momtothefurmonsters wrote in post #6006570
Amazing shots, I really love just watching him be a bear.

it was a great experience, as this was the first time i had seen a brown bear in the wild. I was so in awe the first time i went that i completely forgot to lift the camera and take a shot.

Beautiful shots. I get so frustrated when people do not respect wildlife. I tend to go overboard in the other direction where I don't even want to use flash when photographing animals because I do not know how it effects them. Some people are stupid and arrogant, thinking they know everything. Then when something awful happens people want to blame the animal instead of the people. And here we are supposed to be the more superior species, go figure.

reneethomas wrote in post #6007225
Beautiful shots. I get so frustrated when people do not respect wildlife. I tend to go overboard in the other direction where I don't even want to use flash when photographing animals because I do not know how it effects them. Some people are stupid and arrogant, thinking they know everything. Then when something awful happens people want to blame the animal instead of the people. And here we are supposed to be the more superior species, go figure.

?????????

We're the idiots.

Very nice shots.

The stupid and brainless tourists also p"*§¬ me off!

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #6002535
Only 5%? Hell, the population won't even miss them. And, the Bears will eat well...

I couldn't agree more (if it didn't mean that the bear would also be killed :evil