Yellowstone Wildlife

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the feedback. I have to say for wildlife viewing I haven't been anyplace that tops Yellowstone. Around every corner there seemed to be something amazing.. and we were there for two weeks so that is a lot of "amazing"

Calhoun213 wrote in post #8397225
Very nice. You seem to have mastered your new lens quickly. Where did you spot the grizzly?

The dark Grizzly (1st photo) was on the East Entrance road, the one on the hill was on Dunraven pass.

Pauky wrote in post #8400843
Nice pics. I just got back from YS yesterday, but I didn't get such good shots as you. I have a couple questions for you:

Were you hiking through trails to get some of these shots or were they from the side of the road?

Also, with a 400mm, it looks like you still had to get pretty close to in some of these shots. Did you get pretty close? Some of those bear shots seem too close for comfort for me. How were you able to do it? Did you have to camp out in the woods?

We were there for 2 weeks and did our share of hiking but honestly we saw more from the roads then we ever did hiking. The dark Grizzly was taken from ~30 yards, we saw that bear twice, the 1st time was with a Ranger present so we took our cues from him. The 2nd time we saw it we followed his suggestions for viewing. The one on the hill was actually taken from the car as we were in traffic because of people watching him. There was no safe place the park the car and no safe place to stand.

Like I mentioned, we were there for 2 weeks (flew into Bozeman) and took off for a few days to Grand Tetons, we drove ~1800 miles in total. I still can't believe the things we saw from the car and lookouts compared to the hiking we did.


Thanks
John

Beautiful photos...Love the brown bear on the hill...but all of them are really nice. I am very jealous!!

palmor wrote in post #8407487
We were there for 2 weeks and did our share of hiking but honestly we saw more from the roads then we ever did hiking.

I still can't believe the things we saw from the car and lookouts compared to the hiking we did.

That's also been my experience in Yellowstone. I go there several times each year, and always see far more from the road than I do when hiking the backcountry. The reason is simple; the animals associate the road with humans. That is where we belong, in their minds. They approach the roads knowing that we will be there.

The very same animals that let us get within 10 or 20 yards on the road will flee the very moment they sense us in the backcountry. In their minds, we don't belong there. There have been a couple exceptions to this, but basically if I'm going to spend a day in the park hiking I simply don't expect much in the way of photo opportunities.

Wow!! Great photos, looks like it was a good time. Sad about the chick, well kind of but great behavior to get a photo of.

Yeah, I'd agree with Tom 100%. We spent over a month in the park and from June to middle of July, and 99% of what we saw by ways of Wildlife was from the roadway.

You'd be amazed at what you'll see from sitting along the edge of the roadway, and like Tom said, the animals will allow you to sit and watch them for hours if they're feeding or have a nice patch of grass to munch on.

While hiking, I dont think we spotted anything other than a Mule Deer which took off running as soon as it heard us come hiking within 100 yards.

Quite frankly, I dont want to find anything while I'm hiking, especially a Grizzly!

Oh, and since this was about your photos, Amazing shots by the way! I love that shot of the Coyote with the Duck, that's something you dont catch every day

Thanks again everyone

I just realized that the Coyote shot was my 1st "duck" shot with my Canon setup (which seems to be an unofficial initiation here for any new equipment)... so I guess I'm official now

John

Wow! I would love to take a trip here. You captured some really awesome moments of nature here.. Im assuming you like the 400 5.6? Thats my next purchase soon hopefully!

jloyo001 wrote in post #8440533
Wow! I would love to take a trip here. You captured some really awesome moments of nature here.. Im assuming you like the 400 5.6? Thats my next purchase soon hopefully!

Yup, I like it a lot. It took a little getting used to just because I've had in camera IS for so long with my Pentax but a mono-pod and being a little more careful about my technique solved that.


John

You got lots of really nice images on that trip. I agree with the others about the animals being more at ease with humans when they are close to roads where they are used to seeing us. Other factors that may explain why more are seen from roads are that we can cover much more area in a vehicle, and crowds or parked vehicles give tips where animals are located.

Wow these shots are perfect. Amazing captures.

Amazing pictures!!

I was in yellowstone years ago and we saw nothing but bison the whole time.

Can't wait to get back out there.

Fantastic !!! I am so going there next summer.

Amazing photos! Especially the grizzly.

wow

Great shots, this has been a most helpful post and precisely one of the reasons I joined POTN. I'm on a "trip of a lifetime" visiting Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and Glacier during the first couple of weeks of September, its this sort of information that will hopefully make the trip as productive and memorable as I hope it to be. Searching now for advice about landscape viewpoints and when to be there.
Regards,
Dave.