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Photographing Bear’s in Alaska
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Jul 11, 2021 18:59:57   #
alaskabeach
 
Carl rl wrote:
My wife & I are wanting to take a trip to photograph Bear’s in Alaska. Any recommendations or experience? Best locations, tours, time of year, etc.


Over the past 15+ years we’ve been to see and photograph bears - brown and black - many times. (We really like bears😀😀)
From Homer you can take several one-day bear excursions. We went with Gary Porter of Bald Mountain Air and really enjoyed it.
From Juneau we went with Pack Creek bears and were happy with the bears and the tour.
From Wrangel, we saw the bears at Anan Observatory. We went with Alaska Waters who we happily recommend. At this location, we went on 2 consecutive days. We’ve also travelled with them several times. On our first trips, the bears at Anan were primarily brown; the last times the bears were primarily black bears.
Look up Redoubt Bay. We traveled with a small air service out of Anchorage.
We spent several days at Silver Salmon Creek Lodge. Good bears, good people, good food, good time.
The bear trip of all is a trip into Brooks Falls on the Katmai peninsula. If you want to stay there you have to enter a lottery. Otherwise you can go in on day tours. We flew out of King Salmon and again, went in 2 consecutive days. We’ve been there several times. Great bears however it’s gotten REALLY CROWDED.
We went on a Natural Habitat (Nathab.com) trip for several days on the Ursus (rehabbed crab boat from Dutch Harbor) into Hallo Bay. Again, great bears, great guides, great trip.
Hope this helps. Happy Bearing.😀

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Jul 11, 2021 20:45:46   #
fantom Loc: Colorado
 
pshane wrote:
Park rangers are advising hikers and campers in national parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.

They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance, so they won’t be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them, which might cause a bear to charge.

Visitors are told they should also carry a pepper spray can just in case they encounter a bear. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear’s sensitive nose and it will run away.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear droppings so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognise the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.

BLACK REAR droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur.
GRIZZLY BEAR droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
Park rangers are advising hikers and campers in na... (show quote)


Knowledgeable bears refer to those little bells as dinner bells.

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Jul 12, 2021 02:54:56   #
mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area
 
pshane wrote:
Park rangers are advising hikers and campers in national parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.

They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance, so they won’t be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them, which might cause a bear to charge.

Visitors are told they should also carry a pepper spray can just in case they encounter a bear. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear’s sensitive nose and it will run away.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear droppings so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognise the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.

BLACK REAR droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur.
GRIZZLY BEAR droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
Park rangers are advising hikers and campers in na... (show quote)


Good suggestions...be careful.
Mundy

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Jul 12, 2021 02:56:52   #
mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area
 
Ollieboy wrote:
I'll take an encounter with a black bear anyday rather than a brown bear.


Don't forget polar bears.
Mundy

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Jul 12, 2021 02:57:50   #
mundy-F2 Loc: Chicago suburban area
 
Bill_de wrote:
I spent a week at Hallo Bay Bear Camp a number of years ago. We flew in and landed on the beach. We were 2 groups of 4 or 5, and lived 2 to a tent. This is not for casual tourists. At the time I was shooting with a Nikon D1x w/500mm F/4.0 AFS.

I did not take the last picture. But I'm in it.

---


Nice pictures.
Mundy

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Jul 12, 2021 05:18:22   #
Kmgw9v Loc: Miami, Florida
 
pshane wrote:
Park rangers are advising hikers and campers in national parks to be alert for bears and take extra precautions to avoid an encounter.

They advise park visitors to wear little bells on their clothes so they make noise when hiking. The bell noise allows bears to hear them coming from a distance, so they won’t be startled by a hiker accidentally sneaking up on them, which might cause a bear to charge.

Visitors are told they should also carry a pepper spray can just in case they encounter a bear. Spraying the pepper into the air will irritate the bear’s sensitive nose and it will run away.

It is also a good idea to keep an eye out for fresh bear droppings so you have an idea if bears are in the area. People should be able to recognise the difference between black bear and grizzly bear scat.

BLACK REAR droppings are smaller and often contain berries, leaves, and possibly bits of fur.
GRIZZLY BEAR droppings tend to contain small bells and smell of pepper.
Park rangers are advising hikers and campers in na... (show quote)


How many small bells should one expect to see in each bear dropping?

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Jul 12, 2021 06:18:18   #
Peterfiore Loc: Where DR goes south
 
Forget the pepper spray. Bear spray is much stronger.

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Jul 12, 2021 08:17:25   #
BrHawkeye
 
Bears are everywhere in Alaska, although not always easily seen. Today's Anchorage Daily News has a headline "Anchorage bear sightings flourish on social media." Bears and moose are animals to be wary of. Both kill people annually in Alaska.

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Jul 12, 2021 08:40:45   #
Blaster34 Loc: Florida Treasure Coast
 
Carl rl wrote:
My wife & I are wanting to take a trip to photograph Bear’s in Alaska. Any recommendations or experience? Best locations, tours, time of year, etc.


Check out guides in Homer, AK, some great guide services...we had one scheduled to fly to Katmai and had to cancel because of a pending Cat 5 hurricane heading directly to our area... Short flights from Homer across the bay to Katmai or Lake Clark. Not an expert by any means but we scheduled our trip near the end of the season (early Sept), less crowded and bears are supposedly gorging for the upcoming winter plus you might get some great fall foliage. Will be rescheduling again either this year or next year after a cruise to Alaska....Cheers, good luck Carl.

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Jul 12, 2021 08:51:47   #
RonM12 Loc: Washington State
 
Last December we booked a bear trip for late June with Emerald Air out of Homer. Unfortunately, the weather conditions at Katmai National park were not favorable for the float plane to land. Swells were too high. We re-booked for later this month. The staff at Emerald Air are very experienced and have been doing this for 30 years. They offer two types of trips. One to Brooks Lodge and the other is a guided trip into the bush. We chose the guided trip, which allows for up to 8-9 people and have you on the ground for about 5 hours. The Brooks Lodge trip, is more touristy, a lot more people and have heard there are waiting times to go to the viewing platforms.
Most of the bear viewing businesses know where the bears will be as during the season and you should have a good chance to observe them.

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Jul 12, 2021 08:59:19   #
gsmith051 Loc: Fairfield Glade, TN
 
Jdh1951 wrote:
Great Alaskan Adventures' Bear Camp, on Cook Inlet. You can spend a night or more in tents at Bear Camp, which you reach from Kenai Peninsular via a plane that lands on the beach. We were there last week in June, as the Alaskan Grizzly sows and their cubs were emerging from winter "hibernation" and there were about 120 of them, all around. We were able to approach with 20-25 feet and some more foolhardy day tourists got even closer (see attached photos). Fortunately, the bears were mainly interested in clam digging and, just in case, our guide was armed with a .457 magnum revolver.
Great Alaskan Adventures' Bear Camp, on Cook Inlet... (show quote)

The .457 mag has been around for years and will stop a Grizzly. It saved a friends’ life when a Grizzly charged him.

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Jul 12, 2021 09:45:08   #
vungtau557 Loc: NC
 
WoW!WoW! Magnificent {Beings} makes us feel small and insignificant. Wonderful captures...

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Jul 12, 2021 09:47:32   #
nikon123 Loc: Toronto, Canada
 
These are all great photos.
Got to watch that spell check. Bears not Bear's, unless you were photographing some part or property belonging to a bear.

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Jul 12, 2021 10:35:37   #
DougS Loc: Central Arkansas
 
The tour companies have a list of do's and don'ts. Don't take BEAR SPRAY, waste of money. Can't take it on a plane, PERIOD! Think exploding bear spray in a small cabin. Don't tale a fish sandwich for lunch, etc. I see lots of bad advice here about bear viewing. Fear is not necessary, stupidity is what to watch out for...
Katmai NP is the best for Brown Bears, it is SPECTACULAR! We were near the shore, had one come within 20 feet, and never felt threatened.
Allow more than 1 day for flight over to Katmai. Winds often cancel flights, our 1st one was, next day we flew over. I had allowed 3 days.
Watson Lake, Yukon, and the Stewart-Cassiar Hwy for black bear! You will probably have to break for some...

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Jul 12, 2021 11:45:37   #
tjkraemer1 Loc: Maryland
 
I took a trip to Alaska the first two weeks of May. I spent a lot of time in Denali National Park where I ran across Grizzly bears on 2 different occasions. It was unbelievable. The park is so beautiful. Mt Denali is also a sight to see if the weather cooperates. You'll have a great time. Enjoy your trip!









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