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Picnic Bear
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Picnic Bear

by Josiah Launstein

Gallery: Man & FaunaPosted September 23, 2013237 views4 comments
Hi Everyone! My family and I were on a drive in Waterton Lakes National Park when we spotted this bear working his way through the forest. We took some pictures of him and then all of the sudden he started sniffing the air. He walked over to a picnic table and climbed onto it and had a little snack. We were really sad that someone had left their food there in the middle of bear country!

This is the same bear my sister posted pictures of trying to get into the garbage container. My dad said it didn't look like he was necessarily used to human food because he would just snif the air and then try new places and it didn't really look like he had tried to get into the garbage before.

I do like how I caught him licking the pop as it spilled! I also have a picture of him from just before this one where he is holding the can trying to open it!

Thanks for looking!

Nikon D300
Nikkor AF-S 300mm f/4 IF-ED
ISO 640
1/320sec @ f/5
on beanbag from truck window
cropped to app. 70% of original to remove distracting post of picnic shelter

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by Carl Battreall on September 25, 2013 at 2:43 PM
Josiah,
I like the dripping soda. It's too bad that the bear finally was able to get some food because that means his days are numbered. A fed bear is a dead bear. Keep up the good work.
Carl
Registered on August 29, 2007, 24 Posts, 222 Comments
Comment posted by Gary Reed on September 26, 2013 at 8:23 AM
Josiah, this is a great shot. Love the setting and the story. I hope you stuck around to get the final shot. My bet is that after the pop the bear turned around and read that newspaper...they really are intelligent buggers. If you did get that shot...its probably worth some money :jump:
Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments
Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on October 4, 2013 at 10:08 PM
This is a great PJ shot, Josiah. It sure does show how careless the average human is about being in Nature. Poor bear… But he has good taste in liking the root beer. I like your depth of field and that you caught the dripping soda with the bear in good focus.
Congrats on the EP to a fine "Nature Photographer in the making."
Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments
Comment posted by Josiah Launstein on January 24, 2015 at 4:30 PM
Thank you everyone for commenting on my picture.
Registered on January 26, 2013, 52 Posts, 126 Comments