Tis the season for black bears to be running around a lot. Mommas will kick out the yearling cubs and send them out on their own at this time of the year, which will often lead to the bears covering many miles in a single day as they search for new territory, and crossing a lot of roads. I try to keep a camera handy within reach of the driver's seat so that I can grab it and shoot right out the window if an animal runs across the road or is seen nearby. That's how I got this shot of a bear scratching his back - I saw him, brought the truck to a screaching halt, then click, click, click, and he was gone. (he was distracted for an instant by another bear - this was shot was a very long lens)
Not that I'm aware of Tim, at least in my immediate area. We have lions around and hear of sightings all the time. The deer population is so out of control that it's a prey rich environment so I expect that trend will continue.
The only time I've seen bears in Arkansas they were running down the road at full speed away from my truck (though I have heard some large unexplained crashes in the woods that I've always wondered about). Cool picture!
This time of the year we see them weekly, sometimes more often. Sometimes much closer than we want to! Our cabin sitter chased away a "big one" from here just the other night - how big was he Don? They are really active this time of the year, but it is true that most of the time all you see is a blurred rear end, and that is the way most folks prefer it (of course, not us photographers!).
Granny lives in Little Rock and a few years ago a bear kept showing up on her front porch for a few days. The AGFC tried to trap it for her with no luck and several of the local news folks did stories about Granny's bear. Fortunately, for her, it stop coming by after a week. Unfortunately, for me, I wasn't able to get a photo of it.
Nice shot Tim! They seem pretty harmless during the daylight. And though I've never seen one at night, I always think about 'em and try to make plenty of noise while I'm walking. Thanks for the reminder ...
Posted by Glenn Wheeler on June 13, 2007 at 12:38 PM
Yep, they are really out and about right now. We had two travelling together about 1/4 mile from our house last week and I saw a HUGE one on the back side of the Gene Rush WMA (near Horn Mountain) yesterday morning. Within a mile and a half of where I saw that bear, there were four piles of scat in the road plus lots of tracks and feeding activity sign.
I didn't get a picture yesterday, he saw me just as I saw him and that was the end of that....
Discussion
10 repliesNice capture Tim!
I didn't get a picture yesterday, he saw me just as I saw him and that was the end of that....