North Cascades Bear

[Timber]

Saw this bear last weekend while driving over the pass. He was at MP141.5 a few miles east of Ross Lake. Pretty good size bear and very tame. I managed to get a few photos before it got too dark for my 100-400 F4.5-5.6 lens.

I had the ISO at 1600 and aperture wide open. Shutter speed for the first shot was 1/80.


Then 1/50 for this one.


1/40



I followed the bear over the guard rail to get some good frontal shots. The light was fading fast and the bear wouldn't stop moving when I needed him to. My shutter speed dropped down to 1/25 for these. Wish I had a 70-200 f2.8.

[saylean]

Looks pissed in the last two picks? Was she bluffing ya?

[Timber]

No, the bear wasn't bluffing, just walking. It doesn't surprise me that the bear has been fed, he acted like he was waiting for food. A fed bear is a dead bear!

[Huntbear]

Nice pics.  Someone will end up having to shoot that bear if it is being fed.  Either that or it will get hit by a car/truck.

[searchnfor]

Way to get the close up shots Jon!  

[Tom Reichner]

hey, Timber

I saw this guy, too.  It was when I was returning home from my fox & blue grouse trip a couple weekends ago.  For a couple weeks I've been wishing I had taken note of what milepost he was at.  You just helped me out by telling us - thanks! 

I also photographed him, but it was so, so dark.  As you said, very little light.  You mentioned 1/80th of a second.  Well, one of my shots of him is at 8/10ths of a second.  That's right - my shutter was open for 100 times longer than yours!  As you can imagine, those slow images are not too good. 

Nice work, despite the low light.  It's good to see you made good use of the opportunity.

BTW, he's a big one, aint he?

[Timber]

I remember you saying you saw a bear on your way back. I figured you came over a different pass though. And yes he is a big bear. Very healthy too! I'm driving through there tomorrow evening, I'll be looking for him.

[alecvg]

I know some one who saw that bear too... knda funny...

[boneaddict]

Pretty cool guys.  I imagine his life expectancy is decreasing rapidy if he keeps hanging out on the road.

[JackOfAllTrades]

There was a couple/few year old Bear that hung out around the Lone Fir camp ground last summer through fall. I saw it twice, but both times I was towing camp trailer and couldn't just whip off to the side of the road. I never heard that it got hit by vehicle. If he's still in the area, he'll be a good one this year.

This Bear seems to be a little more accustomed to humans than I'd like him to be. With story that someone has already tried to feed him, It's only a matter of time before there's a bad encounter with him. That route gets very popular this time of year.

-Steve

[streak]

Hey Timber, I saw the bear to. Pulled over right next to him, I parked probably no more than 7 yards from him. He just layed down and took a nap right in front of us. Looked like an old bear had alittle bit of a gray face. Took some neat pictures, I'll try to post them.

[Bean Counter]

I've never seen a bear when driving 

[Timber]

Let' see your pictures Brian. When did you see the bear? I went through there again last weekend and didn't see him.

[streak]

here it is Jon, hopefully it worked. Saw him feeding about 1/4 mile west of the panther creek trailhead on hwy 20 not to far past diablo lake. Sure looks like the same bear don't it?

[Timber]

Interesting where you saw him Brian. That's 3 miles west of where I saw him. Looks like the same bear though.

Hopefully, he doesn't end up like this bear I came across on Sunday on HWY 155, just east of Omak.