Salmon Fishing - Bears!

This is what I was hoping to catch – bear actually doing the catching of the salmon.  Altho none of these will make the cover of National Geo Magazine, I think they were pretty great!  The first image was of a bear up at the top of the waterfall we were at.  There were many bear there, so each of these images (as well as the ones from the other entry) is most likely several different bears.  Each bear would catch a salmon, either eat it there or take it up into the woods to eat.  If he/she went into the woods, we couldn’t tell if the bear that returned from the woods was that same bear or another one!

This image is, I believe, the same bear that ran in the previous entry.  This catch happened shortly after the “truce” when the dominant bear went back to his favorite fishing spot.  This bear remained where he was and patiently selected just the perfect salmon to munch on.

Here’s another bear in the process of catching his tasty morsel!  It was really interesting to watch them  as they selected just the salmon they wanted.  As you could see from the other entry, there was really an embarrassment of riches for them.  And, of course, they would miss, and the salmon would get to live just a wee bit longer, but those don’t make for very exciting images! 

Here’s a great shot of a bear just as he raised his head up out of the river, victorious in his catch!  I took lots and lots of images to get just this one, so I’m pretty happy with it.  And, the salmon is in a good photographic position, too!

This is the “perfect moment” of this entire visit.  Perfect position, perfect lighting, and just truly captures the feeling of what it was like watching these magnificent creatures in their element!

Enjoy!