Subadult, male Kodiak Bear across the mouth of the river/Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge/Kodiak Island/September 2024
September 30, 2024 - Update
The following is an excerpt from a much longer writing exercise.
Trip Expectations
Prior to the trip to Kodiak, I wanted to keep expectations down to a minimum. I didn’t know how strong the silver salmon run would be or how many bears would be visible, or the accessibility for seascape possibilities or how many rainy days there would be.
Kodiak, in allot of ways was a blank page to be filled in by whatever experiences I had here.
What didn’t even enter my mind was the “Wild West” atmosphere that exists here for bear viewing and photography. It is unregulated and there is no one monitoring the behavior of fisherman, tourists and especially………….”local” photographers.
Over the almost two weeks that I have been here, I have witnessed photographers repeatedly getting incredibly close to bears (20-50 feet or closer) and in a couple of occasions, displacing them.
While I am fully aware that some coastal bears will allow either people to approach them or are comfortable approaching people, this shouldn’t be a daily routine amongst photographers.
I have no idea if there is an Instagram (I am not on Instagram) competition to see who can get closest to Kodiak bears with close head and face shots, but there is risk involved with those who do. Not only to the photographers but to the bears themselves.
On two occasions, I have witnessed fisherman letting their dogs run loose who then barked at and interacted with bears. And in one case where I was setup to photograph and the person right next to me started loudly whistling at a bear……twice. During the second time, I asked him to stop and he walked away.
I am not interested in manipulated bear or wildlife behavior or expressions. I want natural behavior with natural expressions and if that means I have to wait, then I wait.
If nothing else, nature photography teaches patience at least to those of us who care about wildlife.
Nor, am I interested in or need to be super close to a bear, let’s define that as being 50 feet or less. My 18 year old, Nikon F4 200-400 mm AF-S zoom lens either by itself or with a 1.4 teleconverter can do the job of closing the distance.
In 2002 at McNeil, I did have one of Teddy’s spring cubs come within an arms length of me with Teddy and the other cub on the other side. This cub was trying to go through “The Cave” with me there to rejoin Teddy and his sibling.
Larry Aumiller (Refuge Manager at the time) asked me to stand up and slowly raise my hands in front of me while he was tossing pebbles down in front of the cub. These gentle actions were just enough to intimidate the cub from coming through. The cub retraced its steps to the path junction and then took the correct path and rejoined Teddy and her cub. All during this time, Teddy had been completely unconcerned and passed us by as this was occurring.
On another occasion, in Denali, I was photographing a subadult grizzly and it ran down to the road sign on Highway Flats to scratch its back. It was just beyond the length of a van.
In both of the above cases, the bears made the choice of movements.
Denali Early Years
During my initial years in Denali, there were no serious programs for any in-depth learning about bears. There were “Interpretive Fluff” programs conducted by NPS interpretive rangers for evening programs in the Hotel Auditorium.
These programs in no way shape or form met what I was looking for. They were superficial “Fluff” programs that were meant to give the “barest” of insights into grizzly bears.
Unfortunately, the only way to gain those in-depth insights on bear behavior was through personal observation via the backcountry and through photography.
Prior to my arriving in Denali in 1987, I had read and absorbed many of the books that were available on grizzlies, had backpacked into both Glacier and Yellowstone National Parks and hadn’t seen any bears during these trips.
By the time I arrived in Denali in early June of 1987, learning first hand about “Grizz” was the primary goal of coming to Alaska.
On my 2nd backcountry trip into Denali into Unit 8 (Polychrome south), I had spent the morning day hiking and was returning to camp when I saw from the ridgeline to the west, a grizzly in the pond that was right by my tent.
The grizzly raced by my tent and I followed from a discreet distance. I finally found the bear grazing peacefully about a 100 yards away and spent the next five hours observing it.
This was the first of my backcountry grizzly sightings.
Between backpacking, hiking, photography and later professional part time photography (including traveling to McNeil River in 1989 & 2002) and driving both the Tundra Wilderness Tours and the Transportation System,
I have gained insights into bears for 36 years but I do not know them; any of them.
Looking back, I do recognize that I pushed boundaries that I shouldn’t have pushed. My enthusiasm and joy of seeing bears and the desire to learn bear behavior compromised my safety to a degree.
When I did unexpectedly encounter bears at close range (100-150 feet), whether in the backcountry or on the park road, my typical reaction was to freeze all movements and talk in a gentle tone of voice.
In those specific cases, the bears forgave my not paying attention and walked away.
Can I tell you the trigger points for any Denali, McNeil, Yellowstone or Kodiak bear where it goes from tolerance, to annoyance, to aggression to violence? No, I can’t.
I can and do look for a bear’s body language, whether it has taken notice of me, whether it is intently looking at me with its head down and mouth open (that has happened to me once in Denali, years ago & I consider it a “Deep Shit” moment).
Or, at McNeil (in 1989) where Norma Jean was salivating heavily, popping/clacking her teeth, woofing as she temporarily lost her two cubs on our side of the river or low growling directed towards one of the loose and barking dogs here.
I can discuss generalities, possibilities and probabilities but I can’t tell you about a specific bear’s personality and those trigger points. I can mostly, anticipate a bear’s movements which is not only beneficial for photography/observation but for tour as well. But, anticipation is not a perfect science; there are times where I anticipate incorrectly.
And those trigger points for bears do not always occur in a linear fashion and can explosively go from 0-100+ in a heartbeat.
Those Who Claim to Know Bears
So, when I hear local photographers tell me that they “know bears” it immediately sends up red flags of complacency, over confidence and taking bears for granted.
The only people that I know of who could come closest to stating that they “know bears” would be the Alaska Fish & Game Guides at McNeil River who guide up to 10 people daily to the falls and observe bears for up to 8 hours a day, 7 days a week throughout most of the summer season.
I suspect that if you asked them, that even these bears can and do surprise them with various kinds of behavior. So, does anyone really know bears?
Fragments of time (seconds, minutes, hours, days) spent observing/photographing a single or many bears, even on a daily basis does not mean that you know bears. It means you observed/photographed that bear under that situation and observed/photographed its behavior at that specific time.
Fragments of time observing/photographing do not equate to knowing the specific personality and all of its various nuances in a specific bear.
There was another bear enthusiast who claimed to “know bears”. In fact, he approached them, interacted with them, and even tried to touch them. He walked on or crawled through bear trails that went through thick alders and undoubtedly had extremely close encounters within them.
He was able to successfully do all of the above for 13 years until in 2003 he met the wrong 1,000 lb male bear at the wrong time at the wrong place and he and his girlfriend were killed and partially consumed. These would be the first fatalities recorded in Katmai National Park due to a bear attack.
Nick Jans wrote an excellent book on Timothy Treadwell called: The Grizzly Maze.
In the aftermath of Treadwell’s death, many Alaskans routinely demeaned and viciously ripped him for his actions. Yet, how many of those Alaskans are daily and currently approaching bears on Kodiak or elsewhere?
One would think that the lessons of Timothy Treadwell would ripple throughout the ages (especially here in Alaska) to create a more positive and safe environment for both bears and people. As illustrated in Kodiak, that is not the case.
In 2012, a backpacker by the name of Richard White approached a male grizzly and spent up to 8 minutes taking photos until the bear had had enough.
See: https://www.nps.gov/dena/learn/news/bearattackupdate2.htm
This was the first fatal bear attack in Denali National Park.
The above is not meant to create “bearanoia” (being paranoid around bears). It is meant to use a healthy dose of caution, not to become complacent, over confident or take bears for granted.
Be wary of anyone who says that “They Know Bears”. Ask them, what do they mean by that? And ask them if they know the trigger points from tolerance, annoyance, to aggression to violence with other bears and potentially with people?
It could be that working in Denali every summer has lead to a sheltered life and perspective for myself. NPS does an excellent job in trying to keep bears and people separated and insure safety for both.
While I may periodically bemoan the loss of the Professional Photography Permit Program in Denali (although, I am not sure if anyone would qualify now) which allowed photographers to safely photograph bears, I have now seen the “Free for All” alternative. I can also see how the “Wild West” can justifiably, become……..regulated.
Habituation and Hunting
Last week, in a argument with other local photographers, one of them complained that once these bears travel over to the other side of W. Rezanof Drive, that they can legally be hunted once hunting season begins.
If true, hunting these bears would literally be similar to walking up to a cow and shooting it. Not very sporting when the animal can’t differentiate between a harmless fisherman, tourist, photographer or someone who wants to kill it.
Which brings up the question: does the extreme habituation to people by these bears to fisherman, tourists and especially photographers make them accessories in the killing of these bears?
Or, would these bears be so incredibly tolerant anyway without the daily human presence that it would make little or no difference?
I don’t have an answer for that.
I know with Denali’s wolves that one of the concerns is that the wolves become habituated and then more vulnerable to hunters and trappers when they leave the park in the winter. Yet, these wolves are typically killed well away from where people live.
They have to avoid a gauntlet of traps and snares that is laid for them each and every year. So, does human habituation really contribute to the death of these wolves even if these wolves are killed well away from where people live?
If so, how would that be scientifically determined and measured whether for wolves or bears?
Hopefully, this excerpt will generate thought and maybe discussion. I would certainly love to hear from bear viewing guides and others who care for bears and people.
This small sliver of Kodiak is: The Wild West of Bear Viewing and Photography.
All the best.
Bill