[Denali NP]: Bear distance limit

Yes, deer are vicious creatures which will throw themselves under the wheels of your car in an attempt to kill you. Don't trust them. They may look cute, but that's just their way of fooling you.

 

I'd imagine that bees and dogs kill more people than bears, but that's mostly because most people try to avoid wandering around in grizzly country, and very, very, few of my neighbors keep a grizzy in their back garden.

Minor nitpick about bear speed and closing velocity:

 

A bear running 40 mph (maybe 30 would be more realistic) will close the 300 yards in only around *15 seconds* not around 60 seconds. Think about it - an average high school sprinter could easily run a quarter mile (440 yd) in 60 seconds (probably not across a meadow tho!)

 

100 yards off and you've barely time to realize you're in trouble.

Two photographers see a bear charging at them.

 

The first photographer says lets run away!

 

The second says, don't be silly, you can't outrun a bear!

 

The first replies, I know I can't ourun the bear but, I can outrun you!

 

BTW the places to get up close to the bears is where they are feeding on the Salmon coming to spawn. I opted not to go to Denali because of the long distances between bears an me!

Here is the scoop. it is 300 YARDS in the road corridor, meaning within 300 feet of the park road. Beyond 300 feet from the park road, the distance is a QUARTER MILE. The latter figure was pulled out of the hat in the 1980's when a back country hiker claimedhe was charged by a bear over that distance. (He was not touched and perhaps the bear was just curious.) You can not just hike out of sight and thus avoid the rule. Away from the road, the greater the restriction.

 

There isn't a way around the rule, and why should there be? Most grizzly shots are taken on the road edge or close to the road. A number of females, usually with cubs, are regulars along the park road. The majority of bears in most viewing areas are females or females with cubs which tend to habituate to people quicker than males. (In fact male bears are seldom seen hanging around the park road. The singles you see are females or young males.) Most bus drivers know individual bears on sight and their usual haunts. If you use the bus several times you will get a good grizzly shot. Yesterday my guests saw 13 bears, ALL withing 50 yards of the road. Unusual but not uncommon. Also a wolf and a lynx. No moose and no caribou but sheep on the road as well at Polychrome.

 

My editorial take, as a Denali resident, is that patience produces good photos...and that skill is something often in rare quantity here and seldom on display here by some photographers. Also, people whose answer to every bear issue is a gun, should stay home and out of the woods.

 

Tom Walker

Yes, Bob, it's suicide terrorist deer! OMG! Osama bin Deer.

If you shoot with a Nikon, and you can haul the weight: one suggestion -- find a decent 1000mm f11 Reflex-Nikkor lens. That and a tripod might get you 'closer' to a bear (and maybe the tripod will slow down a running bear....)

I was recently in Yellowstone and got my first Grizz shots. A guide took us to a

road where there was already a group of folks lined up with scopes and BIG

lenses..all about 150 yrs from the bear, who was ambling along a small creek , out

in the open, turning over rocks and sniffing around a lot. A ranger was present to

keep hungry photographers from going any closer. The bear only looked up a few

times but I'm sure it saw us all. I know Yellowstone animals are used to folks

being around. I hooked my XTi up to a guy's 600 f/4 L (Bless him!) and got my

best pic . Its in my portfolio , on this site.

Very exciting but I never felt like I was in danger...that is , until about an hour later

when we witnessed a wolf pack kill of a coyote , in the wide open. My guide , who

has 15 yrs experience ..and is a naturalist with the Park, wanted to go look at the

kill, after the wolves left. We hot footed it out in the sage and as he was checking

out the carcass, three coyotes came around from the right, obviously buddies with

the deceased. Two left but one came on in , just like a curious dog...and came up

behind the guide and nipped his trousers..he scared it off right quick. Scary but

funny!

So, as the old joke goes...two photographers are running from a bear and one

says to the other.."ONE of us is going to get a heck of a shot!"

The annual road lottery is a safer way to take chances in the Park. A bean bag on

your rental car's window frame and you're good to go. BTW, the D300 would make a

great "tele-converter" for the 600mm f4.

 

http://www.denali.national-park.com/cal.htm Scroll down for info about the lottery.

 

I'll be in the park next week and I would pay good money to never see a bear - I'm

hoping that the bears conform to the same 300 yd rule.

Wow, this should touched off a spark of threads so here is my 2 cents.

 

i agree with everyone, DON'T GO WITHIN 300 YARDS OF ANY BEAR, unless your in the bus.

 

to get any closer is insane.

 

if you are going to be in the field i would suggest renting a huge telephoto, 600mm is huge but maybe use a teleconverter?

 

or as most have said time to seriously crop the image.

 

last time i was in denali and on the bus, we got with about 20 feet of several bears even a golden colored one. it was spectacular. it will be extremely difficult to maneuver your large lens but most people once they take their P&S shot are nice and willing to move this way or that.

 

good luck!

 

cheers

Bears? Sorry. Can't help. Was once charged by a bull elephant in the bush in

Africa. Needless to say my Pentax became dead weight until I found absolute

safety!

 

Another time, two male lions in the middle of a mating dispute ran over and fought

a mere 20 feet from me. There was a crowd of us, and again, the process of

climbing a nearby anthill with an associated tree consumed my energy and the

energy of everyone there was likewise focussed (I was cameraless on that

occasion, but others had cameras, and there is not a single shot to mark the

occasion!)

 

Let's keep going down the scale in size and ferocity. A large male warthog

decided to engage me and a lady friend. He scared the @#*~@ out of me, and my

backpack saved me and a pretty friend from serious damage. No camera at the

time, fortunately. Would have got in the way of me wielding the ungainly backpack!

 

Once I put a 500mm mirror lens on my camera, and headed off into the bush away

from camp to see what I could "capture". Some hours of expert stalking later, I

crested a rise. The wind was blowing fairly stiffly right to left, and I had taken a

long silent route on my stomach to get there. After a few minutes of searching the

slope ahead through my lens, I saw nary a living thing and as it was now midday, I

decided to return to camp for lunch. I stood up and startled a family of warthogs

sleeping in a hollow just a few feet in front of me! Luck had me avoid serious

confrontation.

 

Big old boar warthog - about 250 pounds of herbivore with two nasty tusks.

Grizzly? - geesh! How many pounds are those things? And teeth and claws and

penchant for meat etc! 300 yards to a bear? Absolutely. I'm not going to argue with

that!

Shooting from the bus affords some good (and safe) opportunies. I bike in the park a lot and usually only hope for bears when I am still on the bus.

Another (how do you set a pictures in the post without the link?)