Grizzly Bear Encounters

Hi, I'm Mark Frazier. Exploring wildlife right in our own backyard is the best way to learn to appreciate them and therefore, protect them. You're invited to join me on the exciting wildlife adventures. Welcome to Nature Walks. Like all species, grizzly bears require clean and healthy habitat, so to find them, I need to find the right type of environment. I look into the snow and I see these incredible prints. Look at the size of that compared to my hand, these are huge. The tracks are fresh, it had snowed recently and none of that snow was on top of these prints so I knew I was very close to this bear. So I headed up into the high country and it didn't take long to find what I was looking for. There was a mother bear with two adorable little newborn cubs. It's early in spring and no doubt she's very hungry. All of a sudden, I see her swat the cub off the rock. My heart was in my stomach, but luckily the cub was okay. Bears are very tough, even at a young age. The mother bear is very protective of her two little cubs, and I'm not going to get any closer than I am now trying to film them. They were beautiful to watch, but after a little while, the snow started coming down. Mother bear and her two cubs headed for cover, as did I. Watching from a respectable distance is a really good idea with a mother cub. In a nearby national park, I see this large bear crossing the road. There's people taking pictures with their windows down and this could easily turn into a dangerous situation. Grizzlies are absolutely beautiful animals and we can't help to admire them, but you really want to respect their distance. A grizzly can sprint up to 35 miles an hour, so you're not going to outrun one. But remember, these bears are not there to harm us whatsoever, they're out there looking for food and trying to live their lives. Nearby, I see something very concerning. There's a hiker, and he seems oblivious to the fact that there's a mother and cubs just to his left, and he's headed right for them. There's something in his hand, and I'm going to guess that's bear spray. A good idea when camping or hiking out in bear country, however, that does not give you a license to walk up to a mother grizzly and her cubs. That's a very dangerous situation that could bring harm to not only the hiker, but also to the bears. The right thing to have done in this situation would have been to stop and go the other direction in a calm fashion. Instead, he continues his walk towards the mother and cubs. This could easily turn out to be a bad situation. That animal running across from left to right was actually a coyote. Grizzlies, actually brown bears to be more specific, are powerful animals. The large hump on his shoulders are actually pure muscle. They spend their lives digging, and that develops these huge humps on their backs. So let's get back to our hiker, who was heading in the wrong direction. He appears to have stopped for a moment for a photo shoot. He's very lucky that this bear decided to go the other direction. I think this is because these cubs are yearlings, are a little bit older, and they can fend for themselves. Had they been newborns, I think this would have gotten very bad very quick. In a nearby field, where there's a herd of bison, I see this large brown bear walking through a river. Now this is interesting, a bison is twice the size of a grizzly bear, just to put things in perspective. But what's going to happen now that this bear and these bison seem to be on a collision course? I was amazed that as the grizzly got a little bit closer, the bison actually backed off. Once they got a respectable distance, they turned around to face the bear, and to keep eye to eye contact at all times. Neither one of these species are looking for a confrontation, so they just maintain that distance and go about each other's business. Seeing a grizzly in its natural habitat is a truly beautiful experience. It was very interesting to actually pay attention to their technique to look for food. They tend to walk in a Z pattern and smelling to the ground. Every now and then, they would start to dig and come up with a ground squirrel, which is what they were feeding on. This one particular bear I nicknamed Paws, because she tended to lift up one foot when she would look down into the sagebrush. Like all species, grizzlies depend on clean and healthy habitat. It's absolutely imperative that we set that aside for these incredibly beautiful animals. Respecting their habitat and respecting the distance will ensure that your future grizzly bear encounters will be an enjoyable experience that you'll remember and cherish for the rest of your life. The incredible thing about wildlife is the closer you look, the more you find. Thank you so much for joining me on this nature walk. I'm Mark Frazier, and I'll see you again very soon.