Black Bear Sighting
filed in Media: Photography, Outdoors: Paddling on Jun.09, 2006
I found my new favorite local paddling place. The Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge. It’s about a 10 minute drive from my front door – and I went to explore it in my canoe this afternoon. The Wallkill River is a lazy river, on average about 40-feet wide, with a slow – yet very constant – current. Being a National Wildlife Refuge, one would expect to see some wildlife…
Besides the beaver, red-winged blackbirds, great blue herons, fish and mosquitos, I stumbled upon the biggest black bear I’ve ever seen in the wild. He was really big. The photo doesn’t really do it justice (click on it to enlarge!). As I floated past him the following thoughts were going through my brain:
- Bears CAN swim
- Lucky I’m going downstream – the current will take me away without me creating any paddling noise
- Bears CAN swim
- Glad my camera is around my neck and turned on, instead of being tucked away in my drybag
- Bears CAN swim
He never saw me, or else he didn’t really care. But that was certainly close enough to get my heart pounding. I took a bunch of other photos this afternoon, but none of them really compare to this one.
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Been a lot going on here personally. We had to put Bessie, our dog, to sleep. I’m not really able to talk/blog about it at length as I’m still very much in mourning, but my wife has a nice post about it which she wrote the morning of. I suggest you read hers if you want to know more.
June 9th, 2006 on 7:20 pm
That’s a cool picture Kenny.
June 10th, 2006 on 9:36 am
WOW! like your other photos, it’s gorgeous. but the subject takes this one heads above the rest. it reminds me of the first (and only, to date) encounter with a bear i’ve had while not in a car or a yard from the house’s front door. i was walking by myself through the woods at my parents’ ranch, reaching the end of their property line. the bordering ranch pastures cattle all summer, so when i saw a brown beast out of the corner of my eye, i figured it was a lone, lunching cow. i turned to say hello to it, and realized i was greeting a bear about twenty feet in front of me. we looked at each other, i calculated the distance to the closest climbable tree, and then after a minute of stillness and eye contact, the bear turned around and ambled down the hill. it wasn’t until i got back to the house that i realized how critical the situation could have been, but in the moment, it was both nerve-racking and beautiful. thanks again for sharing such a wonderful picture–and wonderful experience. i sure am sorry to hear about bessie.
June 10th, 2006 on 12:15 pm
speaking of bears, i just saw this! http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2006/06/10/picture_of_the_4.php
June 10th, 2006 on 3:52 pm
Alisa – Great story! I bet your heart was pounding too… that bear that got treed by the house cat happened just last week in the town next to ours. Our realtor didn’t warn us we were moving to bear country! 🙂
Jess – thanks!
June 13th, 2006 on 8:13 am
Growing up in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, black bears were a common sight…but I never got THAT close to one. Great shot!
June 16th, 2006 on 11:37 am
Great photo there, Kenny. Looks like the Wallkill is swollen past flood stage, judging from the tree in the water. Bear was probably concentrating on looking for crawfish displaced by the high water and, as you surmised, wasn’t even aware of you. Now, if you had an open chocolate bar in the canoe…
My sincere condolances to you and your family on Bessie’s demise. It was the humane thing to do, but still a very hard choice and a loss that will be with you all for a while. Give it time, though, and you’ll be coming back to the north country to paddle on Lake Winnipesaukee and hunt for a new family member. Good luck to you all.