Went to Sequoia and there were bears everywhere!

[PrimitiveTim]

On a recent trip to Sequoia National forest there were bears everywhere!  I have never seen so many bears in my entire life.  In a day and a half I saw 8 bears filmed them all of course.  They were in trees, in the road, on the hiking trail, I mean they were everywhere!  This has been one of my favorite places that I have ever visited and I want to encourage others to maybe go check it out.  Oh and of course I went and saw the world's largest tree, who's magnitude was mind blowing.  I think everybody needs to go to yellowstone then go to sequoia!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnhvZK9dmdY

[bowandarrow473]

We went to Yellowstone a few years back (Deviating from our usual annual Canadian Rockies trip to Lake O'Hara) and we saw so many bears I don't think I could stand to see another one by the end of the trip! Such beautiful places, shame we have to leave them and get back to reality

[Zuma]

Livin large buddy.
Although I agree with you Tim,
I would include The Grand Canyon
 and the Grand Tetons.
Zuma

[Marc St Louis]

Livin large buddy.
Although I agree with you Tim,
I would include The Grand Canyon
 and the Grand Tetons.
Zuma

You do know that Teton is a French word right?

[mullet]

Grand Tetons! In pairs?

[Pat B]

Remember Marc, this is a family website. 
 Tim, you are taking a trip that everyone should or should have in their younger days...me included. Hopefully I'll be able to at least do part of it some day. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us and your knowledge of the natural world. Most folks don't see nature at all in their day to day live and many of them really don't care to. I find that sad. Your love of nature and your enthusiasm is obvious. 

[Zuma]

Wee wee Marc.
Huuum, is that English or French?
Zuma

[Marc St Louis]

Remember Mac, this is a family website. 
 Tim, you are taking a trip that everyone should or should have in their younger days...me included. Hopefully I'll be able to at least do part of it some day. Thanks for sharing your experiences with us and your knowledge of the natural world. Most folks don't see nature at all in their day to day live and many of them really don't care to. I find that sad. Your love of nature and your enthusiasm is obvious.

Hey, I'm not the one that named that mountain range  .  Somebody had a wicked sense of humour

[Pat B]

Probably wishful thinking when they were first discovered.

From Google...

"French trappers are responsible for naming the three peaks now known as the South, Middle, and Grand Teton. They called the mountains “Les Trois Tetons,” or “The Three Breasts.” The Grand Teton—the tallest of the three—literally means “the big tit.”

 Sorry for the hijack, Tim. 

[blackhawk]

Awesome and fun stuff!!!  Bears might be my fav big game animal to see in the wild...and told ya youd love the vibe in the seqouia and redwood forests

[Traxx]

Nice video.Glad you were able to experience  this.

Black bear can have several different color phases.The one in your vid is what is commonly referred to as a cinnamon phase.They can also be a blonde color as well.

I must say though,that i was a bit disappointed in your commentary,regarding the inter action of the bear and the ranger.I feel you passed judgment a bit premature and without sufficient knowledge of the situation and the consequences of it.

I would think,that the time you have spent in Tahoe,would have given you a more broad spectrum of the facts,concerning the situation of bear human interaction and therefore a better perspective concerning the tactics used.

Especially in national parks and recreational areas,people are finding out the hard way,that reality aint a disney flick and that too much interaction of bears and humans,ends poorly for both,especially when the humans are not educated in bear behavior.

[PrimitiveTim]

Traxx, shooting the bear in the butt with a rubber slug accomplished nothing and I didn't find that out until I came back by there the next day.  In total there were two bears near the picnic area the first day.  The second day I came back through there and one bear had gone and the one that was shot was back along with another black bear.  I talked to the ranger quite a bit and he was not stupid but I do think shooting the bear was stupid and unnecessary.  The ranger was just doing his job and following protocol but even he knew that what he was doing was not going to work.  This is why I explained that it's each person's responsibility to understand the laws of nature and if they're going to enter the forest then they must to accept that bears can and may attack and kill you.  The bear didn't get shot because it was doing something wrong.  It got shot because we were doing something wrong.  I think it's stupid for a bear to suffer the consequences for something it doesn't and will never understand. 

[lebhuntfish]

What an awesome place Tim! Thanks for sharing all your experiences! I envy you bud!
Patrick

[Traxx]

Tim,
I disagree that it was stupid and unnecessary and  accomplished nothing.Often it takes more than one instance to get the point across.Other tactics less violent,such as relocation etc most often, dont get the point across enough to deter bears from seeking human contact.Once the bear is habituated,it lacks respect and fear of humans giving it a bravado that is dangerous to both parties and the end result,fatal to both.

We do agree that it isnt fair to the bear and human caused for the most part.Drought conditions also play a big part as well,but reality is,that it happens,regardless of the cause and proper measures have to be taken,for the safety of both parties.
A bear that doesnt fear and respect humans is not just a possible danger to humans,but a probable one and its just a matter of time,before a negative encounter happens,especially to the uneducated public.Are we going to educate everyone to proper protocol and safety and expect them to adhere to it before an incident occurs?I seriously doubt it,so we have to do what is necessary to avoid it best we can.

Coming from someone,who has had experience in this matter,im all ears to any suggestions of better solutions as long as they are realistic.No personal slight intended,its just that youd be blown away at some of the ridiculous ideology people come up with regarding such cases.

[PrimitiveTim]

Traxx,

As far as I could tell none of the bears I came across, whether at a picnic area or a mile out down a trail, were afraid of humans.  Only one of the 8 I saw noticeably shied away from me.  You can hear me, in the shot where the bear is in the rocky area, yell at it because the bear was walking down the path straight toward me.  These bears aren't afraid of people however, I never once saw a bear seek human contact.  They pretty much ignored us for the most part.  These bears see hundreds of people every year and they've learned that people aren't actively hunting them.  Naturally bears have a reason to be afraid of humans because historically we've always hunted them and struck terror into their hearts.  These bears haven't been hunted for several bear generations.  If you want them to be afraid of people you've got to put the same kind of pressure on them that hunting would put on them.  Now, if we could get a bunch of hunters to pay the park to go out and terrorize these bears with rubber bullets then maybe they'd learn.  One ranger shooting one bear every so often doesn't seem to get the job done though.  You'd need serious pressure.

You know I get handed a handful of reading material whenever I enter these parks and maybe they could include one about bear safety, though I barely skim them I think some of them do have a section about that.  The rangers at the entrance should give people a warning about approaching bears.  Now of course you have those people that just have to take it one step too close.  At what point are we responsible for our own actions?  Shouldn't we be taught to understand how to interact with nature safely rather than staying ignorant and depending on a ranger to come along and shoot the bear with a rubber bullet?  I saw 8 bears and a ranger was only around for 2 of them. 

In the specific case of the picnic area with so much bear activity, I'm going to make a wild assumption that they were only there for the easy access to plentiful acorns... since that is what the ranger had told us.  That would make this a seasonal issue in this case.  Just close off that picnic area when the acorns are dropping.  I was there on the weekend and none of the other picnic areas were ever crowded. 

Disclaimer:  I did suggest the public rubber bullet only hunt to terrorize the bears with a grin on my face   You've got to admit though, a bunch of rednecks chasing bears around the forest for a few days shooting them with rubber would make those bears never want to see another human again.