The Bear Family

My oldest son, Andrew, and I combined to get these local bear shots. We were just coming back from a hunt when we saw Momma, the one with the popping cheeks, coming across the road. We slowed down and I saw the twin cubs, one cinnamon and the other black up in the tree. This was a great opportunity for  a photo shoot!

When you see a bear popping its cheeks, you know you are on the verge of a charge! So we backed off a bit, and located around to get a picture of the cubs in the tree. We were very careful not to get between the sow and the cubs. That is definitely not a good thing to do. I also don't recommend anyone by themselves trying to do this on their own! A bear can outrun a horse. In such a situation, you don't have to outrun the bear, just your buddy! All kidding aside, Andrew did the photo shoot while I stood beside him with a .270 Winchester at the ready.  It was not needed and we left the bears to do their bear thing, namely fatten up for the winter.

I have one rule, actually several, namely I don't hunt bear and they don't hunt me. Another is not to shoot anything that you don't intend to eat! This was one of many good moments with Andrew. Most times, the best hunts are those where nothing is shot, but the bonding remains.

More and more I am going to the camera shots rather than the rifle.

 The cubs were about 30 pounds each and Momma was about 300.