While travelling up the Dempster Highway in Canada's Northwest Territories we came across a caribou carcass that was obviously a very recent grizzly bear kill. People were parking and getting out of their cars to try to find and photograph the bear.
Dave, I bet if they sat down next to the carcass, they'd soon find the bear.
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Posted by Dan Roberts on July 17, 2011 at 10:19 AM
I'm not sure that Darwin had it right after all. A lot of people get away with this sort of behavior and live to tell about it. We see it scores of times every summer in AK. Luckily with the bears it's usually around salmon spawning streams and the bears are more interested in the fish than in people.
Now, if she would drop to one knee and get level with him, stare him in the eye, then bring her big black camera up - THAT might be a great shot..
Sandy
This seems to be a more and more common occurrence in all national and provincial parks throughout North America. Perhaps us nature photographers who produce outstanding images but with very long lenses create the impression that anyone can capture a tightly cropped image of a mountain goats head and horns? The public generally just doesn't understand the difficulty of making these images safely for both us and the animal. Therefore they just walk up and "snap" an image.
Posted by Dan Roberts on July 21, 2011 at 12:36 PM
And most of them get away with it unscathed. Maybe we've got it wrong spending thousands of dollars on gear...
Last fall in Rocky Mtn Nation Park during the Elk rut. I came upon a bull and his harem near the main road, needless to say that there were many other cars stopped and a couple of rangers running back and forth getting between the elk and people with their point and shots trying to get that good vacation picture. But as the elk moved closer to a dirt road away from the highway I drove over there and so did several others. I sat in my truck with a bean bag and a 400mm lens and got some great shots because the bull was plenty close for my pleasure. But the was one guy with a long lens, mono pod and vest on running up and down the road much closer to an aggressive bull with a harem then common sense says you should be. So it isn't always the vacationer that is not so smart or cautious with their cameras.
I'm getting in on this one late but I'll chime in anyway. This is unbelievable but not suprising, if you know what I mean. I wonder how comfortable she would be if she knew a man was killed by a goat while hiking in Olympic NP only a few months ago. Gored to death. The way I remember it reported the goat was on the trail the guy try to scare it off, the goat wasn't impressed attacked the man and stood over him not leaving while he bled out, his friends watching and unable to help. A graphic description I know but it can't be overstated that wild animals are just that, wild and unpredictable to the casual recreationalist.
Discussion
12 repliesGNP
Yes, I talked with her.
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