Tag: Yellowstone bears

Can you spot the bear? Yellowstone guide issues challenge

If you’re able to spot the black bear in the Yellowstone National Park image you’re either lucky or have a keen eye.

A Montana-based guide who leads hiking expeditions in Yellowstone National Park on Friday tweeted a landscape image and asked followers if they could spot the black bear.

“I’ve been told my more recent ‘Find the Animal Friday’ posts have been way too easy,” Douglas Scott declared. “This one is a little more challenging.”

Can you spot the black bear? Photo: Douglas Scott

Scott, who runs The Outdoor Society, granted ForTheWin Outdoors permission to use the image and supplied a second image that we’ve posted below to serve as a hint for those who might struggle initially to spot the bear (as I did.)

Can you spot the bear in the images posted above? (Answer below.)

Scott told FTW Outdoors that he captured the image June 21 from above the Lamar River “on a perfectly clear day” in the park’s northern range.

“It was definitely a fun spot as my client was amazed I saw it so easily from so far away,” Scott recalled.

Scott’s X followers chimed in with guesses but, as of Sunday night, only one had pinpointed the bear’s location.

When I guessed, Scott informed me that I had found “the shadow of a tree.”

Another guess was met with the reply: “Unfortunately, you are incorrect. You most definitely found a non-animal shadow though!”

Black bear is pictured in the clearing barely left of center. Photo: Douglas Scott

The image posted immediately above shows the bear when Scott was closer (or zoomed-in). Readers, if they choose, can use landmarks in the image to match the location of the bear in Scott’s original image.

To view the answer, click on Scott’s tweet and scroll to Matt Inman’s comment. Or simply view the image posted below.

Scott specializes in leading day trips to remote areas “beyond the boardwalks” of Yellowstone National Park. The hikes typically last between four and seven hours.

Arrow points to black bear. Photo: Douglas Scott

Yellowstone tourists crowd grizzly bears in ‘what-not-to-do’ moment

Footage shows one photographer standing just yards from a momma bear with cubs in clear violation of the park guidelines.

A guide in Yellowstone National Park on Monday documented “a prime example of what not to do” as a grizzly bear family crossed a highway lined with tourists.

Andrea Baratte, who captured the accompanying footage, referred mostly to the photographer with the tripod, just yards from momma grizzly as she tried to lead her yearling cubs across the road.

“As much as visitors enjoy seeing grizzly bears in Yellowstone, this is a prime of example on what not to do,” Baratte, who guides for Yellowstone Adventure Tours, explained via Instagram. “This bear with her cubs has been feeding for the last 10 days on a drowned bison and the location is no secret, hence all the people.

“You need to keep at least 100 yards, otherwise stay in your car. The photographer in the street refused to leave the area even after letting him know multiple times in advance that she was going to cross the road. ”

Yellowstone guidelines mandate that tourists stay at least 100 yards from bears and wolves. In cases where that might not be possible, visitors should exercise enough common sense to create a safe environment for themselves and the animals.

“It was an insane day,” Baratte told For The Win Outdoors.

Photographer in blatant violation of Yellowstone’s distance guidelines.

Viewers might note the photographer down the slope, far from any vehicles, at the beginning of the footage. Had the bears attempted to pass in his direction, the situation could have turned dicey.

What also stands out is the elderly person returning to the silver truck with the bears approaching. The person, who appears to be limping, turns to snap one last photo, but smartly abandons that plan in favor of accessing the vehicle.

Thankfully, momma bear did not perceive the crowd as a major threat and calmly led her cubs back into the wilderness.

Watch: Yellowstone tourists sprint toward bears, spooking them

Footage captured this month in Yellowstone National Park shows people sprinting toward bears in a meadow, in blatant violation of park guidelines.

Tourists in Yellowstone National Park are supposed to remain at least 100 yards from bears whenever they’re out of their vehicles.

While lots of people violate this rule, few do so as blatantly as the group caught on camera this month sprinting toward three bears as though they were long-lost buddies.

The accompanying footage, captured by Will Spencer, shows several vehicles stopped on a road near the momma black bear and her two cubs.

The bears are ignoring the traffic until several occupants of one vehicle, including a man carrying an infant, begin running toward the animals.

The lead man is in a full sprint when momma bear begins to move out of  frame. As the tourists approach, the cubs become spooked and trot after mom.

The man carrying the child is also sprinting on pavement, a dangerous act on its own.

Carrie Dent, Will’s mother, told FTW Outdoors that the encounter occurred Aug. 8, not far from the park’s North Entrance.

A ranger or bear management specialist eventually arrived and ordered everyone back to their vehicles, but the men apparently were not cited.

“I haven’t checked yet but I might have dash cam video that shows the ranger coming through and turning around, but I don’t believe he personally talked to or did anything with those crazy people,” Dent said.

In Yellowstone, tourists are responsible for their own safety. But they’re sometimes cited and prosecuted if their actions are determined to represent animal harassment.

Watch: Yellowstone bear cub crosses river on mom’s back

A guide in Yellowstone National Park has captured adorable footage showing a black bear cub hitching a ride across the Lamar River on mom’s back.

Black bears can easily navigate rivers, but cubs sometimes require mom’s help.

The accompanying footage, captured by Yellowstone Wolf Tracker guide Michelle Holihan, shows a cub crossing the Lamar River on mom’s back and leaping from her shoulders onto the opposite shore.

“What’s the best way to get across the cold Lamar River?” Yellowstone Wolf Tracker asked followers via Instagram. “Hitch a ride on mom!

“We spotted this black bear in the river but her two cubs were hesitant to cross so she went back to get them and one of them climbed onboard for the crossing.”

The Lamar River, a tributary of the Yellowstone River, spans 44 miles through wildlife-rich portions of Yellowstone National Park.

According to the National Park Service, the Lamar River and Lamar Valley are named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, Secretary of the Interior under President Grover Cleveland from 1885 to 1888.

–Image is a video screen shot

Yellowstone guide saves motorist from momma grizzly bear’s wrath

A grizzly bear cub was struck and killed just outside Yellowstone National Park last weekend, leaving behind an angry and confused momma bear.

A grizzly bear cub was struck and killed near Yellowstone National Park last weekend, leaving behind an angry and confused momma bear.

The incident occurred May 26 before dawn on U.S. 191. The driver wasn’t sure what he had struck but the collision badly damaged his truck.

According to Yellowstone Tour Guides, the driver somehow walked safely 200 yards to the tour company’s office, hoping to access a cellphone signal and call for help.

Guide David Reeves was outside preparing to pick up clients. He offered the man a ride back to his truck after the man had telephoned police and a towing company.

RELATED: Can you spot the other Yellowstone critter in this photo?

The man said he’d walk. But when Reeves reached the scene first he spotted the carcass of a 1-year-old grizzly bear on the highway and a clearly agitated momma bear.

“She was over the carcass and bluff-charged my vehicle,” Reeves told FTW Outdoors. “I immediately stopped and turned around, knowing that the man could not walk up to that.”

Grizzly bear family near a road this spring in Yellowstone. Photo: ©Pete Thomas

Reeves persuaded the man to accept a ride and, back at the scene, positioned the tour vehicle so the man could safely climb into his truck’s cab.

“His truck was undriveable,” Reeves said. “I told him to wait inside until the sheriff and tow truck arrived, that the bear would kill him [if he got out].”

RELATED: Yellowstone tourist weighs options with bison next to boardwalk

Reeves added: “I did potentially save this man’s life, or at least save him from being severely injured. I’m not sure how he made it safely away from the scene [after the collision], walking down the road oblivious to the extreme danger.”

Reeves said that as he left to pick up his tour group, he spotted the grizzly sow walking away from the carcass up a hill. Soon afterward, a friend told him that police had arrived and that the carcass had been picked up.

Black bear mom and cubs alongside Yellowstone road. Photo: ©Pete Thomas

Yellowstone Tour Guides stated on Facebook: “We are glad our guide was there to help prevent this from becoming a much more serious incident.

“This was just an accident, and the man was not speeding, as he wasn’t stopped too much further than the carcass. It was dark which made it hard to see the bear darting across the road in time.”

Yellowstone National Park, in a news release, announced that two adult male black bears were killed two days later, also on U.S. 191 but inside the park.

The park added that an elk and bison also were struck recently, and urged visitors to exercise extreme caution while driving on park roads, especially at night.

–Grizzly bear image atop this post is generic, courtesy of ©Pete Thomas

Watch: Yellowstone wolves chase nosy bear up a tree

A tour company that operates in Yellowstone National Park has shared footage showing two male wolves chasing a black bear up a tree.

A tour company that operates in Yellowstone National Park has shared footage showing two wolves chasing a bear up a tree.

“Black bear wanders into the wrong neighborhood,” Yellowstone Wolf Tracker wrote this week on Instagram.

The footage, captured by a Wolf Tracker guide, shows the bear leaping onto the tree and scrambling several feet up to escape the older male wolves. (If footage doesn’t appear below, click here.)

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg5Nqqgvdfg/

If viewers swipe to the the second clip they’ll see one of the wolves baring its teeth.

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A commenter asked if the bear or wolves were hurt during the confrontation and Wolf Tracker responded: “All okay! Just some friendly disagreements.”

The disagreement began when the bear approached the wolves’ freshly killed bison. “They chased and harassed this bear up the same tree for close to half an hour!” Wolf Tracker wrote.

The wolves belong to the Junction Butte Pack, which roams the park’s northern range.

–Black bear image is generic, courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service