Grizzly Watching

Grizzly Bears are magnificent and the biggest reason visitors choose our lodge!

Grizzly bears thrive here and the viewing opportunities are spectacular. We have operated our Grizzly Bear Lodge for decades and know the prime spots for bear watching. The ultimate grizzly bear photo opportunities.

Curious black bear cub

black bear alert
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The black bear tour occurs on your first evening in the lodge however black bears are often found on the grizzly bear tours and the whale watching trips. As all tours are by boat we travel along the shore looking for bears and frequently view bears on the beach looking for food. The lower the tide the better the opportunity for good viewing. It is normally the cubs that are concerned with our presence the mother are more likely to accept a boat coming close and the older bears, male or female, without cubs tend to ignore the boats. In this case the cub was taking notice but it did not run off as the mother was not concerned and that is who the cubs learn to ignore our intrusion.

 

 

Grizzly Bear Waiting

leary grizzly
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Our guests, from Grizzly Bear Lodge, spend two hours on the viewing stands enjoying their time watching and photographing the grizzly bears on Knight Inlet’s Glendale River.  However the bears do spend sometime watching the guests but by in large we are ignored as their prime goal on the river is enough food (calories) to fatten and survive the winter hibernation. This grizzly bear was more interested in the other bears in the area and whether it was safe to proceed into the fishing area we were not part of that decision.  Our presence actually makes it safer for mothers and cubs as well as sub-adult grizzly bears as the larger males are a little more cautious near humans.

Grizzly Bear Eating

eating salmon grizzly
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The viewing stands used by Grizzly Bear Lodge are located overlooking the small area the salmon rest in before moving over the weir into the man-made spawning channel.  This also makes for an ideal area for grizzly bears to catch the pink salmon that drift down river either having died from exhaustion prior to spawning or having escaped from other grizzlies feeding up stream.  This photo shows a grizzly enjoying its catch as well as three other salmon behind the bear. This bear is less that 15 meters (45 feet) from the stand and the photo shows that this is a female pink salmon (males have a large hump on their back and thus the name “humppy”) and the preferred catch for the bears because of the fat rich egg row is contains.

Whale watching – Florence and Ray 5

distance breach
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HUMPACK BREACH

Grizzly Bear Lodges whales watching tours leave the lodge at 7:30 or 8:00, depending on the time of the year, and travel to the area of Johnstone Strait between Vancouver Island and mainland BC. AS on every tour from the lodge we are always looking for black bears on the way to wherever we are going.  The area off Bold Head was the place to be for humpback whales. This photo shows Ray with their movie camera getting a great show from a breaching humpback. Normally hard to get a “non movie camera” photo but on this day it was not a problem.

Grizzly Bear Fishing – Florence and Ray 4

plodding grizzly
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Grizzly from viewing stands

The back of the viewing stands has the natural river, which is much shallower than the holding pool and also a travel route to the pool. This grizzly bear spent more than half an hour working the river, catching a few salmon before it moved further up the river. If my memory serves me well we saw more than a dozen different grizzly bears on the trip and had good bear viewing all morning. Grizzly Bear Lodge is allotted two hours on the viewing stands between 10:00 and noon each day.

Grizzly Bear Fishing – Florence and Ray 3

splash fishing grizzly
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Some grizzly bears are more active and splash around trying to catch salmon, however in the deep water this is often a waste of time. Bears need to pin the salmon against the bottom and them grab them with their mouth and in deep water this becomes a problem making their success rate very low. It is hard to build up the necessary layer of fat if you ate using more calories catching salmon than eating salmon.

Grizzly Bear Fishing – Florence and Ray 2

dead salmon with a grizzly
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As I recall we had a good day on the viewing stands, which are, located an hour and fifteen-minute boat ride up Knight Inlet from the lodge. One grizzly spent most of the two hours we have on the stand directly below eating salmon. It did not bother to waste energy fishing rather it sat in the holding pool to the spawning channel and picked up salmon that drifted down stream. Many grizzly bears fish the spawning channel and wounded and dead salmon drift into the area of the stands making it an ideal area for less energetic bears to fish. If you look closely  this bear is surrounded by pink salmon.

Black bear with triplets

black bear family on rocks
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Guest first evening in the lodge normally means a local area tour to find black bears. The hour plus boat ride lets guests get comfortable with the boats and guides as well as a chance to see some wildlife such as harbour seals, eagles, black bear and learn a little history of the surrounding area. At certain times of the season the hardest animal to find is the black bear.  This is late July and early August when all the berries are ripe and bears are less likely to come to the beach looking for food.  This photo is in the spring as the cubs are still quite small.  Triplets are not very common for black bears but more so for grizzly bears.

Grizzly missing salmon

grizzly misses salmon
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Grizzly caughtThe key to a successful fisher is to keep trying.  The first photo shows a close call for the salmon but to be sure bears do not stop and this fish did not escape. The time to fatten on the fish in the river around our viewing stands is limited from late August to late October so persistence is the key to a good hibernation.

Grizzly Passing through

leaf on grizzly
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The area behind the viewing stand that we use on the Glendale River is a traveling route for grizzly bears.  It is easier to walk the riverbed and possibly pick up the occasional salmon than through the thicker bush.  As can be seen by the vegetation on this bear’s coat it is using the river as a road rather than a fishing area. Also the size of this grizzlies belly it is a pretty good indication that it can catch salmon when it is hungry.