This is the case when grizzly bears respect each others comfort zone. The head in the lower right corner belongs to a very large female which is not a threat to the mother and cubs but they still have their own fishing areas. The single grizzly dominated the better fishing area near the entrance to the spawning channel while the mother and cubs caught all the salmon they needed a little lower on the river. The abundance of salmon in this area means there is little need to fight and therefore less chance of an injury that could reduce the ability to catch salmon. It is all about fattening for hibernation and fighting is counter productive.
Black Bear Island Hopping
When you come to Grizzly Bear Lodge all tours that leave the lodge are by boat because we are on an island which is one of several hundred in the area at the mouth of Knight Inlet. If you click on “Google Map Of Itinerary” at the top of this page, then click on the green square in the lower left corner and this becomes a Google Earth Map. It is then possible to zoom in to view the number of varying sized islands. The point of all this is to show that if a bear wants to move around in the area at some time it must swim. This bear is not a particularly fat bear or you would see more of it’s back out of the water but they are interesting to follow as long as you stay back to one side so as not to prevent them from going ashore. However at times we have blocked them from shore when that shore happens to be our island.
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