Tag Archives: grizzly bear watching

That’s a Wrap on the 2024 Season

Just like that our season has come to an end. I would like to thank all of our wonderful guests and staff who made this year a huge success. I am happy to stay that all of our team is planning to return next season. We are actively taking bookings, with dates starting June 1 2025. Hope to see many of you next season.

The wildlife viewing this season was awesome. A couple highlights that come to mind was the shear number of salmon in our local rivers, as well as the abundance of Resident Orca. With salmon returns being so strong this year, we were happy to see bears in excellent condition. By the end of our season most of the bears had packed on a lot of weight and were getting very “picky” about what parts of the salmon they would eat. Hopefully this will translate into more cubs being born this winter. Another positive was the weather conditions. We had enough rain to keep our fire risks low and it made for some excellent wild berries. The bears took full advantage of this, with the berry season extending far past its normal conclusion. This did mean that we had to work hard to find bears during our summer season, (as they were often feeding on the berries deep into the forest), but moving forward it is excellent that they had such an abundant food supply. The Humpbacks also didn’t disappoint, with great numbers and a few new calves returning with their mothers to feed. After a slower year for resident Orca sightings, this season was one of the best that I can remember. In fact as Im writing this the A62 and A23’s are still being spotted in the area by dedicated biologists. Strong numbers of Chinook and Chum salmon are providing them with a steady food source. There are a lot of positive signs and we are hopeful that 2025 will be another great season.

Over the winter and spring we will be doing some repairs and maintenance. We plan on having a new cedar front deck built in time for the 2025 season, as well as new ceilings and paint in parts of the lodge and rooms. Theres always projects on the go.

Felix, Julien, Ryan, Zack and Myself all look forward to welcoming guest in June. See everyone soon.

Angus Reid

Grizzly Bear Viewing Platforms

This is the Grizzly Bear viewing platform that we use from August 25 until the end of the season.  The maximum number of guests we are allowed to have in the platform is 5 and during our time it will only be guests from our lodge.  People have plenty of space to get some great views and photos of the bears as they look for salmon.  The viewing in this area is well managed, limiting the number of people and the times that we can view.  This allows guests to have great experiences viewing the bears, but also creates low stress levels for the bears as they go about their business.

 

Grizzly Bears Searching for Early Salmon

These two Grizzlies are investigating the shallow waters of the lower river, near the estuary.  Grizzly Bears have an exceptional sense of smell and when the first salmon begin to arrive they take notice.  The exact timing of the arrival of the Pink Salmon varies a bit year to year, but by August there are generally some fish heading up the river to spawn.

Grizzlies Snoozing

Guests often ask me what a bear does all day.  Well for the most part it is quite simple.  They eat, then they sleep, then they eat again.  Bears often have what are called day beds.  These are areas near their food source where they routinely curl up for a nap.  These bed areas move as the bears move in search of food.  These two sub-adult grizzlies are content to use the overhanging logs for a nap.

Extra Day Grizzly Viewing vs Platform Viewing

After August 25 we view the grizzly bears in Knight Inlet from elevated viewing platforms.  This is usually an extremely productive spot and because of the platforms guests are often able to get reasonably close to the bears.   On a 4 night trip we also explore another river system by truck and on foot.  We stick together as a group and with a little work and strategy are often able to find these familiar Grizzlies feeding along the river.  Platforms are great for viewing bears, but nothing compares with finding a bear on foot in a safe environment and viewing him at “his level”.  The first picture shows a bear on the extra day trip (taken by Felix Rome) and the second is a bear underneath the Knight Inlet viewing platform.

 

grizzly watching knight

 

 

Grizzly Bears are “Fussy Eaters”

The coastal grizzly bears rely on salmon to put on the pounds required for hibernation.  In the height on salmon season a adult Grizzly Bear can consume over 20,000 calories per day.  Early in the season the bears are not particular and will eat whatever they can catch or steal.  As the season progresses, however some of the better fed bears will become particular and selectively eat the best bits.  The roe (salmon eggs) are the most nutrient rich portion of the fish.  This bear is extracting the eggs and leaving the rest of the fish for hungrier bears or birds to finish up at a later time.

grizzly fish eggs

 

Still Evening Scene

This summer we were fortunate to have a photography student stay with us at the lodge.  He spent a lot of time at our wild river where we conduct our extra day trip.  He was Trapper Rick’s assistant helping him search for Grizzly Bears looking for salmon along the river.  Felix’s accommodation there may have been basic (just a tent), but he definitely had a million dollar view.  You can see some of his pics here felixrome.smugmug.com/ and we will be featuring many of them on the blog.

knight inlet
view of the sound