The quest for a December black bear! I went on a trip to Cades Cove on Saturday & Sunday December 13 and 14 to hopefully find December black bear before they den up for the winter. Arriving at the gate at 6am to get in line for when the Rangers open the gates at sunrise which was about 7:35 am. There wasnt much cloud cover to receive the early morning color rays of the sun but I took a few pics any way, then off to the first spot where we had seen bears in the past weeks. As I walked the ridges and into the fields for over an hour and a half no fresh signs of bears being in that area were found. Off to the next spot and into the woods, I again walked the ridges, fields and trails for another two hours and still no bear or bears and no fresh sign. This went on all day going to different places in the back woods and following the creeks but still no bear or bears. I was skunked on this day but did manage to get some beautiful sunset shots and while shooting the sunset was surprised to see a white faced ferrell hog came out to root in the grass. By the time I changed lenses it went back into the tall brush and didnt offer a shot. It was dark at 5:30 and the end of the day for me. Next day up at 5:30 and arrived at the gate to get in line at 6:30. Psyched that I would find a bear or two and planned to visit some different areas to see if any bear were stirring about as it was a beautiful frosty and cold 23 degree morning. I drove in to a place that I had been wanting to explore and began walking. I found some fresh scat but no bears. As I continued on morning became afternoon and still no bear sighting. At almost one oclock in the afternoon it was looking like another skunk day. I decided to revisit a place that I had seen bears roaming and feeding on acorns and hickory nuts. There it was, something black at a distance and it was moving. It was a bear! This big male bear was feeding on acorns and hickory nuts but seemed to be on a mission to go elsewhere. As I watched and took a few photos of him, from a safe distance, he was making a beeline towards one of the fields and towards a creek. When he was about mid-way I lost sight of him, but decided to walk down to the creek anyway. As I neared the creek, I again saw something black on the opposite side of the creek bank. It was the same bear, but he was way too far and there was too much clutter to try and get a shot off, so I continued walking. When I got closer I could see that he was digging something in a bunch of roots so I tried to get into position to get a shot at a safe distance and all of a sudden he came straight up the bank tugging a dear carcass. He had a very hard time getting it up the steep bank and there was so muck debris in the way all I could do was watch as he finally got the entire deer up on the bank and began dragging along the creek bank. I did manage to get one shot off, even though it’s not good, showing the deer in his mouth while he is dragging it. He dragged that deer about 100ft down the creek to the base of a large tree where he started feeding on it. Again there was so much debris all around him and the carcass it was impossible to get any kind of decent shots of him at a safe distance. I remained on the opposite side of the creek from him and just watched him eat and then sleep for a while. The bear was going to be there for some time and by now it was about 3 to 3:30 in the afternoon. Suddenly another bear was walking up the creek. It must have smelled the open deer carcass and was very curious. I backed away to put even more distance between us to see what might happen between these two. The smaller female bear would stand up on her hind feet looking in the direction of the other bear and his deer he was feeding on and he would watch her watching him. She would leave for a few minutes and then try a different approach to see how close she could get and at one point crossed a tree about 75 ft from where he was. The entire time he just sat there and watched with no vocalization going on between them. Finally the smaller female gave up as the bigger male bear did not want to share his deer find. She left the area. As I headed back toward my vehicle I never saw these two again. That finished my day as it was almost dark and I had a two hour plus ride home. I was pleased to finally find a bear. To see him with his deer carcass and another curious bear that wanting him to share his reward was a bonus. I had an awesome day and experience watching these bears. The following 2 days after we left some good friends and other photographers got some awesome shots of him and the carcass as he had cleared off the area around him using the debris that was in the way to cover up the deer carcass. I only wish I had stayed another day for some better shots of him but was very thankful to get to see some December bears.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 06:28:06 +0000
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