Earlier today:



http://yosemitephotos.net/main.php/v/yosemite/DSCN2480.JPG.html

Where was this? How far away was he?

B

It was just about the Hetch Hetchy parking area. He wasn't very close; mostly because he didn't like me following him. I first saw him about 50 feet away in the parking lot.

eeek: I first saw him about 50 feet away in the parking lot.

was he already there and you surprised him, or the other way around? (I have heard bear fracus at night, but never seen one up close)

B

I just looked to my right an saw the bear. While I was grabbing my camera he turned around and left. Then I got out of the car and went after him but he went up the hill faster than my sorry out-of-shape-donkey could follow. Took the picture when I got back to the car and saw him up on the hill.

eeek: Took the picture when I got back to the car and saw him up on the hill.

Was he foraging, or just lolling around the cars? Did you see him any more after that? (sorry for the 3rd degree -- I am intrigued by bears and bummed that I have never seen one)

B

I think he was checking out a car that had its trunk open. When he saw the people from that car he turned around.

BTW, the rangers didn't know about this bear. When I told them they thought he was a bear that had been relocated from the Valley. They were surprised when I told them he had no tag and wasn't aggressive.

eeeeek: They were surprised when I told them he had no tag and wasn't aggressive.

i was just gonna say that he did not act like a "problem" bear. He seemed to have the natural skiddishness that is normally associated with a non-socialized wild animal. How big was he? (probably hard to tell) where the rangers going to have to investigate?

B

I've seen bigger bears. But this guy wasn't exactly small and looked almost plump.

eeek:

as a matter of fact, he looks rather well fed for being this early in the season. When I was there in Feb, a bear had taken down a buck right there near the Lodge, so i guess there is feeding other than the pica-nic baskits for them.

B

Taken down or found the body?

taken down and eviscerated in front of a gawking throng of photogs, until the bears dragged off the carcass (around Feb 18-19) I, of course, missed it by a day or two. It was the "talk of the Valley" (besides the Firefall that i also missed by a day, but I digress)

B

I'm not sure why a spoiled bear from YV would be relocated to HHV? How smart is that?

Vince wrote:

> I'm not sure why a spoiled bear from YV would be relocated to
> HHV? How smart is that?

It's either something like that or kill the bear.

If it's a female bear she may very well make it back to the valley. The males will let females wander through their territory. A boar on the other hand will be less likely to travel very far as he would have to go through another boar's territory.

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Old Dude