Grizzly Fight at Katmai

The Silver Salmon run is just beginning and these 3'-long beauties are few and far between. Mama Bear snagged two of these cherished babies at once suggesting they were spawning at the time. Otherwise there's no way a mother would give away an entire fish; typically she eats first and best and the kids get leftovers... her survival is paramount. Sporting porcupine quills in his front paw, Baby Bear saw her make the catch and trotted upstream to share in the bounty. Big Bad Bruin also saw the catch and decided he'd cash in on her success. Mama defended both her catch and her cub, losing the former after three horrendous battles that were as intense as any erupting volcano could ever be. He got a fish and eventually wandered downstream to see if he could steal more from other Mama's fishing along the stream. Mama and Baby (juvenile to be correct but 'Juvenile Bear' doesn't exactly roll off the tongue) both survived and shared the fish that Bruin missed. I often wonder what they're doing right now... . MAJOR appreciation to premier bear guide BRAD JOSEPHS (http://www.youtube.com/user/bradjosephs) for sharing his extensive knowledge... needless to say the two of us had one heck of an afternoon.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Katmai
• bear
• stires
• alaska
• grizzly
• salmon
• john stires
• bear fight
• grizzly fight
• wrestling
• brad josephs
• bradjosephs
• nature
• battle

[bradjosephs]

this is awesome John!!! very nice job!