Viewing coastal brown bears in the backcountry can be very intense at times. This sow and her 3 COY (Cub Of Year, or cubs born this year) came from about 100 yards away from us and slowly foraged their way over to where we were sitting. She and the cubs showed no signs of aggression or intolerance so we let them get closer and closer. Got to the point where I wasn’t comfortable standing up and moving away since she was a mere 2 meters from us, and we politely talked to her into moving away just a smidge.

Often times females will bring their cubs over towards humans to act as a babysitter or human shield to protect them from male bears. They know that males tend to stay clear from humans and will hang out near humans to help them relax when boars are around.

Anytime you get these close encounters it rattles you. So much emotion and primal instinct screaming at you to get out of there. But understanding the bears behavior and reading its emotions and actions allows you to read what sort of situation that bear is bringing.


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