American Black Bear

Black bears are animals that have evolved with lots of really large predators around; things large enough to eat them: short-faced bears, grizzly bears, saber-toothed cats, people, etc. As a result, they were pretty far down on the food chain at one time, so their first instinct is to run, hide, or climb to safety. There are youtube videos of house cats chasing black bears. Some caution is necessary around them, of course, but they are actually pretty well-behaved animals. In fact, and this is going to sound controversial, but they tend to treat people with more respect than they do each other. I get photos in places where bears are habituated to people, because they are so shy and reclusive and armed with such good senses that they almost always are aware of you before you are aware of them. As a result, one rarely sees a bear in the wild, or, at best, only the fleeting glimpses of their backsides as they run off. That being said... Smoky Mountains National Park and Yellowstone National Park are two great places to see black bears. I like Cades Cove in the Smokies and Mount Washburn in fall in Yellowstone (this latter location is also a very good place for grizzlies). One is supposed to maintain a 100 yard distance from bears in these two places, but bears do approach roads and cars and that is where and when I get my photos. It's safe and the bears will sometimes get close. The best place is the Vince Schute Wildlife Refuge in northern Minnesota. This is a private preserve, but the bears are wild and move in and out of the area whenever they want. The one thing I don't like about this place is that they feed the bears, which is why they are there. It's a long story and I won't get into it here, but google the place and you'll get all the info you need. I'll guarantee that one will learn more about bear behavior in one evening shoot there than could be learned in a year in the places like Yellowstone or the Smokey Mountains. Despite my criticism, it is a fabulous place to photograph wild black bears. Most of my shots have been taken at Vince Schute.... There are other places as well. Anan Creek and Fish Creek (Hyder, AK) in Alaska are very good places to see both black and brown bears, but those places are somewhat difficult to reach.