I've been in the woods in Florida for 50 years and until today I had never seen a Black Bear in the wild. This one seemed oblivious to my presence, but at the same time everywhere I went he followed...acting like he was not interested. At one point I layed on the ground about 20 feet in front of the bear to get a low angle shot and it stopped and stared at me like..."Really???" But he was cool. I never let him get between me and my truck, and I didn't get more than 10 feet from the truck. Wuss...I know. D7200, 300 2.8 handheld while constantly retreating and relocating. EDIT: From other photos, bear people have advised me that this is a young...less than 2 years old...female. {}
Nice shot...but...20 ft from a black bear lying down is not a safe distance. They can move really really fast...Faster than you can run if they were so inclined to chase you. We've had some in our drive way that covered the length of the driveway in seconds. - and our driveway is 120 ft long.
Standard distance in NP is 100 yards for bears. This is from the people that have body bags to clean up the mess when things go bad.
20' away and laying down? 10' from your truck? Really? That bear could have been on you before you realized what was happening.
Ah, but these are Florida bears trained by Disney , and besides, they slow down in the humidity! Seriously, Bobby, great shot!!
Great shot! Black bears tend not to be aggressive when they don't have cubs. 20 feet is close enough for me to want to go home to change my underwear... Just saying. cheers, alexis and Georgie Beagle " think long lenses..." - Georgie Beagle
Palouse makes a good point. Life for everything moves slower as you approach the equator. Plus given the Florida heat and humidity to run quickly while wearing a fur coat would be just plain stupid. Slow and steady.
You got the shot and lived to tell about it. Bears can be quite fast. There was a story up here about a Kenyan distance runner living in Maine who barely beat a bear to a cabin. "Be careful it's a jingle out there."
Thanks for the comments. It was a good experience. As for safety concerns, etc., given the situation and the layout I felt safe but the informed opinions and constructive comments are appreciated.
It's a beautiful photograph and, sensible or not, I would probably have done exactly the same thing if I suddenly found myself in a position to take a photograph like that.
Great capture! My days of moving quickly are in my past.....at 20 ft. away, I likely would have stayed in the truck.
As the old saying goes, you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the person you're with.
Fantastic picture Bobby! I am glad nothing bad happened I grew up on the Mississippi gulf coast and remember seeing a Mama and two cubs ambling along the side of a highway 49. That was in the late 50's.
I have seen black bears here in Washington State, in the Canadian Rockies and at Glacier NP and Yellowstone and the Tetons. They are always fun to see but not sure about 20' as that is a little close, glad the truck was close by. This is a beautiful image by the way. \
Well, Bobby, there are many things to say about this, I'll start by saying "Nice danged picture!" Now that I have said that: 1. 20 feet? Are you bonkers man? Then again, there was that day a few years ago in the Grand Tetons where Nancy and I had a yearling grizzly walk up at us, not much farther away. And it was between us and our car, the only place we could have gone would have been into the river behind us. Luckily for us we knew Mama was miles away. 2. You obviously need a longer lens. 3. Listen to Jim, or ask him about the time he and the Ranger and the Bear had a close encounter 4. When looking for bears, do not wear Power Bacon Deodorant, as they say on the web site "Do not eat or hike in the woods without a firearm while wearing POWER BACON." 5. Next time try this with a 24mm, instead of that 300mm, I'm sure the Disney Bear won't mind ... To finish up, really nice shot.
