The
Beginning
.
It was
October of
1995, she was four years old, and it was my last day in Yellowstone National
Park that year. Snow was falling heavily when I came upon the grizzly.
She was
eating what looked like the last few remains of a yearling elk. I stood in
the snow for a little more than three hours, photographing the bear
whenever she did something interesting. The falling snow and bad light made
for awful images, but I was glued to the scene regardless. At the time,
this was the
closest I’d ever been to a grizzly bear and I was fascinated. I knew I’d always remember
the experience, but what happened next was even more memorable.
.
Between eating and sleeping, the bear would
occasionally walk
in a circle, sniffing the air with her nose held high. After doing this
many times she came directly into the group of people that had gathered by the roadside. Of course everyone scattered and the situation became
chaotic as the bear grabbed a backpack that someone left on the ground.
Rangers cleared everyone away and closed the area. I later found that
the backpack belonged to a hunter who put deer scent on it to
attract deer. I guess he didn’t realize the scent of a deer would also attract
bears. The bear’s penalty for the hunter’s stupidity was being
tranquilized and given a radio collar and an identifying number by Yellowstone’s
bear management folks. From that time on the bear was known as “Bear 264”, or simply “264”.
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