Young Grizzly Enjoying Dandelions

Last evening I took my sister-in-law, Jinette Lee for a wildlife excursion into Kananaskis Country. We traveled to an area where I thought our chances of seeing a bear were best, the Highwood Pass on Highway 40. No luck there. I decided to return home via the Smith-Dorrien Trail, taking us through areas where I had seen bears before. We were  fortunate to come upon a young grizzly shortly after turning onto the road north to Canmore. Jinette proved to be an able spotter, seeing the bear in the woods beside the road, moving in the same direction as were traveling. After following it a bit, the bear emerged and walked along the road awhile before returning into the trees. We moved up to where our quarry had left the road and soon found it heartily eating dandelions in a patch not far away.  We had a good line of sight and were able to observe and photograph this beautiful animal for 5-10 minutes before it had enough and moved off deeper into the forest. A great experience! Here are a couple of pictures of the hungry bear.

You can see the transmitting locator on the bear’s ear. The Fish and Wildlife use these to track the bears’ movements as part of their conservation initiatives. This bear also wore a collar, probably for identification.