Vancouver Island Black Bears - Dave's Nature Conservation Photography

The first two Black Bear images in this gallery were taken on a trip to Ucluelet / Tofino May 2008.

Vancouver Island Black Bears - Where is the water???

My close friend, Shane, his friend Scotty, and myself ventured into the wilderness on Vancouver Island to hopefully catch a glimpse of Black Bears. I had envisioned the days before to view a bear fishing. All three of us had hip waders, rubber boats, lots of camera gear and all ready to truck through creeks and river beds ... to see bears! The first few hours on the first day were quiet and both Shane and I kept asking Scotty; Where are the bears? Scotty has been travelling these parts of Vancouver Island doing fishing tours for 16 years. He was confident we would see bears and knew the spots well.

Not long after that, the three of us were trucking down a river bed and spotted a bear, then two, then three. At one point I believe we had 5-6 within sight and range of our camera equipment. This section of the river was popular for the bears and we visited regularly over the next 2-3 days.

One reason for the popular spot was the shockingly low level of the river and the relatively easy access for the bears. To me, it looked like a creek. With our very low rainfall over the previous 4-5 months (and past 4 summers I have lived on Vancouver Island), salmon were stuggling to make it up the river to their spawning ground.

This made for a very up close and personal encounter with the black bears as the salmon we getting tired from the low river level. One particular bear put on special show. She tired 5 times to find a specific salmon of her choice. The first few salmon where Chum and Coho, but not good enough. One bite and the bear would throw the fish back into the river and run around looking for something else. In the moment, I had no idea that the result would be a 30-40lb Chinook. That bear was so proud and content that it finally got the Catch of the Day ... and was gone up the river bank and into the bush in about 10 seconds. That was one of my favourite photographic moments (and resulting images) of the entire year.

Scotty later told us that the Nitinat River used to 15-20 feet higher which was mind blowing to comprehend. In some of the images, the bare river bank is visible. Something drastic is happening with our ecosystem. Is is global warming, I am not totally convinced. One thing is for sure, the Nitinat River level was down to the inches in some areas, but why?

These conditions lead to a photographic experience I will never forget.