Kayak Hunting

Here's another post about an unsuccessful bear hunting trip, this one done from a kayak rather than a bicycle.  In contrast to the bicycle bear hunt, I did see a black bear this time but as I was glassing it with my binoculars as I bobbed in the kayak, it spotted me and immediately bolted into the forest.  I found this to be unusual behavior as the majority of bears that I have seen from a kayak either seemed to not notice me or seemed to not care.  My guess is that this bear has seen a fair amount of human activity on the water lately as it is bear hunting season and most spring bear hunters "hunt" by cruising the beaches in boats until they spot a bear eating the sedges and grasses.  This isn't my style of hunting and I'd rather not shoot a bear than be successful in such a way.

A few of the other animals I saw today while paddling the shoreline were multiple minks, a couple of deer including this doe with her newborn fawn, and something that made this a successful trip after all, at least for a nature lover like myself - a sighting of a very rare bird in Alaska and southeast Alaska in particular.  It's a bird that isn't rare in many other parts of the country and I have seen countless numbers of them in the past but this was my first sighting of one in southeast Alaska so I was pretty pleased.

That is an osprey and as I said, it isn't a particularly rare bird in a lot of places but this is the first time I have ever seen one here and I spend a lot of time outside.  The reason for their rarity here must have something to do with the very healthy and large population of Bald Eagles here as they compete for the same foods, nesting places, and position in the hierarchy of predatory birds.  I was able to get a few decent photos of this bird from the kayak despite the slight swells and it gave me several opportunities as it kept flying ahead of me down the shoreline before perching in a tall tree.

So, no bear meat in the freezer again but this sighting made this a successful trip nonetheless.  Photography and hunting share many of the same required skills and goals for success.  A photo can be a trophy  that can be displayed with a potentially interesting story surrounding it.  Photography requires patience, preparation, luck, and the drive to create the opportunity by being "out there" where the potential photographs will be.  Plus, photography extends the hunting season to the entire year!