Mama Bear and Cubs

We were banding our busiest site (Crane Flat) today when at the end of our net runs, I saw a sow bear with two cubs. I was maybe 40 meters away from where they were foraging. I went quickly back to the station to get the bear mace, just in case. I tried to haze the bear away (I hadn’t seen the cubs yet), but they didn’t really notice and continued foraging. We closed the nets (bears are known to eat birds out of mist nets) and took some great pictures before heading home. Jeff got some great ones with his telephoto lens that I’ll try to post later.