Wildlife Viewing Tip #3: Luck (Grizzly Bears at Discover Banff Tours)

Best times to see wildlife are early in the morning and later in the evening.  By following those simple rules you will improve your chances of seeing wildlife dramatically.  Following terrain and looking for lush vegetation areas will help you find ungulates like deer and elk.  Knowing that bears like dandelions and other flowers will also help you find the best areas to spot them too.  Despite all this though, often it may just come down to being luck.  You being in the right place at the right time. 

That was the case this morning (June 24th) at our main office in the industrial compound in Banff.  Our guiding team had settled in for an early morning meeting over a continental breakfast to talk about procedures and other odds and ends regarding guiding.  We were just wrapping up when someone shouted "Oh my god there's a bear"... And this is what we saw out the front window of our office.

Here you can see the bear walking right through our parking lot.  He actually walked right through our gate but I couldn't get my camera working fast enough so i just got a butt shot of him.

Here he continues to walk off towards the woods at the back of our lot.  You'll notice the doors on one of the busses on the left is wide open.  We were literally out there just a few minutes before this was taken at about 7:30am.

The wardens are on it!  In this last photo you can see a park warden cautiously following the bear with her shotgun at the ready.  They use the noise the rifles make as a tool to haze the bears out of the area and enforce a fear of people.  She fired off one shot as the bear entered the woods at the back of the lot.

Skill seeing this guy?  Planning?  Not at all, just blind luck.  Right place and right time...because we were inside instead of out on the street!

So, to all our staff who take the shortcut through the woods, remember to make noise and keep your eyes peeled.  You never know who is watching you or around the corner.

Daymon Miller

General Manager

dmiller - at- banfftours - dot - com