We think that this is the same Black bear that charged a bow hunter, a half mile downslope, two days after I took this photo. I say Black bear, but he did have claws about 4" long .. more like Grizzly length. But the ears and back are Black bear-ish. They do cross breed, although rarely. And there are a few Grizzlies in the area.
This bear was sighted within a mile of my lookout tower several times during the last two weeks of August, as the huckleberries ripened at the high elevations. Also, a 125-150# mountain lion was sighted in the same area: first by me driving back up after a day off; then by an elk hunter; and lastly by a USFS fire crew driving up to the lookout tower, in snow, during the last week of fire season. And two packs of wolves were very active all sumer on opposite sides of my mountain.
My fears in order: mountain lions, wolf packs, then bears. I spend a lot of time on the ground below the lookout during the 2AM-dawn period doing photography. Except for the brief times that the camera shutters are actually open, I am making lots of noise (police whistle, air horn, bear bells, truck horn, etc) and I have a lot of illumination going.
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