FEARSOME FOLEY

A rare peak into the life of one of our great bears!
My wife and I were commercial fishing here in Southeast Alaska aboard our fishing boat Infinity which we lived aboard year round.
This particular day we were fishing for Dungeness crab at the head of Poison cove in Hoonah sound.  It had a small river running into it that salmon spawned in.  Being early August the salmon were schooling in the cove, but hadn't moved up river yet..  It was one of those rare days we get from time to time, just beautiful!  I was running the hauler pulling up one of the pots I had set in 7-10 fathoms of water when movement in the tree line caught my eye. It was a medium sized brown bear!  Salmon were schooling between the shore and us and this bear had his eye on them.
The salmon he was watching were humpies or pink salmon.  One of five species we fish for here in Alaska.  They are nicknamed "humpies" because of the huge hump they get when they begin to spawn.  In fact they change completely from the beautiful, shiny, silver fish of the open ocean to downright prehistoric looking.  Their jaws elongate and curl.  Their teeth grow long and fang like and as I said, they developed a large humped back.  All the salmon species go through a similar metamorphose.  It's one of the most amazing things I've seen in nature.
Old brownie started walking toward the shore line completely ignoring us.  I stopped the hauler and we watched him approach.  When he got about twenty feet from the water he took off running and with a mighty leap SPLASH, salmon scattered in every direction like an underwater explosion.  We could see his head darting this way and that, but he came up empty mouthed.  Crawling back on the rocks and with a mighty shake that rippled his entire body he sent water flying in every direction.
The bear repeated this process several times, each time missing his prey.  After another unsuccessful attempt he climbed back on the rocks and ambled toward the trees, all the while looking back over his shoulder at the salmon.  There were so many of them.  I knew he must be thinking "how could I have missed?"  About mid-way between the shore and the trees he turned around, gave the salmon a long look and took off running back toward the water.
Another series of leaps splashes and misses!  A little more slowly this time he dragged himself on the rocks and headed for the trees.  He again looked over his shoulder; I could see the hungry look on his face.  Getting to the tree line, he stopped and turned around staring intently at the salmon.  I'll be darn if he didn't take off at a dead run from the trees and never slowing, dove in after the salmon again.  I couldn't believe it!  What tenacity!
After yet another number of leaps and yes, misses, he very slowly crawled out of the water onto the rocks.  He gave a halfhearted shake and head down, slowly walked back toward the trees.  This time he only looked back once.  He then continued on until he was at the tree line.  Here he stopped and turned around, took a step toward shore line and stopped again.  I've never seen such a forlorn look.  He stared at the salmon for a minute or so, then slowly turned and disappeared into the trees.
We felt miserable for him, but we knew in a few days the salmon would start running up the river and he would gorge himself on them, gaining hundreds of pounds in the process.  And by fall he would be so tired of eating them that he would just bite out their brains leaving the rest for the eagles and the seagulls.
It was a rare privilege to share a little time in the life of one of our great bears.  He is after all, the world’s largest land carnivore.  A mighty beast indeed!

Kim Warren