YellowStone National Park Visitor Thinks the Bears Should be "Trained" to Appear on C

[HawaiianShirts]

Sounds about right for Yellowstone.

I spent a summer working there. I watched a whole group of tourons following a pair of grumpy bull elk way too closely. One of the elk suddenly turned his attention from his opponent to all the weird animals following him, bellowed, and lunged as if about to chase them. It was enough to get them to scatter. Wish I had that one on video.

Also watched several guys with cameras held to their eyes creep up on buffalo... as the buffalo stared right at them. I tried to stop one with, "Your camera's going to make a lousy shield if that bison attacks you." He thought about that for a moment, took some pictures, and then slowly backed away. At least he didn't go any closer.

There was one female buffalo that liked to nap about eight feet of the side of the trail that led from the employee dorms to the cafeteria. We could walk right past her, and she wouldn't even move. If we paused near her, she'd lift her head and watch us for a moment, then grunt threateningly as if telling us to keep moving. Nobody I knew tried anything with that one.

I wouldn't mind seeing a bear from a safe distance, they are amazing animals, but I don't want to be near it. Binocular distance works for me.

Saw two bears while I worked there. An old-looking grizzly on the edge of a distant copse of trees about halfway between Lone Star Geyser and the Shoshone Geyser Basin--too far away across a meadow for me to take a picture even with the camera zoomed in as far as it would go. And a youngish black bear in Hayden Valley, fairly close to the road but across the river; it caused a traffic jam for at least a mile in either direction.