BEARS IN THE SMOKIE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK

They estimate that there are 1100 black bears in the Smokie Mountain National Park. A popular place to see them is in the Cades Cove portion of the park. Sometimes you see them sometimes you don't. I just got back from there and this was the most bears I have ever seen on my trips down there. I saw 3 momma bears and three cubs plus a juvenile bear. You have to look closely as they are in the brush or sometimes up trees. You don't want to get too close so a telephoto lense is necessary. I was shooting with a lense with 270mm top end which on the Canon is about 430mm. This seemed to be the time when the momma bears were out foraging. So May might be a good time of year to see the bears.

Photo 1: Momma bear was in the middle of the tree. A cub was 10 ft higher.
           2. Momma bear
           3. One of two cubs
           4. Juvenile bear.