Guess this kind of answers how many bears a beached whale will feed:



Info that I rec'd:

Photo taken from the air over Kodiak Island. The bears are feeding on a whale carcass that can be seen near the beach. The pilot who took this photo said that there were just as many bears on the hillside (outside of the picture) as were on the beach�..

I count 42 in the picture. So another 42 on the hillside makes about 85 bears. Gotta be a couple of shooters in there!!!

Muskeg Man, Unbelievable!!!! not a good place to be on foot. Don

I like the "ATV" trails they've made!

Reckon they're thinking, "What a salmon!!!"?

That's a great picture!

DJ

Wow, I counted 45.

My new wallpaper. Awesome!

I hope Art doesn't see this... he will jump the population estimate of bears here to 15,000! :-_)

Oh my stars!!!!

Can you imagine being the deer hunters that got dropped on that bay the day before the whale washed up?..grin

Would give money to hear the sat phone call to Andrews or Seahawk for that early pick up!

Yea, just getting out of the tent for the morning piss and seeing that.

That is really something. Very cool.

I stole the picture.

That is some picture.

Does anyone remember the video of the bear at Cold Bay? He was "The" Beach Master. Slept on top of a beached beluga carcass. No sea gull or raven dared to get close to the carcase. He ran all comers away. What a neat tape that was.

I can see where a beached whale would draw bears from great distances... But many local dinks would probably find temporary quarters elsewhere...

Oh, and NOTHING comes close to beached whale for stench!

And if you have never seen it, I strongly recommend googling "exploding whale" and watching the video.

Oh yeah!!!

Blubber is an amazing insulator. If the No Slope Inupiat can get to a "lost" whale anytime within the next 3 daysafter the kill, they'll take only the skin, which is out next to the cold water.

Inside the blubber layer, the whale will still be near normal body temp, in 32 degree water, trapped under the ice for 3 days. You can smell it right thru the ice- and the skin isn't all that good anymore either, tho still edible........

You can imagine what meat and innards kept at 100 degrees (or whatever) for 3 days is like....

It would take a lot of sauce, I'll bet.

las is correct. In fact, a friend of mine (Stu Innes, now deceased) published a cool little scientific paper "How fast should a dead whale cool?" and the thermal modeling did indicate a surprising conservation of heat over many days.

This is my favorite scientific paper title! Closely followed by my favorite book title "Consider a Spherical Cow" by Harte.

John (biologist, if anybody is wondering)

That's quite a bear diversion!! Think I'll fly up and deer hunt real quick before they get off that carcass.

What a cool photo! As others have pointed out; there is absolutely nothing, that compares to the odor of putrid marine mammal. Has to be smelled to be believed!

Jeff

Ever wonder why people from the lesser 48, ask why doesn't the State require brown bear meat to be salvaged? The best answer I ever heard or seen is that picture.

I place black bear right up there with elk as my all time favorite meat. The Sitka black tail's fat as the best of all deer fat I've ever tasted.

Who says biologists don't have a keen sense of hunor.

Dang all I see is a red X. Help!

http://www.hunt101.com/data/500/Tonsofbears3bbc.jpg

Try the direct link.

A guy could really score if he put up one of those pop up huntin 'blinds right at the base of those intersecting game trails...........

Hey, if Mr. Treadwell can do it.........................oh ya.

Never mind.....................

Which to shoot? The one who is on top of the carcass. Ya know he isn't going to be a little bear with all those teeth circling.

Ya baby!!

Thanks IB. Wow!

You bet!

The one heading towards the others about 20 yds. on the other side of the creek looks to be pretty good sized. Nice pic.

Now the recovery of a downed bear would prove to be quite interesting.

I'm sure with all that whale meat, they wouldn't be interested in a easy person meal. Seriously just ask Timmy Tastewell