There is great variation among areas in the number of bears you are likely to see.  At some sites, you can reliably watch several bears at your convenience. At McNeil Falls, for instance, during the peak of the salmon run, up to 60 or 70 grizzlies can be seen at once. At Brooks Falls, you may see a dozen. However, at certain other sites, you may wait for hours to even glimpse one bruin. Given that bear numbers fluctuate dramatically with season, don’t book a trip to any site before learning how abundant bears usually are there during your window of opportunity.

 

 

 

    Boars are most likely to be seen in large refuges such as McNeil River Game Sanctuary, or Katmai and Lake Clark National Parks.  Elsewhere, their abundance and trust for people have been lowered by hunting.  This effect is greatest in areas where hunting is legal.  However, it may carry over into Parks and other refuges.  For some “Park bears” may spent part of their year, if not their life, outside the Park.

 

    At Wolverine Creek, adult male brownies are seldom seen; those that fish this Creek tend to stay upstream, out of sight. Most brownies seen at Wolverine are adult females or youngsters of either gender. Local scarcity of top ranking boars allows greater access by lower-ranking sows and cubs, increasing their consumption of salmon, which could increase their nutritional status and rates of reproduction and survival.  One side-effect of this is greater opportunity for viewers to see brownie sows and young.  Also taking advantage of the situation are male black bears.