Has anyone else noticed a significant increase the past 2 years for bear presence out on the Chilliwack/Vedder? I never use to see many, but I've been seeing them with fairly regular frequency lately.
Last year I ran into 5 different ones, and I only fished maybe a dozen trips total. All of them but one were a somewhat decent distance off and ran right away. All of them were way upriver (above Allison), and all were healthy looking.
This year I've only fished twice. The other night at prison run I nearly walked in between a mom with two cubs. For whatever reason I didn't clue in at first and thought they were someone's dogs. All three of them treed. What was concerning is that none of the three seemed very concerned about me until I was right on top of them. They seem to be very human habituated as far as tolerance goes (mom didn't show any aggressive behavior despite being less than 20 ferry away), and the mom doesn't look good at all (quite small and very skinny). The babies were super tiny too, much smaller than I'm used to seeing at this time of year.
A friendly reminder to pick up your garbage in that area, and have control over your dogs early morning on your walk in. Hopefully it was a one off and they stay away from there as more people start going out fishing this fall, otherwise I could see them becoming a problem.