One day during lunch a call came over the radio for the bear squad. The bear squad consists of myself the other wildlife biologist, two bear management people whose job is to keep the bears out of the main part of camp, the only place at Brooks Camp where bears do not have the right away, and the bear monitor whose job is to monitor the bears activities on the river, identify which bears come to the river and number the new bears. As the two of wildlife biologist can not just monitor bears all summer at Brooks Camp. We have five million acres of bear territory to monitor and of course all the other creatures that live at Katmai. The call came in from a ranger stationed at the bridge that a courting couple was heading towards camp.
A courting couple is a female bear, or sow, who is in estrus, who is giving off a special scent to tell all the male bears she is ready to have cubs, and of course a male bear or boar. The sow will not mate with a boar until she is ready and the time is right. This could take up to two weeks. Meanwhile the boars will follow her around every where until he can mate with her. Once we got the call the five of us ran out to various places to keep on an eye on the couple. They crossed over the path just before the main part of camp and headed to the beach. From where I was standing 100 yards down the beach at the edge of the woods I saw them coming towards me. Then the female stopped. The boar moved closer to her and rubbed his head along the side of the her body. She than nuzzled the the boar. It was a very tender moment for the two of them but it did not lead to anything.
She continue down the beach towards me. The beach is usually where the float planes drop people off and boats will land and tie up at. But is also the major highway for the bears to get to and from the river. If there are bears on the beach the bear squads job is to get all the humans up into the woods to let the bears have a clear shot down the beach. If humans block the beach the only place for the bears to go is up into camp where we don't want them, so I will be spending a lot of time on the beach directing bear and human traffic.
I watched the couple come closer so I moved back towards camp keeping them in my sights to watch the story play out. Unfortunately, we were called back to class before they got close enough for a good picture and since they were on the beach I did not have to stay and monitor them anymore and had to go back to class. I was totally disappointed.
Three days later our class ( the class was Motorcraft Operation Safety) was outside near the river going over trailering your boat on the road. The class had their backs to the river listening to the instructor with the viewing platform behind us. When out of the brush came the same female, who we determined was Diget and behind her was the boar, number 854. Once the couple had passed the class we all moved safely onto the platform and for the next 30 minutes observed the couple. Diget proceeded to move around the sandbar and in and out of the brush with the 854 following close behind. About 30 yards from the platform she stopped and waited for 854 to catch up. Then the two of the started to nuzzle one another. Their heads rubbed against each others necks. Then Diget got up and moved a few feet away. 854 stood and stared at her then moved back beside her. He pulled her close to him with his huge paws and it looked like he was kissing her. Then in front of the class they mated. The bear squad took notes that the couple had mated so if Diget comes out next year with cubs we know who might be the father. Females will mate with more than one male and it is not uncommon for a group of cubs to have different fathers. The rest of the class made comments, not all that can be repeated. I am thrilled to have been able to witness the scene as in the lower 48 that is not a scene that is seen too often.
When the boar was finished Diget headed down the beach and 854 was following behind. We returned back to class.
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