Photographing wild brown bears in Finland

[@richardgreenwood7918]

Just found your videos. Brought back some happy memories of my trips in June 2018 & August this year to WBB. Makes me want to go back!!

[@MikSwePhoto]

Thank you Richard. I find it very rewarding to experience brown bears so close and I am happy to be able to share that experience with you and other viewers. I hope you have a great holiday 😀

[@GregSheard]

Absolutely fantastic 👏 I'm planning on visiting the bear hides in 2023 as I'm going to Iceland this year. I can't wait to see them 🙂 just subscribed

[@MikSwePhoto]

Thank you so very much ;-) When you get to Finland stay at least three nights and if possible change hides each day to maximize lots of good photos :-)

[@GregSheard]

@@MikSwePhoto thats the plan for sure, I think the company I'm going with I'll be doing 5 nights so should be brilliant 🙂

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@GregSheard These days plans are not so reliable but I hope it will work out for you and you will have a nice stay with lots of good photos 😊

[@xana7196]

Beautiful landscape and glorious weather! 10:45 Wow! Such a big one, no jokes with guy like that

[@MikSwePhoto]

Yeah that is a big bear. I looked at some pictures from my last visit of what I think is the same bear and it has probably gained at least 50 % more weight since then 😁

[@xana7196]

@@MikSwePhoto Yes, he looks really heavy! Do the Finland bears sleep in winter season? Our Russian do so they have to gain a lot of fat to survive winter

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@xana7196 These bears are living close to the no-mans-zone between Finland and Russia so they are not specific to Finland. generally I think bears sleep when the weather is to hard to go out and find food. They will stay up and eat as long as they can.

[@xana7196]

@@MikSwePhoto Thank you

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@xana7196 You are welcome 😊

[@janinymanwildlife4563]

Beautiful experience 😃 Bear hides is on my bucket list yet!

[@MikSwePhoto]

It is well worth waiting for, at least once the bear appears 😁. There are lots of places in Finland where you can rent a hide. Some are often fully booked, but this one often have hides that are not booked due to the fact that they have o many.

[@janinymanwildlife4563]

Yes, i live in Finland but never been there! I have touth it a turist thing but i was wrong 🙂

[@xana7196]

@@MikSwePhoto I didn't know that one have to rent it. I thought it's free as it is in UK. Or may be some of them are free, don't know exactly. The ones I saw were free

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@janinymanwildlife4563 Actually it has always been a lot of Finnish visitors when I have been there, even thou there are a lot of foreign visitors also. In 2015 I counted to over 15 bear hide companies but only about 5 that was easy to find online, probably because I was searching in English. 😊

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@xana7196 Well Xana, I am quite certain that there are no bears roaming free in the UK 😊. Many hides around the world are free to visit, but as soon as there are some kind of feeding activity you will probably have to pay to sit in those hides. These bears are free, that is they are living in the wild and is not captive in any way. Some, like the big bear in the video, has become use to taking the food and also is not so shy any more. He was much more hesitant and cautious to approach the hides when I visited in 2015.

[@xana7196]

10:58 I wonder why all the birds follow the bear? Do they pick up some food after him? 12:22 Ah, understood. So birds now know the custom, a bear equals some hidden food to pick up. Very clever

[@MikSwePhoto]

Yes birds are a lot clever than people give them credit for 😊Usually one can see ravens, crows and magpies tracking the bears but in this time of year the majority of the birds on this site is gulls.

[@xana7196]

@@MikSwePhoto The bear looked like a fishing schooner followed by seagulls 😊😊

[@MikSwePhoto]

@@xana7196 😂 You are right about that 😁

[@julien-olivierjok3093]

Is it really wild or is it fed like a lot of these companies running bear hides ?

[@MikSwePhoto]

These bear are living free and wild in the no-mans-land between Finland and Russia. Bear hide operators put out some small amount of meat which attracts the wild bears.