Bear Scratching Back - Eye in the Sky
I estimate this was a good 300-400 lb black bear located in Culpeper County VA. It had just crossed over a 2 lane highway and retreated into the woods, a family member told me they saw it lumber across the road in front of them. I took off immediately in my drone to see if I could capture it, after flying around for 10 mins, I was lucky enough to spot it in a small clearing in the woods about 600ft off the highway. I was flying 280 ft up, zoomed in with my Mavic 3 between 7x-25x. Drone was never BVLOS. The bear heard me fly in, in an earlier clip, it can be seen looking for the drone in the air. =)
While this was a large black bear, it was NOT Bearzilla. 3 years ago, I spotted a bear outside my house and caught it on a security camera, it was standing 7'1". It was the largest black bear I have ever seen, it broke a railing off my deck and ripped 4ft of decking off by climbing it to get to a bird feeder. Several days after seeing this and sharing it with a neighbor who laughed in my face that no black bear could ever get to that size, I heard from that neighbor who was picking crow feathers from his teeth after he had to eat some humble pie, upon coming home late one evening, he happened upon Bearzilla in his driveway, the man was driving an F-250 and he said he startled the bear which was going through his trash and when it stood up, it was taller than his truck! =D
So here's to you Bearzilla.. where-ever you are!