The Boss, Banff’s biggest grizzly, visits a Bow Valley backyard in Harvie Heights

November 8, 2024 Canuck

The residents of Harvie Heights got a shock last weekend when the most famous bear in the Bow Valley, Bear 122, aka “The Boss,” came looking for crab apples.

It was near the home of nature photographer Jason Leo Bantle, who runs art gallieries dedicated to wildlife photography in Canmore and Banff – but Bantle, in an interview with CTV News on Friday, confessed that he missed the whole glorious photo op.

“He walked right by my house in Harvie Heights — and I’m a professional nature photographer and biologist,” Bantle said. “(But) it was middle of the day! I wasn’t home!”

That night, Bantle saw the news on his social media feed and was pretty crushed.

Fortunately for Bantle, The Boss had a nose for those crab apples, and re-appeared the next day — only to discover the tree was gone.

Apparently, Bantle’s neighbour made a hard choice after the surprise visit.

“The Sunday night after he visited, it was a hard decision for her — she’d planted the tree with her husband 40 years earlier — but she cut the tree down,” Bantle said, “(and then she) cleaned up all of the fruit on the ground and such and made sure it wasn’t attractive when he returned the next day.”

That didn’t deter The Boss, who scoured the area, including climbing up some difficult areas, searching for a meal.

The Boss was looking for crab apples to fill up on prior to winter hibernation

“He was tenacious – he was looking around her yard for an hour, like it was quite unique,” Bantle said, and he was able to shoot some video of the visit.

“Residents and I sat around in the safety of our vehicle and just enjoyed this big bruin – he’s such a beautiful guy,” Bantle said.

Harvie Heights is a hamlet located between Canmore and Banff, but Bantle said having bears drop into town is quite rare – and said it was even more rare for Bear 122, who he said weighs around 600 pounds and is thought to be in his mid-20s, which is around the maximum life expectancy for bears.

The Boss searches for food in Harvie Heights on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024 (Photo: Jason Leo Bantle)

“He’ a pretty unique bear,” Bantle said. “He’s got a lot of history in the Banff area. He’s 600 pounds in weight, he used to wear a radio collar but now his neck is too big so they don’t know his exact locations, but he used to wander great distances – and those distances showed that in the springtime, especially, he would go up and down the valleys looking for girlfriends.

Photographer Jason Leo Bantle recently had an encounter with Bear 122, known as The Boss.

“Because he is our patriarch,” he added. “He’s the father to over 50 per cent of the cubs in the valley.

“So, he’s quite a busy boy in spring.”

Bulking up

Bantle said The Boss was likely bulking up before heading back to Banff to nap it out over the winter months.

“He’s in hyperphasia, which is where they just want to eat as much as they can to bulk up,” he said.

Bantle got a masters degree in biology studying carnivores and said it’s important to respect the need to let wildlife live their lives in nature separately from people – and that by and large, people in the Bow Valley are respectful of wildlife.

“We have to understand, there’s only 65 grizzlies left in Banff National Park,” he said. “That’s not that many relative to historic (numbers) – and every bear is so important, so being aware, being safe in bear areas, being bear smart – there’s many things we can do when we’re out in their wilderness – and (it’s) just important for me as an advocate for nature and conservation to get the word out about these amazing creatures.”

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