Okanagan man has surprise encounter with grizzly bear

It was a typical morning for Lake Country’s Cory Jmaeff when he hiked into the backcountry armed with his camera to look for wildlife subjects last week, but the excursion ended up far different than expected.

Trekking along a trail in the Beaver Lake area behind Lake Country, Jmaeff noticed piles of dirt had been dug up.

“I wondered if it was from bears digging in the area so when I arrived at an open spot to look for wildlife to photograph, I was on the alert for bears,” he said.

He said he scanned the landscape several times without noticing anything until he finally zeroed in on a grizzly bear, lying down roughly 50 meters away, perfectly blended into its surroundings.

“My heart jumped in the moment of course, I was like ‘oh crap, this wasn’t what I was expecting,'” he said.

“He was lying there staring at me.”

Despite the close distance to the bear, the seasoned wildlife photographer was able to keep calm and get two quick photos of it. Then it stood up.

“He kept eye contact with me the whole time and then slowly started walking the other way,” Jmaeff said. “I gave him the same respect and left the area.”

Different groups have been trying to increase the grizzly bear population in the Okanagan for three decades. In 2018, the Joint Nations Grizzly Bear Initiative established to help bring grizzlies back to the North Cascades region, allowing the bears to naturally infill into the Okanagan. In 2024, the Okanagan Nation Alliance joined the effort.

Jmaeff is a hunter, hiker and wildlife lover who moved to the Okanagan from Victoria a decade ago. He maintains a network of trail cameras in the Central Okanagan. In the past seven years, numerous grizzlies have been caught on his cameras set up on the east side of Okanagan Lake.  

Last year, his trail camera near Oyama Lake picked up a mother grizzly bear with two cubs playing in the grass.

The grizzly bear he just encountered on the trail is the first one in the Okanagan he has come face to face with.

“I spend a lot of time in the bush, and almost all of my trail cameras have grizzlies on them but this is the first one I’ve seen up close,” he said. “They’re very smart and reclusive so you don’t see them often, but there are a lot more around than people might think.”

Jmaeff said he’s well aware he was easy prey for the grizzly.

“I mean I had bear spray but I’m completely helpless compared to him,” he said. “Grizzlies eat mostly vegetation but I was standing there on that mountainside, I was no challenge for him.

“Running and panicking isn’t the best option when you’re in front of any animal. I feel keeping my calm might have been a part of why he decided to leave.”

Jmaeff described the encounter as unforgettable and a reminder of the importance of staying alert and respecting wildlife.

He has a Facebook page called Wildly Remindful for other outdoor enthusiasts to share their reflections on nature. He plans to turn the social media posts into a tabletop book featuring 40 animals local to the Okanagan.