On the eve of the publication of Better Off Without ‘Em, how about a couple of crazy cool of wolves and bears?

I shot both a couple weeks ago during a four-day kayak trip through Glacier Bay National Park with my longtime hiking/camping pal and pro photog and game tracker extraordinaire Pat Costello.

Pat is one of the best outdoor photographers in Alaska. If you want to see a whole gallery of shots he took from our trip—which was a great way to prep for the Better Off Without ‘Em book promo and short tour later this summer—check out his Juneau Photos Facebook page.

Everyone has seen photos and video of bears hanging out in streams and rivers munching down on spawning salmon.

But until this trip I’d never known that wolves do the same thing.

Makes sense. Wolves are carnivores (omnivores according to some) and will eat pretty much whatever they can get their paws on.

Still, hanging out on a hillside in Southeast and getting a chance to watch wolves fishing—and interacting with bears invading their turf—was a rare and thrilling experience.

Here’s a brown bear with a pair of cubs in the same stream.

In this one the mama bear gives full-on chase down the stream and eventually catches up with a very speedy fish.

Look closely at the water just a few feet ahead of the charging bruin and you can actually see the fish zipping through the water as it attempts to elude the pursuing bear.

Just watching a bear hauling ass after prey like this at close range was intimidating. Glad we weren’t the ones being charged.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufiJxbhysWs