Hunter finds lost GoPro filled with bear footage

A man in Laramie, Wyoming, was on an archery hunt when he came across an old GoPro. After returning it to his camp and loading it, he found several minutes of footage that appeared to have been captured by a bear.

Dylan Schilt was out in the wild when he stumbled upon the camera which he said had probably been there for several months. He described the situation on his Facebook.

“Last week, while hunting archery, I came across a GoPro that got lost on a snowmobile. When I got back to camp I loaded it up and couldn’t believe what I saw, ”Schilt writes. “After four months, a big black bear found it and not only managed to turn it on, but also started recording while playing with it.”

The more than four minutes of footage he shares shows what appears to be an American black bear playing with the GoPro, hitting it with its paws and carrying it in its mouth. The plans clearly show an abundance of snow, but none on the surrounding trees. The snow on the ground also looks quite wet, giving credit to Schilt’s late spring timeline.

The first minute and a half of the footage appears to show the bear pushing the camera with its paw and trying to grab it with its mouth. He eventually manages to do this and ends up turning the front of the camera towards his face, resulting in a sort of rudimentary video selfie.

There are portions of the video that show extreme close-ups of the inside of the bear’s mouth, possibly the best look many will ever have of a black bear’s rather impressive teeth. Eventually, the bear clearly loses interest in the GoPro and the final seconds of the footage shows the GoPro resting peacefully, unattended.

“By far the craziest thing I have ever found!” Schilt concludes.

It’s unclear whether the bear at some point thinks the GoPro is food, or is just curious about a device unlike any other naturally found in its surroundings.

Animals and cameras have an interesting history, especially if it was the animal that captured the footage. For example, in 2011, a monkey photographed itself with the camera of photographer David Slater. The photographer then spent years fighting for copyright in court over the photos. Even though the United States Copyright Office said in 2014 that animals cannot own copyright and a judge ruled the same in 2016, Slater has spent years fighting in court for official ownership. and eventually went bankrupt.