A hunter since the age of 12, Bearer invests his patience and his spirit of adventure into each photo of the wildlife found in the area and at the family’s hunting camp in Clinton County.

“Wildlife photography is my passion,” he said recently and said he takes pleasure from walking the trails of area gamelands and waiting for the perfect shot. He still carries a gun, but it’s more for protection as he prefers to use his decades of tracking experiences to get close to his wild subjects.

His work is displayed at the family’s store, Bearer Appliance in Carrolltown, made into printed cards he sends as thank you notes to customers and is for sale at Simple Men Outdoors in nearby Patton. He also donates large prints with custom-made frames to various nonprofit organizations in the area.

His donations are popular at basket auctions, said Sallie Bender, assistant manager/office secretary of the John Carroll Area Ambulance Service. The ambulance service’s most recent basket auction fundraiser featured three of Bearer’s photos, which he donated to help their cause.

Wildlife photographer Don “Duck” Bearer’s photo, “Bobcat on the path,” is seen at his family business showroom, Bearer Appliances, in Carrolltown. Courtesy photo

“Everybody likes his photos. He makes his own frames and he does a nice job,” she said.

At Simple Men, employee Tracy Neff said a sales display of Bearer’s works attracts the attention of customers.

“It’s amazing how close he gets to (the animals). He’s very patient and his photos are very good. They are popular with customers who buy them for their hunting camps,” Neff said.

Known as Duck since childhood after Disney’s famous Donald, Bearer has his hunting trophies and his best photographs in a display at the appliance store. One of the keys to his success is keeping his camera nearby.

A playful, whimsical shot of a baby red squirrel happened right outside in the store’s gravel parking lot. He spotted the squirrel after he parked his car when going into work.

Wildlife photographer Don “Duck” Bearer’s photo, “Baby red squirrel,” is seen at his family business showroom, Bearer Appliances, in Carrolltown. Courtesy photo

“It’s not sleeping. It’s being shy and goofy. It was early summer and he was laying down,” Bearer said, mimicking the squirrel and putting his hands about his head and face. “With my photographs, I like making eye contact because it makes for better composition.”

To attain the right perspective, Bearer laid his lanky frame on the gravel and silently maneuvered himself closer and closer. Then, the emboldened squirrel approached Bearer and scampered up his leg into his hand. “He liked having his photo taken.”

The encounter lasted more than a half hour.

Lying nearly nose to nose with a baby squirrel is one thing, but Bearer has also done it with snakes and insects, too.

“Anyone can take a picture like this,” he said, miming shooting down from a standing position. “People say, ‘what are you nuts?’ I say, ‘No, I’m adventurous.’ I go way, way out of my way to capture a photo.”

His sojourns into the woods are solitary.

“I do 99 percent of my photography by myself. That way you can take your time and be there for an hour, two hours, three hours just trying to get that perfect shot. If you’re with somebody, they’ll say, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ It’s easier to go by yourself.”

Of the thousands of nature photos he’s taken, his favorite is of an elk, the velvet of its antlers peeling away in long strips silhouetted against trees.

It’s a photo 28 days in the making, as Bearer tracked it on its journey through farmers’ fields. The elk, which had five points on one side and six points on one side, became a topic of conversation as it wandered across Cambria County.

“I took a lot of time and I have a lot of patience,” he said, “My goal was to get a picture of it shedding its velvet,” He’d search early in the morning, go to work and then start again in the evening after work.

“The corn is this tall,” he recounted, gesturing above his head. “I started walking back to my truck one evening. I had put so much time and effort into it that I thought, ‘Don’t give up. Get back in there.’ So I turned and went back into the woods. And, all of a sudden I see the tips of his antlers and I see the velvet coming off. So I walked through the field and set my tripod up and it came busting through at about 50 yards and it turned around and looked at me. It didn’t go back into the cornfield. It laid right down and started shaking its head as if to say, ‘Take as many photos as you want.’ Seriously, it’s like it knew me.”

The next day he went back and found the velvet, which he has on display. Later, the elk was hit by a vehicle and euthanized.

“There’s a story behind every photo whether they’re my photos or your photos. I have some pretty good stories,” Bearer, 61, said.

One of his surprise encounters happened with a bobcat as he drove on a back road in Clinton County in the early hours of Labor Day 2019. “I got out of my truck and started clicking.” Another time, he surprised a bear out of its den.

During his early years, he used his father’s film camera until the day he and a friend were lake fishing in Sinnemahoning, Cameron County. An eagle perched nearby in a tree and watched the men catch fish, then decided to join them. The eagle deftly caught a fish and flew with it in its talons. The fish struggled and fell through the air about 10 yards from the boat. The eagle caught the fish a second time as both hit the water with a splash.

“That’s the perfect photo that I never caught. I’ll never forget it,” Bearer said. He’d run out of film. “That was a moment I’d have liked to have captured.”

The Bearer file

Name: Don “Duck” Bearer

Age: 61

Residence: Carrolltown

Family: Mother, Sally Bearer; father, Benno Sr. (deceased); and brother Benno Jr.

Education: Cambria Heights Class of 1981

Employment: Co-owner of Bearer Appliances, Carrolltown