The ‘bear’ necessities

Oakhurst is the official Carved Bear Capital of the World and its population of bruins is growing thanks in large part to Mike Scott.

Scott is bringing visions to life in the form of new bears with main character energy at shops all around town. Visit Yosemite Madera County (VYMC) approved grants for a total of 25 bears and six have been delivered so far.

“The opportunity to be the carver for the ‘Carved Bear Capital of the World’ lets me dive into my craft stress-free and focus on making each bear better than the last,” said Scott.

“Smiles are my ultimate goal and, hopefully, the rest will fall in line. So far, everybody’s loving it.”

Scott said he’s grateful to Rhonda Salisbury and Steve Montalto at VYMC for choosing him for the wide-ranging project and giving him creative freedom as each bear develops.

VYMC created an online map of all the Oakhurst bears so everyone can follow the bear trail.

“We are so excited about the bear map and having visitors and locals see the bears,” said Salisbury, CEO of VYMC.

The bears are so elaborate that it has taken about a month for each bear, Salisbury shared.

“Every time there’s a delivery we are there to greet the new bear and we see people stopping by the businesses to admire the artistry and personality of each bear. It’s a slow process but worth every second of the wait.”

The special bears have been delivered to Clash Coffee, Yosemite Axe Throwing, Yosemite Pie Shop, Pak and Page, Reimer’s Candies and Yosemite Falls Trading Post.

Coming soon are Me ‘n Ed’s Pizza, South Gate Brewing Co. and Idle Hour Winery and Kitchen/Queen’s Inn. Each bear is five or seven feet tall.

Apart from the visitor’s bureau contract, Scott created the Teddy Bear Park bear on Road 426, famously holding a phone and a rake in honor of the river trail and Sierra Tel nearby.

Mike Scott’s story

While Scott has long been drawn to woodworking and spent a lot of time drawing in his youth, the wood carving is relatively new. He spent 25 years in sales before a set of circumstances arose and he took the unexplored path.

“It was extremely random,” Scott said.

“It looks like I’ve been carving a lot longer than I have. I’d been a single dad with two kids for 12-13 years, working three jobs technically, and I needed a hobby and it needed to be something cheap. So I was scrubbing YouTube looking for something to do.”

He came across Jordy Johnson’s “Carving Fusion” channel on YouTube and found himself experimenting in his home shop. He soon sold his computerized router and bought a carving tool and the rest, as they say, is bear-story.

But things really kicked into high gear for Scott’s carving career following an unfortunate incident with his beloved dog, Buddy.

“I started carving in March or April of 2024,” Scott shared.

“Toward the end of October, my dog had a really bad accident. It was horrible, to say the least. My dog is like family and was basically my third child for about 10 years. There was no else to take care of him so I had to take a leave from work.”

Buddy’s recovery took almost six weeks with multiple trips to the emergency room.

“I lost my job because of it all so my new found passion and hobby instantly became my only source of income. December 2024 was my first month carving full-time.”

Fortunately Buddy recovered and Scott was suddenly managing a brand new career.

Among his non-bear carvings are a pair of replica giant sequoias for a homeowner in Shaver Lake which required scaffolding to accomplish.

As refined and detailed as his ursine artwork is at completion, it starts out pretty raw.

“Ninety-five percent of the carving is all chainsaw,” Scott explained. “Maybe even higher, 97 or 98 percent. I use a little Dremel on faces, nails and paws but it’s mostly chainsaw, grinder and sander. With all the drawing I’ve done, it feels like I’m drawing with a chainsaw now.”

The favorites

Among his favorite creations currently are the bears at Yosemite Axe Throwing and Yosemite Pie Company. The Yosemite Axe bear took three weeks, Scott said. The Pie bear was challenging because the apron needed to be white and that’s not easy.

“I’ve never seen a bear in a chef hat done before and the arm was the first piece of joinery I did — not the original log. White is extremely hard to do, it wants to turn yellow because of the tannin in the cedar. It got seven different coats of product.”

Like the pie bear, most of the bears are cedar except for a recent exception — the ones Scott carved for Pak and Page, owned by Cheryce Chartier.

Chartier said the prospect of working with Scott was exciting from the start.

“I kept seeing all the wonderful bears around town that he made,” Chartier said.

“When I got the call from him that it was my turn I didn’t realize how pleasant it would be to work one on one with him on the design of my bear. He came up with a really cool design for my packing store and mentioned he had a nice piece of redwood.”

Chartier said she liked the redwood idea because she wanted a piece that would stand out. Unlike the cedar bears, the redwood carving at Pak and Page is unpainted. The two went back and forth a few times finessing the design.

“The entire time Mike reached out to me when something came up or he had a new idea. I trusted his process entirely. I wanted him to have creative license and what he came up with is just stunning.”

“Redwood has a lot of character,” Scott noted. He tells clients to be as creative as they want.

“I may have to step you back but I can carve just about whatever I can see.”

One of the things Scott likes best about his carving business is being in charge of his own schedule, though he tries to keep regular shop hours during the day. He can’t overdo it for his own good and the good of the product.

“It’s not easy running a chainsaw — I keep safe and limit the hours so I’m not tired or sloppy.”

Overall, Scott is immensely grateful to have the unique opportunity of carving bears for the Carved Bear Capital of the World — Oakhurst.

“I’ve spent the majority of my adult life being a single dad and chasing sales jobs I hated because they provided the flexible schedule I needed, years of waking up dreading the day ahead of me. Carving has allowed me to escape that and do something I love. If I can make some ‘Oh, wow!” bears instead of just some cute ones, maybe more people will be inclined to stop and the Carved Bear Capital of the World title will become something the community really loves and benefits from.”

For more on the carved bears and bear trail visit www.yosemitethisyear.com/the-carved-bear-capital of-the-world.