Cooking and camping safely in bear country

[crashdive123]

Drink lots of water and urinate the perimeter of your campsite......works for me.

And it makes for fun at night when playing with a blacklight.

[trax]

depends on the bear and it's experiences trax, you should know that.

that's why I mentioned usually with the loud noises, it doesn't take them very long to get accustomed to noises. If you're firing bullets into the air or the ground to scare off a bear, don't fire all of them. If he hasn't packed his azz outta there after the first couple of shots, put the third one in him. I mean..you know...if you feel threatened.

[canid]

yeah. that's actualy how many blackbear attacks have happened. they start persuing somebody out of curiosity and the person lets the curiosity turn into the bear thinking 'i'm pretty sure i can eat this thing, or at least play with it for a while'

if their fear/trepidation disolves before the curiosity does, you have a dangerous bear on your hands.

[Rick]

Inviting a couple of neighbors to drop by:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=EzdKfjkcxuU&feature=related

[canid]

that one's got nothing on this

[crashdive123]

Nice one canid. The coffee that sprayed out from my nose was about the same when I saw that commercial on tv.

[Rick]

Here's an interesting article on protectoring yourself from big game with a handgun. If food precautions don't work, it's nice to know you have a Plan "B":

http://outdoorlife.com/article.jsp?I...0&categoryID=0

Thoughts?

[canid]

i may be crazy [it's never been proven] but i do trust bear spray. anything not deterred by that stuff just might deserve to get me. that aside, a nice magnum handgun or a 12ga pump is about as safe as you're going to get, if you have the clarity to use it.

i read that article and i'm glad they mentioned feral dogs and boar. those worry me more than deer, elk, bear or the rest of the run of said mill.

[Beo]

Burrying the food works well, as does hanging it if its high enough on a strong branch although Rick very few branches will support the weight of a truck load of twinkies bear spray works good as does an air horn to scare them off (so I been told on the air horn).

[Last Mohican]

Just pee on the bear. That should take care of the situation.

Then he will be both pissed off and pissed on.

[trax]

Except canid's bear, that son of a gun knew martial arts. I don't think I can pee from a great enough distance to accomplish what you're suggesting LM, cuz I don't really want to get that close to a pissed on/pissed off bear. LOL.

[Tony uk]

Except canid's bear, that son of a gun knew martial arts. I don't think I can pee from a great enough distance to accomplish what you're suggesting LM, cuz I don't really want to get that close to a pissed on/pissed off bear. LOL.

Its all in the technique trax

[Rick]

If I was that close to a bear, peeing is one of two things I'd be doing. I would guess the smell of the second one would be the greater deterrent.

[trax]

Its all in the technique trax

thanks Tony, I really really really don't want to learn any more about it...

[Tony uk]

thanks Tony, I really really really don't want to learn any more about it...

Your Welcome

[dilligaf2u2]

I have camped in bear country. I have a bear valet. I have never been bothered. I cook and eat at least 100 feet from my camp. I never have food on me. I clean my pots and pans, right after I eat. I hang the valet in a, between the trees, method. Making sure it is tied off high and very well. Then at belt level, I wrap some cord around the tree a few times. I have found this cord messed with but my food was up between the trees safe and sound and no bear around.

A yapping dog helps or one that p's on everything in the area.

How do you tell if someone from California has been camping in Grizzly country? Check the bear scat for little bells.

Don

[wildWoman]

I hang food if I can; if it's not an option because the trees are too small, I leave it on the ground, in both cases about 200 yards from the tent. I cook where the food is, not where I sleep, preferably so that the smell won't waft over to the tent.
If you go where you can pick your own campspot instead of having to camp on established sites, check that you're not on a game trail. They won't come to eat you but you may wake up to a fair bit of traffic at times.
Forget "bear bells". Instead, just keep your eyes and ears open, holler out some sort of jingle every now and then, particularly if you're going into the wind. Bears can be pretty inattentive to "traffic", and you want to alert them that you're coming.
Pack some bear spray, just use common sense, don't get too freaked about the whole thing, dogs are a lot more dangerous than the bears!
We live in bear country, have done lots of backpacking and paddling, and our conclusion is that bears just want to do their thing. They can be curious and it helps to learn about their body language because then you will find encounters quite enjoyable as you'll understand what they're "saying". Check out www.bear.org for info.

[Rick]

WildWoman - You always have some great posts. I guess bears are a lot like sharks in that you only hear about the bad encounters and never the good ones. Nice link!

[wildWoman]

Charlie Russell wrote a couple of good books on bears, both black and grizzly, from a different perspective. Very worthwhile reading for anyone interested in not being scared while hiking/camping among bears.
I think we tend to be unnecessarily scared of predatory animals we don't encounter much. If we applied the same feelings to humans and dogs, nobody would be walking the streets any more.

[trax]

If we applied the same feelings to humans and dogs, nobody would be walking the streets any more.

Good point wildwoman, I'd much rather be walking where the bears are than on city streets and sidenote: I have no problem with dogs....