Black Bear Country precautions?

[CM_Rick]

Lets see, put your food in a bear can and leave it away from your camp. Uh, put your food in a bear can and leave it away from your camp. Oh, and uh, put your food in a bear can and leave it away from your camp. LOL!

I've never had a problem with black bears. I always keep my food sealed up and away from my camp. I also try and have a good fire going through the night. Bears don't like fires. Make it smoky, too. The smoke will deter them well also.

How about them bore down there in GA? I bet them suckers can be worse than the bears.

 

[kfgk14]

carry a walking stick, and if you notice a bear getting close, lash your fixed blade on the stick as a spear. If charged or approached, back up to a tree, and plant the base of your spear against the tree (throwing or stabbing with it won't do much other than piss it off). The bear will either stay away, or run himself through on the spear.

Then again, if you just carry a gun, you'll be better off.

 

[sambo.]

being an aussie, threads like this make me glad all i have to worry about is the snakes.

 

[plowboy87]

bears are large and odds are they make a little noise sneaking into camps.

snakes on the other hand, well you could jump over a long and they pop out at you. no warning at all.

that and i'v never had to check my boots in the morning for bears

 

[sambo.]

meh.

i'm used to snakes.

i aint used to bears.

 

[jaymeister99]

How about them bore down there in GA? I bet them suckers can be worse than the bears.

Funny, I was just thinking Boars might be worse than bears!

Fortunately we don't have Boar up here in the northeast. Those Boars can be nasty. Curious, any suggestions on Boar country?

 

[jaymeister99]

being an aussie, threads like this make me glad all i have to worry about is the snakes.

Snakes? Aren't there like 7 different poisonious snakes in Australia? And these aren't rattlers, aren't these snakes that will kill you within a few minutes?

I'd rather deal with the Bears and Boars :thumbup:

We got rattlers here in NY, Ive only seen em a couple of times, heard em a few more. They don't really worry me. The snakes in Australia would!

 

[DWK2]

Funny, I was just thinking Boars might be worse than bears!

Fortunately we don't have Boar up here in the northeast. Those Boars can be nasty. Curious, any suggestions on Boar country?

I camped on the west end of Catalina Island back when feral pigs were a serious problem (for the environment, anyway). I've also camped in a lot of Central Coast and NorCal locations with wild pigs. I would say that the precautions should be pretty similar to those for bear. The big exception is that in CA, I believe hogs are open all year. In areas where you can legally hunt them, I would recommend camping with a license and over-the-counter tag, so you can shoot any decent pig you find. [Catalina had lots of restrictions but BLM and Forest Service land in the other regions was generally open to hunting.]

DancesWithKnives

 

[Cascade_mtn's]

Funny, I was just thinking Boars might be worse than bears!

Fortunately we don't have Boar up here in the northeast. Those Boars can be nasty. Curious, any suggestions on Boar country?

Speaking of different animals that are probably more dangerous than bears......

I'm much more nervous of bull moose during rutting season, or mama moose with calf than I EVER have been of black bears. Moose can be down right nasty, mean, and will stomp your guts out!

 

[DWK2]

Our outfitter in Bethel, AK told us that the fish & game folks estimated that only about 5-10% of the moose calves in that area reach maturity, owing to wolf and griz predation. I can see how moose would be aggressively defensive.

DancesWithKnives

 

[Shoki]

I live in an area with not only great numbers of black bears but also scores of ignorant yuppie tourists who love to feed/bait them. Even still, I've never had a single problem. I just string my food up away from camp, preferably over a stream with the cord tied as far away from the food bag as possible. The only time my food stash was compromised was actually the result of a either a giant, ramen-eating spider, or a raccoon with what I assume must be magical levitating powers.
I still play it safe and always carry a large-caliber handgun with me on overnights but I'm not really worried about it.


Edit: +1 to this

Speaking of different animals that are probably more dangerous than bears......

I'm much more nervous of bull moose during rutting season, or mama moose with calf than I EVER have been of black bears. Moose can be down right nasty, mean, and will stomp your guts out!

 

[Cascade_mtn's]

I live in an area with not only great numbers of black bears but also scores of ignorant yuppie tourists who love to feed/bait them. Even still, I've never had a single problem. I just string my food up away from camp, preferably over a stream with the cord tied as far away from the food bag as possible. The only time my food stash was compromised was actually the result of a either a giant, ramen-eating spider, or a raccoon with what I assume must be magical levitating powers..

LMAO.......... great post. :thumbup:

Truck camping one time we had our cooler (small Coleman brand) drug off, opened, and our sacred BACON, venison sausage, and eggs were gone. I pouted the ENTIRE way to the nearest café. Believe it or not, it was raccoons. No mistaking those tracks. Little bast#$%s!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sambo.]

Snakes? Aren't there like 7 different poisonious snakes in Australia?

there's a hell of a lot more than seven varieties of poisonous snake in Oz.

in fact, depending on which particular source you believe, anything upwards of nine out of the ten most deadly LAND snakes in the world are found in Oz.

be warned, sea-snakes tend to be far more lethal. thankfully, they generally have small, fragile fangs.

And these aren't rattlers

yuh. our snakes aren't quite so polite as yours to have a rattle to tell you when they're about.....

aren't these snakes that will kill you within a few minutes?

you have something like 3 minutes to get first aid (a snake bandage applied) after a King Brown (Mulga) Snakebite.

I'd rather deal with the Bears and Boars :thumbup:

hey, i'll chase down a boar quite happily.

i'll try and avoid teh bears thanx all teh same.

We got rattlers here in NY, Ive only seen em a couple of times, heard em a few more. They don't really worry me. The snakes in Australia would!

pfft.

if we were all terrified of Snakes and Spiders in Oz, none of us would ever go outside.

besides, if i want the bad nasty snake to go away, all i have to do is stamp my feet a few times and it'll scarper.

good luck getting a bear to boogy out that easily.

 

[Cascade_mtn's]

i'll try and avoid teh bears thanx all teh same.

besides, if i want the bad nasty snake to go away, all i have to do is stamp my feet a few times and it'll scarper.

good luck getting a bear to boogy out that easily.

Actually, I've never had to avoid a black bear as they have all done this for me.

I have run accost many black bears over the years, and thats exactly what they were doing. Getting as far away from me as possible. I was confronted by a grizzly once in a huckleberry patch. He was at least 100 yards off and just staring at me. Didn't come twords me, but then again I didn't hang around to find out if he might.

 

[jaymeister99]

I was confronted by a grizzly once in a huckleberry patch. He was at least 100 yards off and just staring at me. Didn't come twords me, but then again I didn't hang around to find out if he might.

My only experience with a black bear was when I lived in Vermont. Scared the crap out of me. One ran out across a relatively busy road (Rt 4 in middle of Vermont) right in front of my truck. Man it was haulin, wouldn't believe how fast they can go!

 

[CM_Rick]

The wife and I went to Cade's Cove, down in Townsend, TN. Bear shot out across the road. I didn't think, just grabed the camera and shot out after it. Chased it for about 2-300 yrds/meters. They are fast. Was definately not the right decision in that situation, but my wife wanted to see the bear. Definately would not chase one again.

 

[Bruno10]

As others have said, hang your food up in a tree or put it in a bear canister. Always leave it away from your campsite. Get some bear mace and a practice can and keep it on you at all times. Keep food, candy, gum, etc OUT of your pockets. Don't be scared. Black bears dont hunt people. They do sometimes kill stupid or unlucky people though.

 

[thirdeye]

Thought you guys might like this. A couple of falls ago, we had a sow and her cubs come down to the foothills to visit my work. They were after the crab apple trees on my work's property. They stayed up in those cottonwood trees all day long. Needless to say, no one got any work done that day.

Here the ranger was carrying a shotgun with non-lethal slugs. She kept it slung over her shoulder the whole time though. Even when they finally came down, she just "shooed" them back towards the mountains by walking after them and clapping her hands.

 

[Foilist]

I've had just one close encounter with a bear.

Two summers ago, I was touring and camping with a motorcycle. I stopped for the night in Western PA at a state park. Within minutes of turning in, I heard soft footsteps and when I peeked out of the tent, there was a large black bear standing between me and my motorcycle, which was parked less than 20 feet away. Luckily, the family at the next site kept a much messier camp than me, so the bear moved on without a problem.

It was actually a cool experience, but I was worried that he would tear my bike apart because my food was in the hard luggage cases.


Moral of the story: run a cleaner camp than your neighbor!

 

[jaymeister99]

Thought you guys might like this. A couple of falls ago, we had a sow and her cubs come down to the foothills to visit my work. They were after the crab apple trees on my work's property. They stayed up in those cottonwood trees all day long. Needless to say, no one got any work done that day.

Here the ranger was carrying a shotgun with non-lethal slugs. She kept it slung over her shoulder the whole time though. Even when they finally came down, she just "shooed" them back towards the mountains by walking after them and clapping her hands.

That is wild. Glad I don't have to worrry about those kinds of close encounters. My uncle in Minnesota had a mom and two cubs in his backyard, and this was in the city! Well, if you can consider Duluth a city