Lets Talk Bears !!!

[pitdog]

I'm a huge fan of all wildlife but Bears in particular have always facinated me so I thought I'd start a thread where we discuss all things Bear related and hopefully share some pics as well !

I'll start with a few of my pics:

Bear Scat...

Bears...

Tracks...

I often hear people stressing how important it is not to leave scraps of food around your camp etc and I have to question how preventative this actually is ?
I watched a program recently and it talked about a bears sense of smell.It gave an account of when a bear raided a camp and it had ripped apart every can of food except 9 cans of Sauerkraut,the bear couldn't smell the contents through the can but it could smell traces on the can from the cannery !!!!
They also said a polar bear could smell a dead seal from something like 30 miles away and there was an account of one smelling another Polar bear that was in season 90 miles away !!!!!

Obviously we have to attempt damage limitation, I'm not about to climb in my sleeping bag cuddled up with a dead salmon but I'd think it impossible to remove all traces of food etc that might tempt a bear....what d'ya think ?

 

[RescueRiley]

Nice pics... everytime I've seen a bear its primarily ben a view of its ass as its running away...The area where i most often camp and practice has got a healthy population of bears.... I rarely see them there.. But there sign is prevalent enough..... I usually tie my food up but more to prevent it fro being decimated by chipmunks mice and raccoons...

 

[Gramps]

I think if you keep a "clean" camp and refrain from leaving out overnight a jar of peanut butter or honey you go a long way in preventing an unwanted visitor; in bear country I typically hang my food in a nylon sack up in a tree overnight......and then don't bring food into the tent at bedtime. Common sense is typically your best friend....they do have an extraordinarily good sense of smell. It's the visitor's habits before mine that cause me the most concern; bears are encouraged to learn bad behavior from campers who keep sloppy campsites.

Many of the larger National Parks out west have even installed metal "bear lockers" in the back-country for hikers to store their food in during over-night trips .

- regards

 

[agent cooper]

Damn, thought this said "Let's Discuss Beers," and opened thread to a big 'ol picture of poop.

Anyway, I hang all of my food and anything with any scent (camp soap, toiletries) when in bear country and I've never had a problem.

 

[remmmm]

Just watched the "I shouldn't be alive" episode the other night where the guy had a rifle and still almost got killed by a grizzly because he decide he was going to wave his arms and try to scare it off He never got a shot off before it was on him. After it had practically torn his leg off he then decided to use his rifle and killed it.

Even I know that you don't "scare off" a grizzly and if it's within a 100 yards of you, aware of you and moving in, it's probably time to start shooting...

 

[InfidelShootist]

While not a bear expert I'm knowledgeable about scent detection in K9s which are animals and detect and process scent the same as a bear.

The amount of scent molecules in the air will allow an animal to tell the difference between food that was in an area and how long ago roughly and food that is currently there.So I'd still keep my food away from the campsite.If anything,it will create a scent trail away from the scent trail you and your camp create.
I'd also make sure the wind direction coming from where you store food is NOT in the direction of your camp,which would lead the to the bear following the scent trail directly through your camp.

Believe it or not peeing around the perimeter of your territory will tell the bears that you are claiming that area.The large/old alpha males may not care but sub-alpha animals sure will.Either way you're announcing your presence and preventing surprising the animal.That's how animals commutate with each other.I've used the technique to teach sentry dogs to stay in a new area and have studied how it's used in wild animals.There is no reason it would not work with human animals.In areas with hunting pressure on bears it should work better then areas without.A little Hoppe #9 gun oil around the area you mark might work as well.It's been observed wild animals responding with flight to the scent of humans with firearms where they ignored humans without.

 

[srobin59]

I didn't see any Bear bells in that pile. I guess that they work after all.

 

[PayetteRucker]

I didn't see any Bear bells in that pile. I guess that they work after all.

nah you just gotta take a floosy blonde backpacking with you, she'll constantly run her mouth and scare anything within 10 miles away... save 0some money on the bell.

 

[Wanderlust]

I didn't see any Bear bells in that pile. I guess that they work after all.

Haha! Very nice. In all serious though camping in bear country is quite serious. I spent all of my summer two years ago doing backcountry trail work in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Specifically the Washiki wilderness in the Shoshone National Forest in WY. For those of you who don't know this is the area with the greatest concentration of Grizzlies in the lower 48 outside of Glacier National Park. Luckily we never had a bear in camp, but let me tell you it sure makes camping a bit more interesting. And in those parts of the world they have a name for bear bells, its "Dinner Bells" cause by the time they hear those bells your dinner. But, it was an amazing time I only ran into a couple of bears while I was out there and thankfully was never charged.

On to your original point of food smells. At Philmont scout ranch they said that we had to change our clothes before we went to bed so that we didnt bring the food smell into the tent with us. I never did that once in WY, unless my clothes were wet then I tried to keep them out of my tent. We went out for 23 days at a time into the backwoods, so we really didn't have a lot of changes of clothes. So we usually cooked in our work clothes then slept in them. We would usually have fresh meat for the first couple of days so that meant blood on our clothes, plus I kept some chapstick in my pants pocket all the time. My pants were always right next to me in my tent, unless they were under me while I slept. And like I said we never had any problems.

Personally I think most of the time people take that whole "smellables" thing way to far. Now I am not advocating a lack of diligence because that is insane. I always hang my food or put it in a bear resistant container far away from my tent and never cook near my tent, when in bear country. And I always carried bear spray with me wherever I went. But you just have to use common sense, but don't take it overboard.

Plus your food is only 200-300 feet away, and depending on where that bear is coming from, they may have to walk right next to your tent to get to the food. Just some food for thought.

 

[eisman]

Here's a few of the biggest sow I've run across. Up in the Sierras, not too far from Sequoia, a few years back. I was alone on a backcountry trail when I saw one of the cubs. I got real still. There were two cubs, and momma. Momma was huge, the log she's working over in the photo is almost 3' in dia., and probably 20' long. I saw her lift the end of it. She ended up tearing it almost in two. Must have been the mother lode of beetles, 'cause she spent over 30 minutes eating while the kids played.

The cubs knew I was there, they came too close for my comfort a couple times, but I just stayed still and shot some photos. If there'd been a little more light, and if I'd had anything other than my point and shoot, they would have been the photos of a lifetime.

In the first photo you can see the sow and one cub. In the second, both cubs are about 10' away; next to each other.

 

[udtjim]

I have shot several of them and ate them. Tasty.

 

[coyotebc]

pit
If you want an excellent book on bears check out Stephan Herrara (sp) Bear attacks their causes and avoidance.
Another two decent books are; Alaska bear tales and More alaska bear tales.
I use to have all three but I lent the two Alaska books to one of your countrymen that was here on vacation visiting my friend (his brother in law) and the sob sook them back to england with him

 

[Switchblade61]

Here are a few shots of some bears.
Mom and cub

Black bear

Black bear in brown color

Local traffic...

Flower lover...

 

[Switchblade61]

I'm a huge fan of all wildlife but Bears in particular have always facinated me so I thought I'd start a thread where we discuss all things Bear related and hopefully share some pics as well !

I'll start with a few of my pics:
Bears...

This bear does not look healthy.

 

[go2ndAmend]

Knock on wood, I have never had a "bad" encounter with a bear. The only time I came close to shooting one was when dog my was a pup. She saw a bear (black) and ran at it. She was only about 10' away and barking for all she was worth. The bear stood it's ground and reared up on it's hind legs (probably wondering what this annoying little thing was). Luckily, I just yelled and the bear ran off. Other than that, I have camped in bear country for years, hung dozens of deer and elk in camp and have never had an incident.
Not the textbook method of bear prevention, but reality. I did work on a salmon river in Alaska one summer and there were several grizzlies about, but one of us always packed the double barrel 12 ga. with 00 buckshot for safety.

 

[TheZenful1]

Nice post! Awesome pics guys!

I was at Wally world the other day and picked up a magazine I think it's titled "Backpacker". I believe there's an article in it that tells their sense of smell is so keen they can smell food for something like 20 miles + and some other stuff that amazed me (basically, something like "those dried out fries under the seat on your minivan floor they can smell... and your minivan ends up being a can of food to them and their claws are the can opener). I'll have to find the magazine and post some of the info from it.

& udtjim, I'd love to have been there...

 

[udtjim]

I was up in Northern Sask quite a few years ago. Another guy had pulled in just before dark and parked his truck down by the boat ramp. During the night, a Black bear started licking the bugs off the grill, he could still smell more bugs so he tore the grill out and even scratched some hole in the radiator. The next morning the guy took some pictures and was saying " How am going to tell my insurance man that a bear ate the front of my truck?

 

[DOC-CANADA]

pit
If you want an excellent book on bears check out Stephan Herrara (sp) Bear attacks their causes and avoidance.
Another two decent books are; Alaska bear tales and More alaska bear tales.
I use to have all three but I lent the two Alaska books to one of your countrymen that was here on vacation visiting my friend (his brother in law) and the sob sook them back to england with him

+1 :thumbup: (Bear Attacks - Their Causes & Avoidance, Stephen Herrero, Hurtig Publishers, 1985, ISBN# 0-941130-82-7)

My copy is an older version (1985), but, if anything, it could only be more up to date.

Herrero is/was a Professor of Environmental Science and Biology at the University of Calgary, Alberta.

Doc

 

[TKAZ]

nah you just gotta take a floosy blonde backpacking with you, she'll constantly run her mouth and scare anything within 10 miles away... save 0some money on the bell.

That's so funny you mentioned that. many times we are up in the mountains and stop to eat or see another hiker/climber and start to talk and share some stories over lunch and they always talk about the most amazing bear visits and so on. I could never figure out why I never see them or better yet they are seen running in the other direction. then I realized my wife is always behind me on the trail yacking away (I don't mind this) but that explains it. that's it, the ducktape or gag ball are coming on the next trip!

 

[Lycosa]

Can't go wrong with Bears. We have Bears in our backyard all the time except when they're sleeping. Thanks for the thread.