Camping with bears

[dloveski]

Just got back from the Beaverheads in MT (part of the Bitterroot range) where we go every year at least once to get away from the crowds and listen to coyotes howl.

This year, we camped in the middle of a bear nursery!! Twins on one side of our camp and triplets on the other (mama sows were laying low, but the babies were frolicking.) This pic was taken on my trail run as I headed up the road from our campsite---one of the twins.

Although these were black bears (not as scary as grizzers), sleeping in a tent when you know the bears are around you makes you aware of keeping an immaculate camp and of noises in the night.

And the trail run through the woods was great----took my dog and made lots of noise---just in case......

 

[vanhoskier]

I was hiking up in the Sangre de Cristos last weekend, on a fairly busy trail, and decided to hang a right on a less-traveled trail and hike Raven's Ridge to Deception Peak and Lake Peak. On the ridge, just on the other side of the fence line, there was a huge brown bear! When he saw me he scurried partway up a tree, then came down and decided I wasn't anything to worry about. (My heart was beating fast, though!) I watched him for about 10 minutes as he foraged around, making a racket, snapping branches and so forth. It was pretty cool. Later on, further up the trail, I saw 2 Forest Service rangers and told them about the bear. They said they had never seen a bear up there!

Now, camping with bears is an entirely different thing because there's FOOD involved. A few weeks ago, a woman camping in the Sandias got mauled inside her tent....I can only think that she must have had food in there.

 

[CMCM]

Hmmm, well, I don't usually have to go too far to get bear visits. Where we live (Sierra Nevadas, 4000 ft. elev) the bears like to raid our garbage cans on occasion. Just the other night I heard a lot of noise, and two of them were standing up full height working together to knock over our big garbage container.....I scared then off by banging a wooden spoon on a pan and they took off like rockets. But they'll be back....

 

[VTskiDiva]

Wow thats pretty amazing!! Glad you got a shot of one of the babies.

Yesterday my DH, our dog and I went on a short hike in the Blue Ridge Mtns and I spotted a black bear a little ways off the trail. We just made alot of noise since there were several other people ( and dogs ) on the trail, I figured the bear wouldnt come much closer. Its always an adrenaline rush when you see a bear in the wild!

 

[Jenn]

I remember one year some gals and I were tenting in Bar Harbour Maine. They were newbies, but had come along for some hiking. Anyway, in the night, the girl closest to the door woke me up saying there was a bear outside. Sleepily I said it was probably a raccoon and not to worry about it. She wanted to trade places with me, but I said "Beth, bears don't look for doors." I really did think it was a 'coon, but when we got up the next AM there were bear prints all around the site!

 

[geargrrl]

Gah, just seeing this terrifies me. Nothing is more aggressive than a mama bear if in anyway she sees a threat to her cubs. I really hope those photos were taking with a telephoto zoom lens.

Granted, black bears are more of a nuisance than a threat, but still....

 

[Jilly]

Hmmm, well, I don't usually have to go too far to get bear visits. Where we live (Sierra Nevadas, 4000 ft. elev) the bears like to raid our garbage cans on occasion. Just the other night I heard a lot of noise, and two of them were standing up full height working together to knock over our big garbage container.....I scared then off by banging a wooden spoon on a pan and they took off like rockets. But they'll be back

Isn't it interesting how they can get in. You'll go out to the garbage with a small bag and can't get the darn thing open! Need to it put it down and use 2 hands. The coon's used to drive me nuts. Now we have the cans inside a container. They can't get in it without chewing the plastic. So I think they'll go elsewhere.

We've had a lot more bear sightings at our cottage. Someone in their infinite wisdom decided that it would be a good idea to fence in the dump! Electrified no less. So where are the bears going now - my garbage!

 

[Little Lightning]

There are areas here in Colorado, Aspen for one, where residents are fined for leaving garbage out because the bears have become such a problem. They've been known to break into homes and, then because they are considered a nuisance they are captured and put down. Once bears are sighted, the campgrounds around Aspen will not allow tent campers .

Breckenridge is also reporting sightings of bears in areas where residents are careless with their garbage. The dumpsters in my condo complex next to the national forest are now bear proofed even though there have been no sightings. They are checked nightly to be sure they are properly secured and I often find them locked during the day.

In Yellowstone last month 3 campers were attacked, 1 killed, in their tents, by a mother and 3 cubs. The bears were all captured. The mother was put down, her cubs were given to a zoo. Rumor has it they were being baited by a photographer.

Once a bear associates humans with food it's a death sentence for the bear. Please be careful in bear territory.

 

[ski diva]

So what's the proper behavior if you encounter a bear in the wild?

This hasn't happened to me yet, but there are definitely bears around here. In fact, one ate (Yes, ate. Well, partially, anyway) the door to our outdoor storage closet a few years ago. It's where we keep our trash, and I guess he could smell it.

 

[Lilgeorg]

As my Alaskan granddaughter once told me, "Bear food runs!"

 

[playoutside]

So what's the proper behavior if you encounter a bear in the wild?

This hasn't happened to me yet, but there are definitely bears around here. In fact, one ate (Yes, ate. Well, partially, anyway) the door to our outdoor storage closet a few years ago. It's where we keep our trash, and I guess he could smell it.

Proper behavior depends on the bear species. For black bears that you find in the east, while hiking you should make lots of noise or wear a bear bell so they disappear before you spot them. If you encounter them anyway, continue making noise (clapping, talking, singing), stand tall, no eye contact (this is considered aggressive), do not throw things at them or make any aggressive moves towards them to try to scare them off, slowly back away from them and they normally move along. Of course all bets are off if you end up between mama and cubs -- I'd still try the same things, but plan for a less predictable reaction from mama.

Black bears are very stealth for their size. I've been startled to look up several times to see one nearby. Squirrels and chipmunks make a lot more noise than the bears.

The bear and trash situation is so bad where I live in NJ, that we cannot store it outside unless its in a bear barrel (industrial strength plastic with a screw on lid). Our neighbor insists on keeping it in a wooden barn-style shed. Bears know the shed and have wripped the doors from the hinges multiple times. Last Easter a giant bear busted through the re-inforced door and snatched 4 bags of trash which she dragged into our back yard and feasted on. The door looked like she had punched a hole in it and then grabbed it until it splintered in half. Impressive and a scary reminder of how powerful they are.

Oh yeah and we never go for walks on trash collection mornings! The buffet is set and the bears seem to know the schedule.

 

[geargrrl]

Yes, there is a huge difference between blacks and grizzlies. For the most part, throwing thing etc works with **most** black bears but you need to be smart about this. The part about bears becoming aggressive in food situations is very serious.

Grizzlies are another matter. They can be very aggressive, and can be unpredictable. They will charge if they feel threatened at all. Best defense is to avoid an encounter. Bear spray, playing dead... all of this is stuff you need to know about in grizzly country.

This site looks like it has very good information

https://www.udap.com/safety.htm

 

[pinto]

Bear Advisory

The Forest Service has issued a BEAR WARNING in the national forests for this summer. They're urging everyone to protect themselves by wearing bells and carrying pepper spray.

Campers should be alert for signs of fresh bear activity, and they should be able to tell the difference between Black Bear dung and Grizzly Bear dung.

Black Bear dung is rather small and round. Sometimes you can see fruit seeds and/or squirrel fur in it.

Grizzly Bear dung has bells in it, and smells like pepper spray.

[yes, it's an old one, but I always giggle]

 

[abc]

She wanted to trade places with me, but I said "Beth, bears don't look for doors."

That's funny (and so true)!

 

[2ski2moro]

Ooo, ooo, can I share my bear story here?

The morning of August 29, 2003, I awakened to discover that all of our bird feeders had been smashed to the ground. I suspected that an animal had done it, called EnCon, and as soon as I said bird feeders, they said BEAR. They told me to put ammonia on the remaining seed on the ground to discourage the bear from returning. They also told me to remove the bird feeders from April until the end of October.

DH returned from his business trip that evening. We were getting ready to go out to dinner and as he grabbed the handle of the sliding door to close it, the motion sensor light in the back yard came on. Less than 25 feet from our house was our bear, returning to look for the seed she had missed. DH grabbed the dog’s collar and I picked up the camera as she walked off into the woods. Sorry the photo is so grainy, but you get the idea.

Something that fascinated me was that the bear was only interested in the bird seed. The bear never touched the trash cans that were set out on the street for early morning pickup.

The local TV news came out and did a cute feature about our bear and bear safety. I was told that she was probably 2 years old and 250-350 pounds. Her range is 50 square miles. We never saw her again.

 

[playoutside]

Nice trail of destruction! Bears seem to be the only animal more piggish than the squirrels at the feeders.

For the past 5+ years, we followed the advice to wait for a prolonged cold spell before we put feeders out. To be extra careful this usually meant mid Dec or later. This year in January (when it was plenty cold) the bear struck. He took the plexiglass tube-style feeder we had. The post it had been on was bent nearly to the ground, but the feeder was gone. About a week later we found it beneath a pine in the neighbors yard...it was crushed the way a drunk frat boy would crush a beer can! We waited a few weeks and placed a new feeder out there. It didn't last a week, no more feeders for us...sorry birds! We like feeding the birds (and providing entertainment for the indoor cats), but hate becoming part of the bear problem. No food (or trash or food odors) can be outside in our area, no matter the season it seems.

 

[2ski2moro]

Hahaha. Like this very expensive Droll Yankee feeder with a squirrel-proof cage on it?

 

[dloveski]

Gah, just seeing this terrifies me. Nothing is more aggressive than a mama bear if in anyway she sees a threat to her cubs. I really hope those photos were taking with a telephoto zoom lens.

Granted, black bears are more of a nuisance than a threat, but still....

from my little digital on zoom. The cubs were right near the road. Luckily no direct run-ins.

 

[gr8outdoors]

Bears can be very scary to encounter. I remember camping in the Adirondacks as a kid (I still go there every summer) and hearing people in a tent across the street screaming about a bear - they had brought food into their tent. Thirteen years ago at the same campground we had a bear visit our site during the night when we were tenting. Pretty nerve wracking to see the shadow of a bear outside your tent, but we had all of the food put away in the car so it went to the next site. We found out the next morning people camping behind us left steaks out to unthaw and the bear took marshmallows from the neighbors site for dessert. We now have a 5th wheel and I sleep much better there. This year we saw a black bear while hiking. We scared it before we had even seen it. It was running away from us - thank goodness!

 

[dloveski]

I am both amazed and saddened at how reckless some campers are in bear country. Not only do they put themselves (or more importantly the next campers at that site) in danger, they are assuring eventual death sentences for the bears who are doing what nature programs them to do----seek food and eat. That's what happened last year in Utah in a popular camp site---a family rolls in to a spot where previous campers left coolers and food out and then their own kids took chips ahoy and doritos to bed with them in the tent. A black bear dragged an 11 year old out of the tent and killed him, a very tragic and perhaps preventable? situation?

When camping in remote areas, we keep an immaculate camp; cook far away from the tent; store the food far away in the tent in a container or vehicle; and change clothes we cooked in. Even toiletries are not in the tent. Even in grizzly country in MT and AK we've encountered the beasts, but without incident mercifully.

And I miss my dear deceased wolf-mix beast, Johnny, who used patrolled the perimeter all night and kept us safe.

Without Johnny, today, when I roll into a campsite and see a messy camp, I move on if I have the option, as bears and other vermin are likely to have visited and may visit again.