Camping and Bears

[debbyj]

Just as a typical residential door can be kicked in, but you lock it anyway, I think the egg shell is valuable protection. Never be the easiest meal in sight... that's my motto for this situation.

Which reminds me that if you and your buddy are being chased by a bear (cougar, vicious dog, etc.), you don't have to outrun the bear. Just outrun your buddy!

[Benny K]

Well...I`ve done a lot of dumb and dumber things in my life time, but one of the stupidest was getting between a black bear and our supper in a Jasper campgroud... ....he came around the back of our bus camper and stared to walk towards my wife and kids.....I yelled for them to get into the camper and I got to a wood splitting axe by the fire pit and got between the bear and our picnic table.....we were about 8 ft. apart.....as I lifted up the axe, the bear would back up a step...when I lowered the axe it would step ahead...this went on a few times as I was yelling to my wife to get a pot and lid and to make some noise, which she did ......at this point the bear snorted, turned, and walked away....while all this was going on, most campers were outside and were enjoying our encounter......their laughing was short lived when the bear started to make the rounds and everyone locked themselves in their trailers....we continued with our meal,(perogies and garlic sausage), we continued with our meal at the picnic table and the bear didn`t come back.....possibly good thing that it was a park bear and fairly docile......a relative in Canmore told me that if the bear wanted to attack, I would have never made it to the door of the camper, with it`s acceleration speed......Benny

[Gina D.]

Skunks are what I fear

I have had a few bad encounters with them. They are merciless! Just ask any of my dogs!

[Craig D. Thompson]

A man that I work with was telling me about an encounter he had with a black bear. In his words:

<blockquote>While working at Douglas Aircraft Company in Southern California, a group of us employees went camping at Yosemite. There were 4 sets of us (4 different tents). My friend Bill kept his food in the trunk of his car (as did everyone else). On our last night, I awoke to what sounded like someone chopping wood. I remember thinking, "What idiot is chopping wood this early in the morning?" Then, I hear someone honking a car horn. At this point, I'm guessing someone is trying to scare off a bear. The next thing I know my friend Bill is yelling, "Hay, it's a bear!". Bill kept yelling at the bear until it ran off. I got out of my tent just in time to see the black bear climbing out the driver side window of Bill's car. It ran off a ways and stopped to watch us. It eventually walked off. The bear was quite small, I'd say about the height of a big dog (German Shepherd/Golden Retriever sort of size, although more stout).

Apparently, the bear hooked his claws on the door frame of the drivers side door and bent the window down. The bear climbed in the car, reached into the back and was clawing the back seat out trying to get into the trunk. To brace itself, the bear was putting its back claws on the steering wheel thus honking the horn (it gave itself away). The damage, the driver side door completely destroyed, the back seat completely torn up, the front seat and dash board covered in foam & fabric pieces (from the back seat), mud, bear hair and blood (the bear cut itself breaking the glass).

We later found out that we weren't the only car to be victimized. This bear hit several cars that night, all white cars (including Bill's car)! Its MO was to break open the doors since it couldn't open the trunks (it can claw down but not up). The park ranger told us the bear probably got food out of a white car and now associates them with food. It might not have made a difference if food was in the trunk or not. Ironically, judging from the last car the bear hit (where it didn't get in, it only bent the door frame of ALL four car doors before giving up), the bear had to walk past my tent, past my car (which was black), to get to Bill's car. Bill said he heard the bear brush up against his tent (right next to mine) just before the car attack.

Note, we were about 8 hours from home and Bill had to stop by a car shop, get the window bent up, and duct tape plastic over the window for that long, long drive home. (The car shop did the patch-up for free since the story was so go.)

Moral, use the bear boxes provided by the park! (We didn't use them, but they were there.) Steve</blockquote>

A molded fiberglass trailer is probably much better protection than a tent, pop-up or stick built. Smooth surface and few gaps make it more difficult to get claw in to do the ripping and prying. Ultimately though, if the bear wants in, it gets in. Fortunately they don't want in very often.

I do not store food in my trailer and never cook in the trailer. I once forgot to put the food in the van and the racoons made quite a mess but thats another story. I would rather, if it comes to that, have the van ripped open than my trailer with the family in it. The statistics are against it, but a few precautions lower the odds even more.

Craig T.

[james kent]

This looks like the same thread that was here pre-hack. Same arguments. Can't change the minds of those in favour or those against.

[Craig D. Thompson]

In favour or against what? Not following you here.

Craig T.

[Adrian W]

Black Bears are not always black. They can be black, brown, cinnamon and occasionally blonde or even white. Some black bears have a white chest patch.
Bears in moister, more densely forested regions tend to be black, while bears in the West, where conditions are drier and vegetation is sparser, tend to be brown or cinnamon. A black coat allows the bear to blend into the shadows created by dense trees and brush, and a brown coat blends better with the sandier, browner landscape. In addition, black retains heat far more than does a lighter color, so brown phase bears are less susceptible to heat stress in more open terrain.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is a species of bear distributed throughout the Northern hemisphere. Weighing up to 130–700 kg (290-1,500 pounds), the larger races of brown bear tie with the Polar bear as the largest extant land carnivores. The grizzly bear (Ursus arctos horribilis), the Kodiak Bear (Ursus arctos middendorffi), and the Mexican brown bear are North American subspecies of the brown bear. However, DNA analysis has recently revealed that the identified subspecies of brown bears, both Eurasian and North American, are genetically quite homogeneous, and that their genetic phylogeography does not correspond to their traditional taxonomy.[2] It is sometimes referred to poetically as the bruin.

[Jay Jacobs]

I have been backpacking Yosemite since 1970 either sleeping out in the open or in a tent. I have probably taken 30 or more trips. The furthur away from civilization I get, the safer I feel. Bears are the least of your worries. The two legged critters running around are much more of a concern than bears. Interestingly enough, most of my bear sitings have been in the valley near the trash cans. They come to where the food is. Follow the guidelines and keep your food in the bear containers and you will be fine.

[Robert Brummett]

This looks like the same thread that was here pre-hack. Same arguments. Can't change the minds of those in favour or those against.

Myself, I'm pro-bear. But I'm agin gettin' eaten.

[james kent]

In favour or against what? Not following you here.

Craig T.

Think about it. This thread goes 'round and 'round there's no beginning and there's no end. Some of the time it does get interresting though.There are the "I'm going to get eaten group" and there's the "They won't touch me group". and never the twain shall meet.
PS I'm definitely in the latter

[Robert Brummett]

Think about it. This thread goes 'round and 'round there's no beginning and there's no end. Some of the time it does get interresting though.There are the "I'm going to get eaten group" and there's the "They won't touch me group". and never the twain shall meet.
PS I'm definitely in the latter

Sounds pretty normal to me, James. Some folks think one way and some another. But I do think you've emphasized the extremes at each end of the continuum, when most folks fall somewhere between those extremes.

[BOBSMITH]

Hello,

Has anyone had experience with bears while he/she was camping?

I've 'camped' at Curry Villiage in Yosemite for a few years and they are constantly reminding people of the hazards of bears. They show videos of bears ripping cars apart and tearing through garbages, etc. They even warn you that if your car is vandalized by a bear the rangers will fine you for having left something in it that tempted the bears.

The last time I went we camped with some very nice people who recently moved from Alaska. They didn't live in a city of any sort and they told very, very scarey tales of bears and moose terrorizing neighborhoods. Frankly, they scared me. I have two little kids who are always snacking and dropping crackers and other goodies in the car and trailer and I really don't want to meet a bear face to face.

Is my imagination running wild?

Thanks,

-Carl

Hey, Carl!

HA! The reason my wife and I bought our Casita was because of the run-in we had with an enormous black bear at the Standing Indian Campground in the National Forest near Highlands, NC. It came in at midnight and ransacked our campsite. What does a 400-pound black bear do in your campsite? Anything he wants to!

We had been thinking of getting a Casita, so after that experience (he knocked over everything looking for food), we got rid of the tent and bought our Casita. Now we don't worry so much about the bears!

[Joanie]

Yup

It all boils down to common sense and the realization that
when your out in the wild, your in the bears neighborhood, not your own

His 'hood, his rules

Myself, I'm pro-bear. But I'm agin gettin' eaten.

[Christi V.]

Skunks are what I fear

when i was camping last summer i looked over at this fancy moterhome and out came a lady with a skunk on a leash! EWWWW!! Even tho they are deskunked they carry a musty odor... not a pet i would really want.... now back to the bear storys....

[Vtec]

Never saw a bear in the wild until we got our Scamp this spring. We were coming back from camping in northern WI and saw it while checking out the camp grounds at Gov Thompson state park, mid afternoon by the boat landing. It showed no fear of us and just stared from the ditch less than 50 feet away we drove off and came back around 5 minutes later and he was still there. We always had bears in the back of our mind when looking to get out of tents/pop-ups and getting a Scamp for a bit of protection, but as stated, they can get in anywhere they want, just more difficult.

Legal or not, I always keep a few fireworks from the fourth of July on hand near the door. A couple packs of firecrackers and my personal favorite noise makers, 25-100 shot missile batteries, the little square kind you light and they go off rapidly like a bunch of bottle rockets. Never used them on a bear yet and maybe they would just tick them off, but I would care much less about a ticket for fireworks than being a meal. Is this a stupid idea or not to those more experienced?

[Jared J]

If a bear is getting in your trailer, do you think you'll have time to light them, and even if so, you'll have a bear outside, and fireworks bouncing around your trailer. You'll be running out of a burning trailer right into a bear. If a bear is getting in the camper, I'm taking more drastic measures.

[Vtec]

Ah, Jared, not talking about launching inside the trailer, but rather the coming through the campsites bear to scare them off. Inside the trailer I have help from Mr Smith and his friend "Wesson".

[Jared J]

In that case, I would choose to stay silent. There will be a tent camper running around screaming, making it run for the bear.

[Glenn Baglo]

Originally Posted by Vtec

Ah, Jared, not talking about launching inside the trailer, but rather the coming through the campsites bear to scare them off. Inside the trailer I have help from Mr Smith and his friend "Wesson".

And, now we have to deal with an armed bear!

[Steve Outlaw]

Originally Posted by Vtec

Inside the trailer I have help from Mr Smith and his friend "Wesson".

You better pray that S&W helping you is a Model 500, because anything else they make is gonna be too small.