Bears Will Be Bears
To Whom It May Concern:
The point is not to attract bears. If the area has no problem, and there are bears present, it’s because people have done the right thing by using a bear canister and hanging food when possible.
People leaving food out trains bears to come to the campground. They learn fast when the reward is food.
-Capri
There’s a lot of good info here, so
I’ll add 2 tips I haven’t seen yet. Police all your pockets in your clothes and paddling kit to get all your scented products, including sun screen , lip balm, energy bar wrappers, hygiene kit, anything with a scent out of there and into the can. Second, read the book by Dr Stephen Herrero, Bear Attacks Their Cause and Avoidance. If you ever do a tropical trip your new threat will be ants.
Dogmaticus
brown bears only want the food
At least my experience in the Sierras is that if they can’t get the food they leave. They don’t get angry then come after you – they can smell where you are and make a point to stay away unless they also smell food with you. I wasn’t sure myself, but after seeing them in the act twice I’ve slept better knowing they only want the food.
I don’t have an issue (so far) where I kayak, but in the Sierras I just put my Garcia canister in a low spot so that any bears playing soccer with it won’t send it down a cliff.
I sure like these more than my old hanging method. I sometimes can’t find ANY tree and when I did I always seemed to remember I needed something from the bag after hanging it up for the night. I did change what food I brought favoring rice over noodles for carbs because it packs more densely.
Uhhh
I guess common sense would prevail here yeah? Arriving at a place without a place to hang, ie no trees, I’m not going hiking 10 miles to hang my food. So, I make do and secure it the best I can, albeit far away from my camp. I don’t like to wake up at 3am attempting to shoo away a bear trying to get at the food I’ve stashed in my boat. I’m not “dismissing” other methods.
The pic doesn’t illustrate the hang method that well. Once the system is set up, you can leave whatever slack you wish and pull the food out 10-15 feet away from a tree, essentially suspending the food well out from the tree and any others around it. To this day, I’ve yet to see a bear fly.
Obviously it’s not going to work in every application…
Not Dismissing
– Last Updated: Mar-26-09 9:02 PM EST –
Methods..Just when there are trees....remember the question was not about Polar Bears and the artic either
The question pertained to Northern Wisconsin...
The question was also about not storing food in Your kayak
If You want to gamble Your ride home (espicially on an Island on Lake Superior) and don't mind being the one that trained the bear for future visitors...
It doesn't matter how Lucky someone has been in the past or methods in tundra...
There is a very good reason that the campsites in the Apostles are sporting more and more bear boxes....it's not to hide the food where a bear would never look (they look everywhere)....it's to protect both the campers and the bears from each other and make a good camping experiance for the visitors.(notice the word VISITORS)
even with the bear box at the campsite on Manitou Island...a bear found it a nice place to hang out and not leave and the campsite was closed for most of the summer last year.
kheyashunka has a picture if he decides to post....
To not properly take care of your food in the BEST possiable way given the possiabilities at hand (including Garcia or other brand canisters) is to be remiss in your duties to everyone concerned.
For years people have been comming up with alternative methods to hanging food...because it's a hassel and few actually know how to do a good hang...
It doesn't take anymore time to hang food 30 feet in the air than it does to hang it 8 or 10 feet...just a little preperation as far as carrying a little rope and a few biners.
at least no one has mentioned the old (and better forgotten moth ball method) going into the woods and then poisoning the environment you are in for the sake of a little effort....what a way to camp and keep the woods the way you want to find it....
All who camp also realize that the lowly mouse or red Squirrel is way more likely to show up at any campsite on a daily basis....but they showing up for a little food is not as dramatic as a bear strolling into camp and taking the bowl of popcorn sitting between 2 people or fishing thru a food bag while the people throw rocks and yell....food is paramount in a bears mind.....not too good to place youself between it and a determined bear.
I have camped and backpacked in some places that when you make a meal all the other food it hung so that if a hungry bear shows up....you only lose the one meal and the entire trip doesn't have to end.....
Both the Porcupine Mountains(UP Mighigan) Oak and Stocton in the Apostles and some areas in the BWCA are known for bear problems...
Bear Canisters are GOOD...food Hangs (done properly) are GOOD
Storing food in boats is a very POOR policy in most bear layden locals (and racoon and Squirrel)
MY Mileage/My Backyard...You may feel that Yours differs....
Best Wishes
Roy
BTW
Roy, did you see me using the hang in TITS4? I forgot to ask you when I saw you at canoecopia…
Damon…
yep
like they say in B.C./Yukon - a fed bear is a dead bear.
keeping food away from bears is as much about them not developing behaviors that will get them killed as it is keeping your food safe.
Haven’t
– Last Updated: Mar-27-09 8:27 PM EST –
seen T4 yet...glad to hear about You using the hang method...It's so easy to put 100 pounds of food up high if need.
guess I'll have to get a copy and watch it.....
Best wishes to You and to Sarah (movie Stars)
Roy
when
you look at the pictures of the hang…read the script and trace the ropes…I believe it says the entire description of how to do it…
My wife worked to make the diagram so that we could print them out as a hand out card…I carry several in my PFD usually to hand out…she laminated them so as to be waterproof…
We spent way too many years trying to hang multi week food bags high…all the methods we used before we way too dificult to get the tonage up…and took an army to pull the rope.
try this in your back yard and you will be suprised how easy it is to hang food high and far from any tree trunk. (with very little effort)
By the way only the smaller bears climb…the really big ones can no longer lift their own weight…they never have to climb to get away…cause they are …BIG
Best Wishes
Roy
another
thing to consider is that bear density is higher around places that food can be found…such as established campgrounds.
It takes a lot of food to feed large animals so the bears in a undeveloped area are less likely to be tromping by where you are on a daily tour looking for food…
they have to cover a lot of ground and their personal territories cover large tracts and unless you actually allow lots of food scent to attract them…they might not ever find your camp and even upon finding it will be much more leary of just tromping into your camp…they aren’t already used to people…
so the father out you get away from people…the less likely you are to have problems…but if you do they will be BIG problems…
Best Wishes
Roy
jcbikeski,
You said, “I don’t have an issue (so far) where I kayak, but in the Sierras I just put my Garcia canister in a low spot so that any bears playing soccer with it won’t send it down a cliff.”
We backpack in the mountains mostly and we’ve found that putting one of those key finders in our Bear Vault (we carry the matching finder) greatly facilitates locating our food after Yogi and Boo Boo are through playing with the canister.
Bought cool shirt instead
Drove for two hours to REI today … wound up using my coupon on a cool paddling top with Mysterioso material or something instead of ordering a bear canister. So I guess the bears will eat me now. But I’ll look good. … But seriously, thanks for the advice and, if they don’t have bear lockers or poles at the established campsites, I’ll still probably order a canister or ursack.