Grizzly vs. Black Bear
Grizzlies tend to be in Canada, but of course, they know no boundaries and are also called Brown Bears. They are more likely to attack over Black Bears.
Yes, Black Bears can be timid. They will get out of your way if they hear you coming most times, except if a mom has her cub or cubs with her, then you’re toast, especially if you get between them.
This article will explain the difference between the both types of bears:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/difference/grizzly-vs-black-bear/
-Capri
You’re right – most of the time
We encountered one bear on the Churchill river, a day’s paddle upstream from Otter lake. Bear arrived as we were cooking dinner. We’d been in camp less than an hour. He was a yearling bear.
Proceeded to come into camp, flip the canoes over to check them out, swatted a 5 gallon pail.
Meanwhile we are jumping up and down making lots and lots of noise. Bear ignores us. First bear banger we used he runs up a tree 3-4 feet. Then drops back down. After that he ignores bear bangers. He’d skitter away if we made noise and were under 20 feet away.
We packed up, and paddled to an island a mile off shore.
At Missinippi we reported the encounter to the local conservation service. They had similar reports, and this bear was on their list for lead poisoning.
******
The year we did the Mujatik it was an unsual day that we didn’t see at least one bear. We had one moderately fearless bear come into camp in early evening. After running him off once, we could hear him in the surrounding bush. That night we kept the fire going and kept a watch, and while we heard him on and off most of the night, he didn’t return to camp.
*****
Other than that, poster is right. A clean camp, minimize use of scented products such as soap, febreeze, deoderant will be sufficient.
THAT said:
I
I thought there was a clear difference between the Alaskan Brown Bear and the Grizzly. I mean in temper. Are you saying they are similar?
Make your camp less desirable
We’ve had that problem here in the Southern California mountains. Every few years some Boy Scout or camper gets grabbed through the tent (that’s why we sleep outside on the ground…No tent to irritate the bears). Almost always a candy bar, trash, food, or perfume/deodorant was involved at some level. Bears can out-smell a bloodhound. Try covering yourselves in wood smoke prior to bedtime. Don’t wash up with good smells in the evenings. For years we camped right across the trail from a lady bear. We did these things, and every night the bear crossed through our site and raided some other camper. Make you camp off the game trail. And properly store your food (Check out www.canoebear.com).
I don’t visit posts much so if you want to discuss this more, please email me. In the meantime, keep your seats dry and your paddles wet…And your bears neighborly.
Vern
after eating a distance from tent area,
and after having coffee…etc, have your toothbrush, paste, mouthwash handy…and brush soon after. It’ll reduce the scent trail that leads back to the tent.
$.01
Yep, I saw that show 5 years ago…
It was on When Animals Attack or the like… Haven’t heard of anything like it, but maybe afew times.
Be clean, be smart & relax. Have fun!
Paddle easy,
Coffee
That incident with the scout
– Last Updated: Apr-04-11 3:38 PM EST –
happened in 2010, in New Mexico, not 5 years ago.
bear death stats since 1870’s
Here is a good bit of stats covering black, grizz and polar bear deaths in N. America since the 1870s’—showing where, who and when they died…scroll to the bottom of this for the maps etc.
If you add up all the death…sine 1870 it amounts to the number of car wrecks that will happen in the US during the next 2-days…so i wouldnt worry about it.
Keep a clean camp, clean head, play it smart and dont intrude on bear territory especially in the presence of cubs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America
No, this was definitely 5 years ago…
Or more? I watched it at the office when I was doing government contracts… That was 3 years ago & I know it was more than 3 years ago that I saw it.
Paddle easy,
Coffee
Death Stats? Really?
– Last Updated: Apr-15-11 8:42 PM EST –
A lot of attacks (particularly black bear attacks) do not end in death, just maiming. Therefore, stats about deaths since 1870 are irrelevant. Of the several bear attacks in 2010, the only fatalities were in Montana with a griz. That doesn't comfort me much, at least not to a point where I will submit to such an attack simply to be politically correct. Here's the 2010 scout attack I was referring to:
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/environment/bear-shot-after-attack-at-nm-scout-camp