TrailManors vs. Bears

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by B_and_D

Years ago when we were setting up our tent near Mammoth Pools, we were approached by a couple of friendly fellow campers who advised us that there was a rather large bear in the campground. When I expressed dismay at this news (DH had assured me that there were never any bears in this particular campground) they told me that we should just drink a six-pack of beer, and that would keep the bears away.

I had to think about that one for a while.

Bear downs 36 beers, passes out at campground

"Rainier, not Busch, the beverage of choice for thirsty black bear". This being a Washington State bear, he clearly preferred the local stuff.

[Bill]

Originally Posted by G-V_Driver

I asked how we could tell which kind of bears were in our vicinity. He said we should watch for droppings. Brown bear droppings consist largely of berries. Grizzly droppings typically include small bells and smell like pepper spray.

Around here, conventional wisdom has it that if you see a bear, you should shinny up a tree. If the bear comes up the tree behind you, it's a black bear. If the bear knocks the tree down, it's a grizzly.

And RockyMtnRay noted that bears occasionally drink beer

Bear downs 36 beers, passes out at campground

Very true. Again around here (northern Maine), and quite seriously, it is not unusual for a bear to break into a hunting cabin when it is hungry. Fairly often, it will chomp into a can of spray paint, thinking (apparently) that it is a can of beer, or beans, or whatever. Makes an awful mess. Doesn't do the bear any good, either. But the worst damage actually happens as the surprised bear goes straight out through a wall of the cabin.

Perhaps tent campers should leave a couple cans of Krylon outside the tent.

Bill

[fcatwo]

Bacon-wrapped cans of bug or pepper spray outside the tent are used as well but that's cutting it pretty close. I'ts probably best to just be somewhere else when agressive bears are prowling in the wild. We lived in Alaska for 29 years, saw both black and grizzly/brown bears in a variety of situations (a yearling black beded down in a brushy part of our yard for a couple of years), and learned that bears are not normally a threat unless they have learned to associate humans with food.

Neighborhood bears tend to their own business - which is garbage cans, pet food placed outside and bird seed. Your kids are far more likely to be mauled by your neighbor's dogs than a bear.

Frank

[tucsoncarol]

Last summer my brother and his family with their Coleman pop up were camping with a couple in a tent. A little after midnight, the tenting couple began to yell that there was something big in camp and what did Ron (my bro') think they should do. He looked out the window to see a large brown bear opening their cooler like it was a cardboard box and begin enjoying the contents. His response was that he was going back to sleep and hoped the bear knew his way out of camp when he was done. This didn't sit well with the other couple or his wife (it was her sister and brother-in-law in the tent). They all did as he advised, though, and in the morning they found the bear had eaten everything, including a large ham, several steaks, and a box of cheap wine to wash it all down. He had taken the precaution my dad taught us, to store your food as far from your camp as possible, and though all their provisions were gone, they are all still uneaten.