Camping in Bear Country
 

How do you folks do it? With recent increase of attacks all over the place, I wonder how to most be safe when I take my wife out to Glacier, or even up to Canada, where you can REALLY get remote in the woods. I mean, most of the trailers, like the CAMPA seem to be pretty much off-road roach coaches with a tent on top of them. So, how do you apply the "normal" rules of camping in bear country with a trailer or a roof-top tent?

It's easy, Bear's are opportunists. They are only around for an easy meal. Just some common sense when your in the sticks. Don't keep food, garbage, toiletries in your tent with you. Try and put them away.....say in your vehicle. Not the absolute best but certainly better than around your campsite in the open. Also goes for BBQ's. But also be prepared for an encounter. Keep some bear spray around if you cant keep a firearm with you. Or just get a trailer with hardwalls. Then your set! :beer:

I usually suspend with rope or cargo strap any food or anything that's scent would attract a bear from a tree branch or similar that is higher than the bear can reach (so your grub is safe), and 50 yards from camp. Build the fire up before you go to bed, and have something to protect yourself with. I feel just fine with my .4570, .44 mag and bowie close by. Finally, have an emergency plan. Sit down with whoever is with you and plan an emergency route/meet up place so if an incident occurs, everyone knows what to do (like a fire drill). Have a good first aid kit, and familiarize yourself with self aid/buddy care techniques. Keep in mind, brown bears aren't strong climbers, but they are good swimmers. Black bears climb well, but don't care for swimming. When I was stationed in Alaska for 4 years, all these tips helped me be here after having encounters with grizzlies 3 times.

Read through this thread should help

https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/show...t=bear+country

A bear encounter I had last fall on my way to work!

[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...99/Grizzly.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...9/Grizzly2.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c2...9/Grizzly3.jpg[/IMG]

Yes.....for the most part they are. But all bears are different. There are many different reasons why a bear may attack a human. Some have never been exposed to humans and are curious. Some get old and sick and now have a hard time finding food on their own. And some have been "programmed"(by humans) over the years to associate humans with food. No to mention the sow that KNOWS that humans mean food and teach their cubs all about it. And lastly.....you came into "their" territory.

The one thing I always told my hunters when I was guiding in bear country, which is pretty much all of Alaska, is that most bears will respect territories. Meaning if you were there first and a bear knows it, most times they will move on. So believe it or not I used to tell my hunters to walk off and piss in different spots all around the camp not just in one place. Anywhere that it looks like a bear might approach is a good place. This establishes a territorial perimeter so to speak and most/many bears will respect that. It seems to work well as even tho there were bears all around us many times, I never had one come into camp....even with moose or caribou meat hanging not far away.

I learned this from many bear photographers. They would get to a place ahead of where they new bears would be.....say a common fishing spot. And as long as it wasn't right on top of them, he would set up his camp ahead of time to get it established before the bears moved in.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_06koBwqKr2w/TN...t%20enough.jpg

My wife and I have gone to AZ-UT (last Spring) and then WY-MT in September. Between those two trips, we seem to see a lot of bear attack stories particularly in and around Yellowstone where we went in September. We were at a Capelas before the last trip and she spotted "Bear Spray" and bought what seemed to me be the giant economy industrial size and we strapped it on an instructor belt and off we went.

I carry a 1911 all the time (retired LEO) and while I think a .45 can be an instant fix for just about any of life's problems, I deecided to take along a 12 gauge pump loaded with slugs as a Jeep gun.

We stayed in a cabin Moran WY and had a great time and didn't see a sibgle bear but we did ee people carrying bear spray cans just like ours.

on the last nifght of our stay at Yellowstone, she took the Jck Russell terrier for an evening stroll while I was on the lap top. I reminded her about the bear spray before she left and she replied, "I don't think I'll need it" in that voice inflection that really meantt, "you're so dumb".

You can see where this going, right?

Moment s later, the cabin screen door was wrenched open and in she came with the Jack Russell running a close second. SAhe slammed the main door shut as the Jack Russel headed under the couch and she said/screamed, "bear, Bear, BEAR!!!!"

I jumped up to look out the window and saw nothing while she was jacking a round in the 12 gauge and strapping on the bear spray. I asked where she was going and she said, "to show you the bear, grab your camera" and again there was that voice inflection which made me realize how dumb she thought I was.

I then explained to her that i had no intention of being the subject of a 10 o'clock newscast talking about two dumb tourists who tried to take a picture of a grizzly eating berries who had two cubs with her!

The Jack Russell was finally convinced to com out from under the couch when dinner was put on the table.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup: Great "inflection" story.....lol

The bear in the pic looks like he's at a full sprint. And I would imagine the guy in the vehicle is doing the same in reverse.....of course it's hard to say how far away the guy was from the bear, or even if he was or wasn't in a vehicle.....you know the lenses people have on cameras nowadays.

But a buddy of mine had to do the same thing, in reverse, in his little honda wagon when a big bull moose started charging them down the road. :eek2:

Keep your food locked away and bring a large caliber gun:thumbsup:

BudMan- Glad you brought the shotgun and some slugs because the 1911 wouldn't be too much help with a bear. Better than nothing, but a caliber larger than a .45 would be advisable with bears

Not exactly......depends on the 45. My Ruger Redhawk 45 Colt loaded with Buffalo Bore loads, shoots a bigger slug, faster than the 44 mag....325 gr. @ 1325 fps. That's the reason I bought it instead of the 44 mag...for bear protection.