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Bear stuff

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    • Bear stuff

      One of the biggest concerns for new hikers is our unfounded fear of bears....unfounded to a point, that is. So let's talk bears...your encounters, behavior, safety strategies, etc. Out of the 8 I saw on my thru, all were benign, though there were a few who showed no fear of me whatsoever. About half of my hike, I carried the 12 ounce can of bear spray. Never needed, no. But when I found myself alone in the woods with a 400 pound bear whose senses and speed are better than mine 100 fold, it did bring a sense of security that was worth the weight. It also made me more comfortable stealth camping alone in the woods.
      On topic, check out this video of a cyclist getting chased by a grizzly. Not too excited about running into one of these if I do the PCT.

      youtube.com/watch?v=PzEH5t4Xp9Y
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • It's silly, but when sleeping in shelters with my head towards the open side, I imagine a bear coming in and biting my head. So I sleep with my hiking pole next to me and extended over the edge of the platform, hopefully it will wake me up if it gets nudged.

      I've had two bear encounters where they didn't run away from fear, all the others took off like a shot when they saw me. Of the two who didn't, one was scared away when my sister made loud noises and the other hung around all afternoon and night, got the shelter closed down, and was trapped and relocated a week later.
      Lost in the right direction.

    • bears aren't much of a concern of mine. I don't carry anything like a gun or spray or silly little bells. I do take reasonable precautions like not eating in or close to my hammock and I do normally hang my food. I look at it like filtering my water - its so easy, there's no reason not too...

      Ticks are a bigger concern
      RIAP

      The post was edited 1 time, last by Trebor ().

    • The following was written by Triple Crowner and two time A.T. thru hiker Shane "Jester" O'Donnell:

      "I sleep with my food. There. I said it.
      I’ve slept with my food in my tent while hiking in twenty-two different states, including ones that have Grizzlies. When legally required, I’ve used bear canisters (Kings Canyon, Yosemite) and hung food (Yellowstone). I’ve used bear boxes when they’ve been provided. But otherwise, I sleep with my food. And so do a lot of other people.

      Why? Simply put, I believe it to be the best strategy for protecting bears.
      This statement is probably viewed incredulously by people who have been told over and over again by official agencies that sleeping with your food is a terrible idea, and that people who do it are lazy, irresponsible, and part of the problem. But stick with me, and I’ll explain my line of thinking.

      I believe that one of the reasons that official sites post the proper hanging of food as a best practice doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the efficacy of hanging food as a deterrent versus other methods of food storage. I think it has more to do with the safety of the hiker, and the potential liability involved in the event of an attack rather than the result of any studies.

      Which is to say, keeping your food in your tent could be 1,000 times more likely to prevent a bear from getting your food, and authorities would still never suggest it due to the relative potential bad outcome should a bear invade a tent, regardless of how unlikely that might be statistically. So if sleeping with your food decreases the chances of a bear getting it by a great margin, but increases only slightly the chance of you having an encounter with a bear, it won’t be recommended.

      I have often thought that hanging food isn’t necessarily about keeping food away from bears, but rather keeping bears away from people while they attempt to get people’s food. The argument would say something to the effect of, “well, the bear got my food, but at least I’m okay.” People who hang food aren’t terrified that a bear might get their food if they slept with it, but rather of what a bear might do to them while it was getting their food if they slept with it.

      Much of what we do regarding bears and food is, as with water treatment, faith-based. If you hang food with success you are convinced that hanging food is why a bear didn’t get your food, whether there is a bear in the area or not. If you sleep with your food, and are never attacked, you believe that sleeping with your food is a successful strategy. When a bear does get food that is hung, the assumption on the part of those who hang food is that the food was improperly hung. Why? Because they have faith that a bear cannot get to properly hung food -- even though there are bears that have proven that they can learn to defeat just about any unattended system of protecting food (including bear canisters).

      As for bears invading tents, it’s incredibly rare, despite the fact that at some point in a trip everything you own probably smells like food. On the very rare occasions that it does happen the first question anyone asks is, “did the hiker have food in their tent?” Why? Because people like to find a cause that tells then that they are relatively safe from this kind of thing, so that they can tell themselves that they don’t have to be afraid. “He had food in his tent and was attacked, I do not have food in my tent and therefore won’t be attacked.” But even if you don’t have food in your tent, you still probably smell like food. You’ve spilled it on your clothing, you’ve stored it (and trash) in your backpack, you’ve got some on your hands, your beard, your mouth. It’s not like you’re taking a shower every day. Putting all “smellables” in a bag doesn’t mean your tent and its contents don’t smell like food. Ultimately, actually having food in your tent might not make it smell any more like food than not having it in your tent.

      But there’s not much you can do about that, right? So you do what you can to minimize bad encounters. And if your food doesn’t get taken and you remain unharmed, then whatever you’ve done worked (at least in your mind). Even if there were never any bears near you.

      Are people who sleep with their food irresponsible and lazy? Undoubtedly some are. And then there are others who believe that it’s a better way of dealing with food. Do I have any statistical evidence to back up my belief that bears recognize possession as ownership, and that they are more likely to go after hung, non-attended food rather than expend the energy to attack another animal to take its food? Nope. But then again, people who believe hanging is the best strategy don’t have any statistical analysis to back up their belief, either. Anecdotally, I can look at the situation on the Appalachian Trail in Georgia and note that the bear or bears who get hikers’ food are getting it exclusively from bear hangs. Is the food improperly hung? Probably, but not necessarily. Does it occur to any of those hikers to sue the ATC or NPS or any other agency for suggesting that hanging food is the best method? Of course not.

      On the other hand, you can imagine how quickly someone (or their family) would engage a lawyer if ATC suggested sleeping with food and a bear invaded a tent, regardless of how unlikely a scenario that might be, particularly if that hiker sustained injuries or was killed.

      I sleep with my food. Should you? That’s really up to you. If having food in your tent is going to keep you awake all night, probably not. In fact, I’ve hung food when I’ve been around other hikers who were so worried about me not doing so that it seemed a kindness to hang my food so they could get some sleep.
      I’m not suggesting what anyone else should or shouldn’t do. I’m explaining my reasoning for what I do, and the fact that it isn’t as lazy or irresponsibe as you might have been led to believe.

      I sleep with my food because I think it’s safer for the bears. "
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    • As for bear spray on the A.T. my usual advice is "It's unnecessary and not worth the weight of carrying it...unless having it helps you sleep better at night or lets you enjoy your hike more, then it's probably worth the weight of carrying it."
      Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.

    • Good article, Sarcasm!

      I, too, have slept with my food on some occasions. When camping in the woods alone, I tend to be more cautious and I always hang. The one time I broke that self-enforced rule, I woke up at 3am with a coyote circling my tent. Luckily nothing weird happened and he sauntered off as I started shining my light and talking.

      It's an interesting debate. I read in a magazine (don't remember the source) that if a bear is in someone's campground, he is to be assumed predatory. I don't think I agree with that, but waking up to one nosing around your tent would probably feel predatory! When camping alone, I gather rocks the night before and place them at my tent door in case there is something out there at night, hopefully I can scare him away by throwing stones at him.

      The cool thing about black bears, particularly on the heavily traveled A.T., is they're benign. COULD one run across an aggressive bear? Yes, but the chances are about as likely as running across an aggressive person. It could happen, but it's hugely unlikely.
      www.appalachiantrailclarity.com - Life on the A.T.

      Sometimes you find yourself in the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere, you find yourself.

    • twistwrist wrote:

      Good article, Sarcasm!

      I, too, have slept with my food on some occasions. When camping in the woods alone, I tend to be more cautious and I always hang. The one time I broke that self-enforced rule, I woke up at 3am with a coyote circling my tent. Luckily nothing weird happened and he sauntered off as I started shining my light and talking.

      It's an interesting debate. I read in a magazine (don't remember the source) that if a bear is in someone's campground, he is to be assumed predatory. I don't think I agree with that, but waking up to one nosing around your tent would probably feel predatory! When camping alone, I gather rocks the night before and place them at my tent door in case there is something out there at night, hopefully I can scare him away by throwing stones at him.

      The cool thing about black bears, particularly on the heavily traveled A.T., is they're benign. COULD one run across an aggressive bear? Yes, but the chances are about as likely as running across an aggressive person. It could happen, but it's hugely unlikely.
      The rocks are a good idea, I always forget about gathering rocks before bed.
      Lost in the right direction.

    • TrafficJam wrote:

      twistwrist wrote:

      Good article, Sarcasm!

      I, too, have slept with my food on some occasions. When camping in the woods alone, I tend to be more cautious and I always hang. The one time I broke that self-enforced rule, I woke up at 3am with a coyote circling my tent. Luckily nothing weird happened and he sauntered off as I started shining my light and talking.

      It's an interesting debate. I read in a magazine (don't remember the source) that if a bear is in someone's campground, he is to be assumed predatory. I don't think I agree with that, but waking up to one nosing around your tent would probably feel predatory! When camping alone, I gather rocks the night before and place them at my tent door in case there is something out there at night, hopefully I can scare him away by throwing stones at him.

      The cool thing about black bears, particularly on the heavily traveled A.T., is they're benign. COULD one run across an aggressive bear? Yes, but the chances are about as likely as running across an aggressive person. It could happen, but it's hugely unlikely.
      The rocks are a good idea, I always forget about gathering rocks before bed.
      yeah I usually pop one in the camber before bed.