Bear safety in RTT's and soft sided campers/tents
- Thread starter upcruiser
- Start date
That would generally just piss off a Grizzly unless you luck out with shot placement. Love my pistols but when it comes to The Grizz I'll take bear spray as a preferred method of deterrent.
All this being said my biggest concern in the woods is not the 4 leggers but the 2 legged variety.
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DCH109
Adventurer
I have backpacked in Grizzly country many times, long before packable bear proof containers were the norm (hell they were not even for sale).
What we ALWAYS learned.
1. Always look for tracks. If there are a lot, find a better campsite, it may be a travel point for them.
2. If you do not have a bear proof container hang your food HIGH on a branch and away from the tree and your site.
3. Do not cook right next to your tent and ideally down wind from your sleeping areas.
4. Do not sleep in what you were cooking in. Keep those clothes in a bag outside.
5. NEVER keep food in your tent.
6. Cleanup your camp before you leave and leave no trace.
7. Have respect for them
When I camp, black bear or anything larger I swear by these. I have had a Grizzly walk between two tents that were close enough that I felt him push against me. He made a mess of the pots and pans licking out the leftovers that someone did not clean.
then walked on by.
The problem is #6 most people do not cleanup after themselves and the bears become a problem. They do not follow simple rules.
What we ALWAYS learned.
1. Always look for tracks. If there are a lot, find a better campsite, it may be a travel point for them.
2. If you do not have a bear proof container hang your food HIGH on a branch and away from the tree and your site.
3. Do not cook right next to your tent and ideally down wind from your sleeping areas.
4. Do not sleep in what you were cooking in. Keep those clothes in a bag outside.
5. NEVER keep food in your tent.
6. Cleanup your camp before you leave and leave no trace.
7. Have respect for them
When I camp, black bear or anything larger I swear by these. I have had a Grizzly walk between two tents that were close enough that I felt him push against me. He made a mess of the pots and pans licking out the leftovers that someone did not clean.
then walked on by.
The problem is #6 most people do not cleanup after themselves and the bears become a problem. They do not follow simple rules.
Kerensky97
Xterra101
Your gun or bear spray doesn't have a magical bear repelling aura, it's just a shiny object to animals. Until you pull the trigger the bear doesn't care about your gun no matter how close it is to them; they're not human, flashing a piece won't scare them off. Even loud noises don't have much effect, they've heard thunder before. Unless it's paired with a beanbag to the butt it takes more than a bang to get them running.
The trick is to not get into that situation in the first place. Bears are attracted to food and anything "perfumed" so no food in the tent, keep your bathroom kit in the car. I've camped in lots of areas with bears in nothing more than an ultralight tent. The trick is to do you eating and washing before you goto bed.
The gun and spray isn't bear prevention or repellent, it's a solution for when the bear has already come at you. If you focus on prevention beforehand so you won't have to worry about that.
jonnyquest
Adventurer
Hey, hey, Boo Boo. A picinic basket!
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bigskypylot
Explorer
Best bear fence out there. Use a clean camp concept, dont cook where you sleep and abearspray with a 12ga pump or .45-70 and a good dose of common sense. You dont even need the fence but it makes afor a good piece of mind. My buddy uses them on his hunts when he was based up there. Never ever had an issue.
http://www.eaglesafety.net/Home_Personal/eagle_enterprises_safety_solutions_bearfence.html
http://www.eaglesafety.net/Home_Personal/eagle_enterprises_safety_solutions_bearfence.html
bigskypylot
Explorer
In most cases you won't even have time to use them until it happens. Spray has a 90% effective rate and a much better deterrent. However, I'm still carrying a sidearm/longarm lol.
bigskypylot
Explorer
Indeed...
Grizzly's aren't around here, but we've seen quite a few black bears camping in the Sierra's and up along the north coast. Last fall I was with my teen daughter in a ground tent, heard a weird scraping noise early in the morning. Stuck my head out of the zipper and there was a little black bear standing on the park table licking what was probably the grease splattering from the previous nights dinner. I zipped the tent back up and went back to sleep, then waited a couple days to tell my daughter about it. No need to ruin the trip with a scared teenager.
As far as bear prevention. Keeping the food away from your tent in a bear resistant container and keeping the site clean (obvious oversight on my part) will eliminate most contacts.
As far as bear prevention. Keeping the food away from your tent in a bear resistant container and keeping the site clean (obvious oversight on my part) will eliminate most contacts.
This, my friend, is a recipe for anarchy. What's right is to follow existing laws, including gun laws. If you don't like a law, work through legal channels to change it, or move. That's called living in a society.
Fireman78
Expedition Leader
Pepper spray is better to have than a gun in regards to bears. Bears olfactory sensory organs are so sensitive that pepper spray (Bear Spray) makes them want to GET AWAY. Being shot may just piss it off. Guns are good to have in case of bad people, although I've never needed one of those either for that purpose. My 30/30 saved my faithful dog a fews back from coyotes. I have been camping for over 40 years, Although, not much time in grizzly country. Usually just blackies. It's my only hobby really, besides upgrading my Jeep. I have had a few bear experiences in my life , luckily was never attacked. What I have thought about in my mind about sleeping in my RTT is lightning. That concerns me more for sure. Once in Colorado I fell asleep in my RTT with the door open, and was awoken by an Elk licking my face. Scared the ever living **** out of me.
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