Bears and Overlanding

[KevinR]

Hello all,

I'm new to expedition portal, I've been scoping it out for a while, and overland travel seems awesome to me. I've been on JF for a few years, slowly building up my jeep. Anyways, back to the real question...when I was hiking in New Mexico a couple years back, we always hung our food in a bear bag and were very careful not to sleep in the clothes that we ate in. What type of precautions do you guys take as far as bears go when car camping? Would I be ok cooking off the back of the jeep (a TJ) and storing the food in watertight surplus med cases or similar on a roof rack?

Thanks for the input,
Kevin

 

[DaveM]

If I’m away from a developed campground I usually store food in the cooler in the cab if possible. Clean up around camp, burn paper towels and food scraps completely. Put garbage bag in cab. And sleep a decent distance from the truck and eating area. If I’m in a developed camp that has bear boxes I use them instead. My gut feeling is that you’re more likely to encounter a curious bear in a spot where he has had some success with food scrounging before, and that puts developed camps in bear country above back country camps. In fact of the few bears I’ve encountered in my life between CA & Alaska, most have been in camp, the rest scared up while driving the roads. None while backpacking or wilderness car camping.
I occasionally bring my 12ga with me. I always sleep with my knife and walking staff in the tent. But your best protection is to keep camp clean and well organized.

 

[KevinR]

Thanks for the information. What about sleeping in the jeep? Thoughts on this?

 

[BIGdaddy]

If I’m away from a developed campground I usually store food in the cooler in the cab if possible. Clean up around camp, burn paper towels and food scraps completely. Put garbage bag in cab. And sleep a decent distance from the truck and eating area. If I’m in a developed camp that has bear boxes I use them instead. My gut feeling is that you’re more likely to encounter a curious bear in a spot where he has had some success with food scrounging before, and that puts developed camps in bear country above back country camps. In fact of the few bears I’ve encountered in my life between CA & Alaska, most have been in camp, the rest scared up while driving the roads. None while backpacking or wilderness car camping.
I occasionally bring my 12ga with me. I always sleep with my knife and walking staff in the tent. But your best protection is to keep camp clean and well organized.

This has been my experience as well. great post. I've done a lot of camping up in montana, and the only problem areas are where bears "know" to go for scraps.

 

[DaveM]

Thanks for the information. What about sleeping in the jeep? Thoughts on this?

Well you’d be safer than in a tent I guess. If a bear starts to nose around the vehicle you’ll be able to start it up and leave. There’s a lot made of a bears ability to pry open a car door or break glass but I think it’s been documented that wild bears rarely do this, only “park” bears if that makes sense. They learn to expect food from inside a vehicle and what it takes to get it. Some bears have been reported to open certain vehicles even when no food or food smell is present, simply out of memory from past rewards. Yosemite Valley requires that even if your cooler is empty and clean you must cover it while stored in your car so the bear can’t see it!

 

[KevinR]

Thanks guys, those are some great points. With that in mind, I'm gonna go ahead and keep on working on a storage system design to make the most of my (very) small interior .

 

[dzzz]

Do a bear in camp a favor and give him a face full of bear spray. You may save his life.

Young bears are the most unpredictable. Big bears usually have figured out that challenging people does not lead to a long life.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Do a bear in camp a favor and give him a face full of bear spray. You may save his life.

Young bears are the most unpredictable. Big bears usually have figured out that challenging people does not lead to a long life.

This is good medicine, too. I carry my 12g in camp, but I'd ABSOLUTELY prefer to re-educate a bear than kill it.

It always comes down to my families safety, but if a cloud of napalm juice will do it, then why not.

 

[Mr. Leary]

Good advice. If they don't have a reason to go near you, they usually won't.

I always sleep with my knife and walking staff in the tent.

I prefer to wrestle the bears myself... more sportsmanlike! :coffeedrink:

 

[KG6BWS]

This is good medicine, too. I carry my 12g in camp, but I'd ABSOLUTELY prefer to re-educate a bear than kill it.

It always comes down to my families safety, but if a cloud of napalm juice will do it, then why not.

Rubber 12ga slugs. Lot of noise, no permanent damage, but one helluva wallop!!!!

 

[30-284]

Rubber 12ga slugs. Lot of noise, no permanent damage, but one helluva wallop!!!!

Ya Thats a good way to piss a bear off, You better have you're running shoes on!

Donn

 

[Corey]

Get on their good side, and they will leave your food alone.
To hard for them to put the Journal down.

 

[Christophe Noel]

Bears and guns are often a sketchy combo. Many bears in the lower 48 that people encounter while camping are "camp" bears and they know where the easy food is. As such, those bears and the guns they inspire, are usually not far from other campers. Not too many years ago a nervous camper shot at a bear a the bullet managed to go through another camper's tent and into a cabin with no injury to anyone, including the bear. Scary.

The real danger with camp bears has everything to do with the numb skulls that camped there before you and conditioned the bears to raid. Or, if you got lucky, those campers sprayed the bear, chased it away, etc.

I've seen bears in Yosemite actually watch to see how a person opens a bear proof storage bin and then waltzed over to try it themselves. Those bears are unbelievably smart. As stated above, I think those cubs go to "door opening school" at a young age, but those are highly conditioned bears.

If you just remain aware of your surroundings, food storage and cleanliness, you'll be fine. Bear spray is amazing stuff. If you feel threatened, reach for that first. Bears are really cool animals. I've had bears stroll through my camp (in a well defined campground) like it was just another stop on the food parade. Why confront some human when you can go strait for their potato chips they left out.

I also work in an outdoor store and hear all sorts of "scary" bear stories. For some poeple you'd think bears shot lasers out of their eyes and flames out of their mouths. One customer last week said, "the bear must have been 200 pounds. I was lucky." This from a guy sitting in a F250. Awareness of bears is wise. Fear might be a little over the top.

 

[jcbrandon]

...What type of precautions do you guys take as far as bears go when car camping? ...

When I'm planning a camping trip, bear precautions are rarely in the top 100 things to think about. Unless I'll be camping in Yosemite Valley. Then it is item number one. So I don't camp in Yosemite Valley very much.

If I were planning a trip to Alaska, BC, or Montana, it would move higher up the list.

 

[leverett]

ive heard if you have a generator put the cooler next to it and the noise will keep the bears away but we dont encounter alot of bears in texas so i dont know but i would also use the 12 gauge method you can buy percusion rounds that just give off a big bang if that dont work i would have a lethal round ready to chamber