Camping with Firearm-Post Bear Mauling

[Mr. Leary]

One of the reasons why my hiking pistol is a Taurus Judge. All the ********** of a .45LC, but the versatility of a .410.

... but still not much use with a bear on top of you in your tent...

 

[BigAl]

I sleep so soundly that in this situation i'd be done:snorkel: But if my number is truely up, getting mauled by a bear would be kind of a rush. I mean it would beat an extended illness at least.:ylsmoke:

 

[Corey]

I will be in black bear country in a week for my vacation.
I just ordered two of these from Amazon.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AXTVF/ref=ox_ya_os_product"]Falcon Safety Super Sound Horn[/ame]

Thinking of picking this up up also, but I think the horns will be a good start.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/FRONTIERSMAN-Bear-Attack-Deterrent-Holster/dp/B002E6VAHK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1280480722&sr=8-1"]FRONTIERSMAN Bear Attack Deterrent with Hip Holster[/ame]

I really do not want to lug my Colt AR15 with me
I would rather have a Taurus Judge to take for that situation.

 

[stolenheron]

I will be in black bear country in a week for my vacation.
I just ordered two of these from Amazon.
Falcon Safety Super Sound Horn

Thinking of picking this up up also, but I think the horns will be a good start.
FRONTIERSMAN Bear Attack Deterrent with Hip Holster

I really do not want to lug my Colt AR15 with me
I would rather have a Taurus Judge to take for that situation.

a black bear out in the woods (unless with cubs) generally is no threat. most black bears will run off or shoot up the nearest tree when they run into folks....unless they are around campgrounds, trash dumps, or "on missions" as IdaSHO mentioned.

i've seen black bears run away from border collies....but that doesnt mean they cant kill you

 

[Corey]

Yeah, this will be up at Mt. Rainier where some campers who do not know better leave food out at night.

I will be out hiking too on the trails, that is where I have ran across bears in the past, they usually just scamper off of the trail.

Still, seeing one like that coming around a corner makes the heart thump.

In all of my years backpacking up there though way back into the wilderness at Rainier I never encountered a bear.
Came face to face with big elk and plenty of dear though.

One time I was setting up camp after hiking in about 4.5 miles from the trailhead I had this feeling I was being watched.
I turned around and a huge elk about 10' from me was just standing there watching me put my tent up.
I guess he was more curious than anything, and when I tired to get to the 35 mm camera, he walked off.

 

[07 Elephant]

No ground tents in bear country. We RRT owners often joke about being safe from lions and tigers and bears but in this case it proves true. I'm not saying the bear couldn't climb up and get at the soft treats inside the Maggiolia but I think I'd have a few extra seconds/minutes to take some action. Bear spray, my gun? Either way it's better than waking up to a bear inside my ground tent and on top of me. And it sound like this lady had extreme presence of mind to go limp and play dead...can you imagine? Amazing.

 

[Corey]

I saw her on the local news last night, pretty amazing.
It would take a lot of self control to play dead, as I would want to go ninja on that bear

That would be a deadly mistake on my part.
Unless of course I was Chuck Norris, then the bear has no chance.

 

[DrMoab]

It won't change anything for me. I always have carried a gun and this doesn't change anything.

While true in that particular situation it may not help but that isn't the only situation out there.

I carry a Ruger Alaskan .454 Casuall. Trust me...it WILL stop a bear.

 

[BorregoWrangler]

Doesn't change much for me either. I'll still have my 12ga. with me in my tent. Although this does make me want to get a RTT now.

 

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: Get a hatch tent and leave your tailgate/hatch open, works for me

Just make sure your keys are handy !!

:costumed-smiley-007:bike_rider: JIMBO

 

[Lichen]

It won't change anything for me. I always have carried a gun and this doesn't change anything.

While true in that particular situation it may not help but that isn't the only situation out there.

I carry a Ruger Alaskan .454 Casuall. Trust me...it WILL stop a bear.

But it won't stop Chuck Norris!

 

[AYIAPhoto]

I will be in black bear country in a week for my vacation.
I just ordered two of these from Amazon.
Falcon Safety Super Sound Horn

Before I sold it, my Explorer had air horns wired to the alarm(much harder to ignore than the stock horn) and had a separate button in the back to sound them a well. A few times either the panic button on the remote was used while walking back to the truck, or the interior button was used while sleeping in the truck to spook a bear away. Still had the bear spray and shotgun, just a continuum of force.
Two days ago while working, I pulled into a parking lot of a deli in W. Milford NJ. The lot is separated from the deli by creek and abuts a wooded area. ********** in the middle of the lot was a 300 some pound black bear. Used to cars and traffic, it did not budge when I pulled in with my tri-axle dump. I wish I had brought a camera. After about ten minutes, and me starving, I gave the air horns a good toot. He looked at the truck and walked away. Had this been a bear out in the boonies he probably would have ran. This lead me to two conclusions, 1: start carrying my camera at work more often 2: the next travel/camping truck is getting air horns.LOUD ONES

 

[VikingVince]

FWIW...I live in a mountain area...had a black bear on the deck of my cabin a couple weeks ago. I have one of those loud air horns in a can that are usually found on boats...this thing is loud/my neighbor can hear it half a mile away. I blasted it repeatedly at the bear for 20 minutes and the bear totally ignored it. (there was no food around either) Finally he just ambled off...for no particular reason that I could determine.

 

[IdaSHO]

:sombrero: Get a hatch tent and leave your tailgate/hatch open, works for me

Just make sure your keys are handy !!

:costumed-smiley-007:bike_rider: JIMBO

A bear, black, brown grizzly, dont matter....


Can and will tear into a vehicle like a can opener into a can of tuna, if he wants something inside.

Ive got photos somewhere that my wife took when she worked as a "bear tech" for Inyo National Forests, in the High Sierra out of Lone Pine CA.

She documented 20+ cases of bear related car-breakins every year. Most had the window frames on the passenger doors peeled back, other had the entire rear hatches removed. A small percentage had windows simply punched out.

Many were the result of simply not covering up an ice chest in the back of a vehicle. Even if empty. The bears had learned that those white chests contained food, and they searched for them.

 

[Corey]

I keep my dry food in an Action Packer in the rig below me when it is time to turn in for the night.
During the day it it out on the table.

Up at Mt. Rainier campground or in its foothills which is the Greenwater area where I backcountry camp like last year, would it be better if I was hanging this Action Packer from a rope and over a tree?

When I use to backpack in bear country at Mt. rainier years ago, I carried all the food in the nylon bags with the drawcord and plastic lock.
I would tie a rope to it and throw it up over a limb with small diameter white rope and tie it off to a tree limb as high as I could.

And being up higher in a roof top tent is not really going to stop a bear since when they stand up they are quite tall.
Not the black bears so much, but the grizzly bears are quite tall.
The latter I do not have to worry about here in Western Washington.

Well the two airhorns I ordered yesterday should be showing up within a few hours.