Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
Now there's a man with a logical approach. :victory:
Glad I have two doors. :elkgrin:
Trailers, RTT and Bears
- Thread starter ThomD
- Start date
Now there's a man with a logical approach. :victory:
Glad I have two doors. :elkgrin:
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
I've got 3 doors and a commando knife to make a 4th...
btw, is bear best grilled, stewed, or smoked?
You know, just in case...
Tucson T4R
Expedition Leader
"Skin that one, I'll go find you another one". :elkgrin:
cruisertoy
Explorer
We run into a lot of bears in Alaska where we go every year. We self guide a float trip down a river that maybe gets 3 groups a year on it. You see BIG bears every few miles for the 70 mile float. Most mornings there is bear scat and prints somewhere in you camp. NOt a truly warm fuzzy feeling. There are few trees so hanging 10 days worth of food is just not an option. We keep everything in bags next to the boats. Limited weight to fly out on a Beaver keeps us from bringing Bear boxes and we figure these bears are big enough to rip through anything they want so why bother slowing them down. We generally fish until midnight or later and only get 4 or 5 hours sleep. We have had to fire shots in the air in camp once or twice, but never while we were sleeping. We cook as far from the tents as possible and have pulled up camp once and moved several miles down river after a bear came during dinner. I don't have a solution for the Trailer camp crowd where bears are used to people, but recomend a few cans of bear spray and a sawed off shotgun with two rounds of bird shot and the remainded slugs.
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Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
My dog loves bear scat. It's so embarrassing...
ntsqd
Heretic Car Camper
I've been told by several expert and experienced backpackers that this no longer works. At least not in the Sierra's. They've invented a smarter bear, one that watched how it was put up, reversed the process, and then told all of his/her friends. Those regions now require "bear boxes".
Lemsteraak
Adventurer
I know nothing about bears but have a little second hand information to share. I worked with a wildlife photographer a few years back. He was on assignment and heading up to Alaska to photograph bears.
He had a permit to drive into the back country in Denali NP. Normally his fabric rooftent was on his trailer but the rangers at Denali told him to transfer it to the top of his Land Rover to be safer.
He next was heading up to the arctic to photograph Polar Bears. He told me the young males were especially troublesome and at times he had to keep a rifle ready when on watch.
I was rather surprised at his choice of a fabric rooftent to use up in the arctic as they have no insulation. Here is his novel approach to keeping warm. They would build a bonfire, roll a big boulder into the middle and leave it there for an hour or more and roll it out onto a plywood plank and cover with aluminum foil. They would then lift the plywood plank and boulder up into the rooftent and position it in the middle of the tent. It would keep them warm all night. Brilliant
Rich H
He had a permit to drive into the back country in Denali NP. Normally his fabric rooftent was on his trailer but the rangers at Denali told him to transfer it to the top of his Land Rover to be safer.
He next was heading up to the arctic to photograph Polar Bears. He told me the young males were especially troublesome and at times he had to keep a rifle ready when on watch.
I was rather surprised at his choice of a fabric rooftent to use up in the arctic as they have no insulation. Here is his novel approach to keeping warm. They would build a bonfire, roll a big boulder into the middle and leave it there for an hour or more and roll it out onto a plywood plank and cover with aluminum foil. They would then lift the plywood plank and boulder up into the rooftent and position it in the middle of the tent. It would keep them warm all night. Brilliant
Rich H
atavuss
Adventurer
I have been camping and backpacking for over 30 years and the only bear encounter we had was a trip on the Rubicon. a yearling or slightly younger bear took sandwiches out of my cousin's ice chest early one morning while they were asleep. the noise woke them up and they made a bunch of noise while getting up which scared the bear off. it ran across a creek and up a tree. they said the mother bear was a ways off watching all of this going on. I was in a tent about 20 feet away and slept throught the entire thing.
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Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
Well, my only bad bear encounter was nearly 20 years ago in a Florida wilderness area. A sow with two cubs came to my campsite and I couldn't scare them off for anything. I was motorcycle camping and held them at about 10 paces by starting the bike and revving the engine anytime they started to venture toward me. Momma kept standing up on her hind legs and bellowing in a very threatening way but she was clearly afraid of the bike. I pulled up stakes and moved on. Far.
She chased the bike for about a half mile as I left.
She chased the bike for about a half mile as I left.
boknows
Adventurer
On our way back up to Washington from Socal, picking up the new AT Chaser, we stopped in Sequioa and saw three bears in a matter of days. They certainly associate people/campsites with food at the big parks. We got a warning ticket for leaving some soap out on top of the bear box while we were out for a hike(this is before we had seen any bears). I got back and was moaning to the wife "haven't even seen any bears YET!" So I fire up the grill with some hotdogs for the kids and 5 minutes later here comes yogi. This pic is about 15 meters away from the campsite
So the wife grabs the kids and heads towards the car and I grab the camera and head towards the bear....which turns out to be a Cyndi Bear with a cub...interesting experience which resulted in a better understanding of space and limitations:Wow1:
She took a couple running steps towards me and I decided I would give her a bit more space. I never was too bright!
So the wife grabs the kids and heads towards the car and I grab the camera and head towards the bear....which turns out to be a Cyndi Bear with a cub...interesting experience which resulted in a better understanding of space and limitations:Wow1:
She took a couple running steps towards me and I decided I would give her a bit more space. I never was too bright!
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
I wish they didn't look so cute...
In addition to proper camp hygiene, bear-resistant food containers, air-horns and pepper-spray, there is one device that is showing great success in deterring bears from your camp; a portable electric fence, such the one found here:
http://www.waterstrider.com/bear-repellent-portable-electric-fence.htm
Not sure this will work inside the camper park, I've only used mine in remote areas :elkgrin:
http://www.waterstrider.com/bear-repellent-portable-electric-fence.htm
Not sure this will work inside the camper park, I've only used mine in remote areas :elkgrin:
Hilldweller
SE Expedition Society
I've been curious about those. Have you had the opportunity to see it in action yet? Has Yogi come and gotten zapped?
I wouldn't want to torque-off a full grown grizz...
I've seen many test videos, and my perimeter has never been breached in the 2 years I've been using it.