Bear fence???

[icb12]

I personally haven't had great luck with bear fences. Specifically the UDAP fence. Seems like with a curious bear it worked, but with a bear that knows what it wants on the other side it's not much good. I have distinct memories of turning on the fence around a meatpile one morning, hiking up a ridge, glassing back at camp and watching a bear go right through it.
Friend has a different model that he pieced together from a cattle supply place. It's got some juice. He says it works.
And If I remember right Troutbum (above^^) has something different than a UDAP fence as well and he's had success with it.

Pinesol is legit. They don't like it at all. Never used it at a camp but used to put it in and around my dumpster after the area started having bear problems. Landlord thought I was some kind of bear whisperer. My mom used to use pinesol in a squirtgun; we lived in a place outside of Gustavus where the black bears were pretty thick. She'd run them off with the pinesol squirt gun. I remember being young and watching my mom squirt one through the screen door.

If you do go with a bear fence take care in how you wire it. You want to wire if possible so that said critter hits a ground and hot at the same time, don't gamble that a bear is well grounded through its feet. Also lowest wire should be ground to keep shrubbery/grass from shorting you out.

 

[AKBorn]

I think Pine Sol, bear fence, chlorine tablets are all aimed primarily at deterring nuisance or curious bears. Agree with Larry that they will not deter a bear committed to doing harm. That's what the rifles and pistols are for.

 

[AK Troutbum]

I think Pine Sol, bear fence, chlorine tablets are all aimed primarily at deterring nuisance or curious bears. Agree with Larry that they will not deter a bear committed to doing harm. That's what the rifles and pistols are for.

Yeah, I completely agree. Kind of like pepper spray IMO, although I often take a fence, but I’ve never (and probably will never), own a can of pepper spray.


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[Beendare]

Does anyone have faith in the electric bear fences?

Yeah, I have faith. I've used mine on Kodiak and near Yellowstone. One spot on Kodiak we were camped near a lake that was on a travel route for those bears. One morning we had a big muddy track where a bear went right up to the fence.

Near Yellowstone last yr we were backpacked in, had a fresh snow that showed the same- bear went right up to the fence during the night.

I've got Rancher buddies that use these fences a lot for cattle and they emphasized the importance of a good ground....otherwise you won't get the full charge in these fences...or possibly nuthin. I use 2 ground rods connected by a 14ga wire and can get a good ground even in sandy soil- at least so far so good.

A crucial piece of kit is one of the testers...they weigh nothing...and they let you know if you are getting a full charge in your fence.

EDIT; [for anyone not familiar with these fences] in addition, the Ohms [resistance] rating of your wire/tape makes a big difference on these little fences I've found. I put together my own system with the 4D cell red charger and the white tape with SS wires I originally had was something like 20,000 Ohms- not much punch....the cord I have now is tinned copper wires- 20 Ohms- highly conductive, huge difference. Packs a bigger wallop. My buddy put together some nested Carbon fiber arrows [skinny inside larger diameter] for me......and I cut sections of bicycle inner tube as insulators.

 

[Kevin Dill]

And it's worth keeping in mind that wilderness bears have NO experience or familiarity with the feel of electric shock in any form. It's a totally foreign and negative experience when they encounter it. That fact helps explain why it doesn't take a lot of juice to get them running. They smell man....they smell camp....they're already suspicious and on edge. A jolt of electricity confirms it's a bad place for them. Because bears are great at associating things, the next time they smell or see camp they'll remember their visit was bad for them.

BINGO on the good grounding and same on the tester. A poorly grounded fence is basically no fence. Your grounding stake/spike/rod must be long enough to reach constantly moist soil and make good contact. Aluminum is a very good conductor, and an 18" piece of conduit makes a better ground rod versus an 8" spike. I usually have a couple of the Kifaru SST tipi stakes in my gear and can use them to assure a good ground.

 

[robie]

Which brand of fence are you guys liking?

icb12 would you buy UDAP fence again?

What about Counter Assault brand?

Any others I should check out?

I'm putting bear fence in the piece of mind category not guaranteed bear deterrent.

 

[Rich M]

I was just reading this and telling myself I am not interested in hunting where the big bears are. Can't hear, so relatively useless in hearing a bear in camp or in the woods. Same can be said for people "shopping" around camp sites down here in the more congested part of the world...

What I do when I go camping is use those Harbor Freight driveway alarms - the sensor to alarm frequency is the same so multiple sensors can be used with one alarm unit. The alarm is loud enough to wake me up. Folks tend to avoid looking around my camp site when the alarm removes their secrecy. They also work good inside a boat too - put your head into the boat to check a hatch and it goes off - LOL!

Might come in handy as a perimeter alarm to at least wake you up and reduce the surprise factor?

I remember a reader's digest article where some guy was a snack for a polar bear - seemed like they could have avoided that with some kind of pre-problem alarm. Bear came thru electric fence and grabbed guy out of tent. If they were awake, might have been diff? Bear was stalking them for a few days.

 

[rfertig]

We used one on a 2017 caribou hunt north of the Brooks Range. It definitely kept the bear off our meat--he would circle the meat cache but not cross the fence. But he spent the bulk of his day crusing the valley eating berries, so we wasn't super hungry. Even still, I would bring one again to protect the meat.

 

[VernAK]

I've had success with the Critter Gitter alarms designed to scare deer out of the garden. We watched a black bear approach the camp on a river gravel bar and when he triggered the motion detector he fled. It makes same noise as the smoke alarms in my house.

 

[Larry Bartlett]

overkill, IMO. unless you'll sleep better, then it's worth it. Keep meat close to camp, urinate around meat cache and drop loads buried nearby, give a bear a challenge to reach your cache by choosing a cache locale with a limited way in and out...makes them nervous and they won't usually come around.

 

[trophyseeker]

If you have room with your weight restriction I would bring one. I have done several caribou drop hunts and used a bear fence on them all EXCEPT last year... we had not even seen a bear on any of those hunts until last year and of course he was in and around our camp every day. I am not sure the bear fence would have helped or not. A couple things may happen when a grizz hangs around camp.

1. You wake up everytime you think you hear a noise....

2. You inevitably glass camp several times a day to see if he is back and smashing your tents or batting your food cache around.

3. Your run the risk of someone in camp being so freaked out the fun stops.

A bear fence might help with 1 and 2...

If I were to buy another fence I would simply go to tractor supply and buy the items vs the bear kit... I would get the highest voltage unit that still runs on D cells.

Bears are a risk on any Alaska hunt but the odds are fairly low you will have any issues... but when you do..... a bear fence would be nice!

 

[Tod osier]

If you have room with your weight restriction I would bring one. I have done several caribou drop hunts and used a bear fence on them all EXCEPT last year... we had not even seen a bear on any of those hunts until last year and of course he was in and around our camp every day. I am not sure the bear fence would have helped or not. A couple things may happen when a grizz hangs around camp.

1. You wake up everytime you think you hear a noise....

2. You inevitably glass camp several times a day to see if he is back and smashing your tents or batting your food cache around.

3. Your run the risk of someone in camp being so freaked out the fun stops.

A bear fence might help with 1 and 2...

If I were to buy another fence I would simply go to tractor supply and buy the items vs the bear kit... I would get the highest voltage unit that still runs on D cells.

Bears are a risk on any Alaska hunt but the odds are fairly low you will have any issues... but when you do..... a bear fence would be nice!

Yes on the build your own and if the weight and space limits allow, get a poultry netting style fence with alternating hot and ground wires so you don’t have to worry about an earth ground.