Bear in camp

[Big Dunc]

I discovered a perfect bear repellent. It will keep them away from you, your camp...in fact you will never even see any sign of bear during your entire hunt. It's called a bear tag. Carry one and suddenly they cease to exist anywhere you go.

I wish I could say that worked!! Spring season had two rather close to camp. Anytime I've had them come close getting out with a light and a few hollers has worked fine

 

[stumpknocker]

Anybody had a black bear in camp? Best way to handle it?

Was up scouting the past few days...2nd trip in a row I've seen a hefty black bear up at 12k Ft. Just as I'm ready to crawl in my bag for the night.

Was glassing and eating my dinner as the sun went down yesterday...he came across a field about 1/2 mile away, nose in the air (he was downwind) and looking for what I told myself was my delicious backpackers pantry lasagna. Are their noses that good, from that far away? I lost visual on him in the trees at dark, still heading in my direction slowly.

I cleaned up and hung my food 50 yards away.

Had a terrible night sleep (call me a wuss) but every crack of a branch or rustle in the grass was, in my mind, mr bear coming to find his dinner.

He never showed (that I know), but it begs the question. Best way to handle a bear in camp, at night? Be quiet, hope it leaves? Or make noise, shine a light? Talking black bears only.

I sleep in a no door/no annex floorless. Carry a pistol with hardcast.

When I was a kid I had a bear experience while camping in White Mountain N.F. in NH. The area had a problem bear (we found later), that came for a visit and took the rain fly off my tent around 2 am. Scared me to death I thought it was coming in. It hung around shuffling against the outside of my tent and eventually left. I was alone in the tent that night at 14 yrs old.

I give this story because I’ve had bear anxiety ever since that experience and I know exactly what you mean about listening to every cracking twig. I accept it is mostly irrational but its hard to shake.

Seems like others have had different experience but I’ve found black bears to be mostly indifferent to shining/yelling... if they are that close to you. the bear already knows what and where you are. I just do my due diligence in camp hygiene and hang my food high and dry. Strong headlight and my pistol in my hammock with me.

 

[FlyGuy]

I always sleep with ear plugs in (I’m not in Griz country, btw). Keeps your imagination from running off without you and you sleep soooo much better.


You can’t cheat the mountain

 

[Amasaback]

I do as well. When not in bear country. on one outing in northern Montana the wife brought along a book called “When Bears Attack”. Chronicles bear attacks in the US. Wrong thing to read. At some point your imagination makes mice sound like bears. One thing the book emphasizes is that often an attacking black bear are often more dangerous than grizzlies because they are more likely to view you as prey when they decide to attack.

 

[Carpenterant]

 

[2ski]

Wait till you hear a deer outside your tent snort in the middle of the night. Good luck getting to sleep after that if you don't know what it was.

 

[MTSasquatch]

Wait till you hear a deer outside your tent snort in the middle of the night. Good luck getting to sleep after that if you don't know what it was.

Took my old lady on her first backcountry trip into the Bob years back. Heard the whitetail snorting around midnight. She thought the grizzlies were coordinating a late night ambush. I was dying laughing. Told her to go to bed. Told her if the griz were really planning on ambushing us, we might as well not die tired.

 

[Amasaback]

Took my old lady on her first backcountry trip into the Bob years back. Heard the whitetail snorting around midnight. She thought the grizzlies were coordinating a late night ambush. I was dying laughing. Told her to go to bed. Told her if the griz were really planning on ambushing us, we might as well not die tired.

That literally made me laugh out loud. We had a similar night in the sawtooths. All night animal sounds. Wife would not sleep, kept waking me to stick my head out to see what it was. Several time, couldn’t see anything. One time it was raccoon, couple hours later a skunk. Few more we could tell. Finally when I was really done looking out and seeing small mammals, there was yet another sound. She was absolutely convinced this time it was a bear. She looked and of course it was a bear. The rest of the night was in the vehicle.

 

[TX_Diver]

When I was a kid I had a bear experience while camping in White Mountain N.F. in NH. The area had a problem bear (we found later), that came for a visit and took the rain fly off my tent around 2 am. Scared me to death I thought it was coming in. It hung around shuffling against the outside of my tent and eventually left. I was alone in the tent that night at 14 yrs old.

I give this story because I’ve had bear anxiety ever since that experience and I know exactly what you mean about listening to every cracking twig. I accept it is mostly irrational but its hard to shake.

Seems like others have had different experience but I’ve found black bears to be mostly indifferent to shining/yelling... if they are that close to you. the bear already knows what and where you are. I just do my due diligence in camp hygiene and hang my food high and dry. Strong headlight and my pistol in my hammock with me.

I worried about bears for awhile until a dead tree came down at the other end of camp after a day and night of heavy rain. Was on a steep slope and the wet ground couldn't hold it anymore. It took out another tree below both rolled down the hill destroying everything below them until they came to rest.. Was about 50 yards from the bottom of camp. I now worry much more about trees. Think I preferred worrying about bears though.

 

[MTSasquatch]

I worried about bears for awhile until a dead tree came down at the other end of camp after a day and night of heavy rain. Was on a steep slope and the wet ground couldn't hold it anymore. It took out another tree below both rolled down the hill destroying everything below them until they came to rest.. Was about 50 yards from the bottom of camp. I now worry much more about trees. Think I preferred worrying about bears though.

After working years in the Forest Service, I can tell you that looking up at the trees when you get to a good-looking campsite is one of the most prudent things to do when picking a site. I’d rather hike a half mile to get my water if it means I need not worry about a snag coming down on me if the wind picks up. The majority of serious injuries that occur related to camping are dead, damaged, and diseased trees falling onto or near camps. Particularly out in the west with our fire-adapted ecosystems and shallow-rooted spruce and fir trees. This topic could be, and likely already is, another thread on here... Even in griz country, I am three times as more concerned about this than any bear encounter.

my 2 cents.

 

[stumpknocker]

I worried about bears for awhile until a dead tree came down at the other end of camp after a day and night of heavy rain. Was on a steep slope and the wet ground couldn't hold it anymore. It took out another tree below both rolled down the hill destroying everything below them until they came to rest.. Was about 50 yards from the bottom of camp. I now worry much more about trees. Think I preferred worrying about bears though.

I’d say trees are a much more rational fear... !

In my area of the southeast you’d be hard pressed to make camp in the mountains outside of spitting distance from adelgid-killed hemlocks. All the ”designated” camping areas that have people every weekend have their fair share of 80-foot snags... they’re coming down some time.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

I discovered a perfect bear repellent. It will keep them away from you, your camp...in fact you will never even see any sign of bear during your entire hunt. It's called a bear tag. Carry one and suddenly they cease to exist anywhere you go.

This is the play! Then if the repellent fails you get to eat black bear.

 

[kid44]

OK.......I am ready, got a large pot of popcorn, the butter is melting. Have pen and pad, ready to take notes.

Can I just copy your notes?

 

[FLAK]

Did a Brown Bear hunt out of Bethel a few years back.
Woke up to one sniffing my face in the middle of the night.
As in IN MY FACE,,,guess he heard me snoring.
His breathing woke me up. Never felt more vulnerable in my life.
Guess he finally wandered off but not before leaving about
what looked like 5lbs of Blueberry poop at the tent door.
Did not sleep real well the rest of that trip.

 

[Carpenterant]

Did a Brown Bear hunt out of Bethel a few years back.
Woke up to one sniffing my face in the middle of the night.
As in IN MY FACE,,,guess he heard me snoring.
His breathing woke me up. Never felt more vulnerable in my life.
Guess he finally wandered off but not before leaving about
what looked like 5lbs of Blueberry poop at the tent door.
Did not sleep real well the rest of that trip.

i imagine that wasn’t the only poop that night

 

[FLAK]

yeah, I felt like a Burrito in my Big Agnes bag.

 

[William Hanson (live2hunt)]

I just wipe my spoon off on the foot of my hunting partners sleeping bag and use him as an alarm.

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[Panfish1]

Had a similar experience to FLAK. While bow elk hunting in NM some years ago with my brother. It was a nice evening so we hung up our food 100 yrs from camp and just rolled out our sleeping bags for the night on the ground, no tent. Just at first light, I wake up with a terrible stench in my face. I large back bear is standing over me and I am in my mummy bag zip up tight to my neck, flat on my back, looking up directly into his mouth trying to comprehend what I heck I was looking at! (just woke up so my thinking was not 100% yet) So the bear is standing over me with his mouth partially open like less than a foot from my face. I call out to my brother in a calm voice and the bear slowly walks off. The bear had me dead to rights with one bit to my face if he wanted to. My only weapon was my bow 10 ft away and it would have taken me a bit to even get my arms free from the sleeping bag. Now I always sleep in a tent (false sense of security I know) but also with my Benelli M4 Tactical by my head and my Glock 10mm by my feet (bear spray no good in a tent) - yea it might be overkill but I feel I used up 8 of my 9 lives that day with that bear! I will NEVER forget the smell of the bear's breath in my face that morning....I also have cans of bear spray and an electric bear for Gizz country and I don't sleep with ear plugs...

 

[jmez]

Had a grizzly bear in our camp one night in WY near Tetons. Came in walked around the tent s few times, walked all over camp and checked everything out.

We saw the tracks in the snow in morning. No one knew it was there. Day 2 of a 14 day hunt. Never came back.

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[kid44]

Had a grizzly bear in our camp one night in WY near Tetons. Came in walked around the tent s few times, walked all over camp and checked everything out.

We saw the tracks in the snow in morning. No one knew it was there. Day 2 of a 14 day hunt. Never came back.

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Which one never came back, you or the bear??