That’s no joke especially where I archery hunt.I’ve had cattle destroy my shit. My tent is not your scratching pole…
That’s no joke especially where I archery hunt.I’ve had cattle destroy my shit. My tent is not your scratching pole…
so you are hiking down to timberline to hang everynight when hunting above timberline?The game trail at timberline near our usual western Wyoming deer camp has so many bears, we aren’t trying and see one every other year on the 5 mile hike up the mountain through timber and fresh sign every year, all season. Any place we bone out an elk or deer will get a black camped out on it. Wyoming doesn’t seem to be a bear mecha, but blacks are very common on all regularly used high country trails, even above timberline.
I have a stubborn friend that always kept food in his tent - until a bear came into camp well above timberline. If the bear doesn’t leave, you either shoot the bear, shoot to scare the bear or get out of the way. He got out of the tent and stood 100 yards away as it ate all their food - only then did the shock wear off and in hind sight kicked himself for not shooting to scare it. Just because you’re allowed to shoot a bear doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences. If you want to have a hunt interrupted while waiting for a game warden on horseback to investigate in the middle of their busy season, shoot the bear, but be warned simply having a dead bear doesn’t mean it automatically qualifies as justifiable. I know a guy who knows a guy who got the privilege of paying the full sticker price of a bear without even driving it off the lot.![]()
Yep. It’s not far. We’re camped between two big bowls - twenty minutes to be on top of one, 30 minutes to be on top of the other. 45 minutes from a big open face covered in Krumholtz, and as much country as you’d like to cover each day. Big deer can be anywhere and as many move in in a week as were there to begin with. To move from one drainage to the next, elk and bear come up to timberline, then drop back down the next drainage. In September those damned feral elk keep us up at night pushing each other around 400 yards away.so you are hiking down to timberline to hang everynight when hunting above timberline?
Not true. You have a better chance of a griz just knocking you around vs a black. They can and will kill you though. Just ask Grizzly man and several others who have lost their lives. Gal in Ovando MT got eaten in her tent by a griz a couple of years ago.Yeah, a brown/grizzly will just slap you around and bite you a few times, and then run off. A black bear however, will actually kill you and eat you, literally. Either one isn't good, though.
Not true. You have a better chance of a griz just knocking you around vs a black. They can and will kill you though. Just ask Grizzly man and several others who have lost their lives. Gal in Ovando MT got eaten in her tent by a griz a couple of years ago.
Was she the bike tour lady who set her tent up by the post office?Not true. You have a better chance of a griz just knocking you around vs a black. They can and will kill you though. Just ask Grizzly man and several others who have lost their lives. Gal in Ovando MT got eaten in her tent by a griz a couple of years ago.
Yup! Just being a bear tag as well and you can extend the hunt all through the nightI was always taught to hang anything with scent away from the tent including food (obviously) but also toothpaste, etc. How many people are doing this vs sleeping with food in their tent? If you are sleeping with food in your tent, is it just the convenience factor of not having to mess with hanging it in the evening and retrieving it in the morning?
There seem to be very differing viewpoints on this, and I'm curious to see the split of what people are actually doing in the field.
*Question is aimed at any bear country - black or grizzly*
Are you saying you cook in your tent ? Or store food in there ?
Not only this, but never ever store your bow outside your tent at night. I caught a rat and a chipmunk trying g to eat either my arrows or my strings. I couldn't tell what it was investigating.I can’t be the only one more worried about the damn mice chewing holes in my food and coming home with hantavirus or something rather than a black bear deciding to ransack my tent with me in it. Effing mice.
Two or three seasons ago I went out hunting one morning. Spent all day away from camp. Came back after dark and the tarp was flattened out. I could see muddy bear prints from when the bear had knocked the tarp over and walked all over the tarp. Luckily the bear only damaged the tarp with claws piercing through a couple areas of the tarp. The expensive down sleeping bag I had under the tarp was unharmed. My food was hung in a tree a couple hundred feet away, untouched.I sleep with it in the tent now. I only really worry about it when I'm gone for the day hunting. But I need my food, so I like the idea of my scent being the main deterrent, and being able to protect it throughout the night, if need be. Never had an issue though. Back country bears don't love human interactions.
Everything I bring is well sealed, to hopefully prevent spreading of the scent. And I burn the daily food trash every night if possible.
I use a small screw in hook and hang my bow, binoculars, and bugle tube in a tree, up off the ground at night. Had a rodent chew on my limb once (before I woke up and scared it off). Also rolled over and had a broadhead snag my sleeping bag once, and another time I almost cut my toe on a broadhead inside the quiver while moving around getting ready for bed. Both of which are reasons why the bow gets hung up outside the shelter now.Not only this, but never ever store your bow outside your tent at night. I caught a rat and a chipmunk trying g to eat either my arrows or my strings. I couldn't tell what it was investigating.
Sure would be a crapper to wake up to a damaged bow in the morning with elk bugling around you and your miles from the truck...
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Are we talking like wall tent type of food or freezer dried 7 miles back in type of food?
I do think that it’s important to distinguish between.
Ice chests full of loosely packaged meat and shitty packaged gas station donuts and croissants covered in sugar, with hanging garbage bags full of food scraps.
Is a lot different than a vacuum sealed food stash the size of a basketball. With everything getting burned every night.
If you do not want to differentiate, you need to add a 3rd response of “it depends”.The question was aimed at bear country generically - black or grizzly. I'm not sure I Understand the desire to differentiate. Personally, I don't like my odds against a black bear any better than I do a grizzly haha