Bears and citrus soap?

[Fredt4]

And God wasted His time giving the bears their great sense of smell.

I'm not sure if "God" gave the bears their great sense of smell, but apparently he gave the 42 children.

Elisha “turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord.” Then “there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them” (verse 24).

[Dogwood]

And they are repelled by human smells so it is best to maximize that.

Hmm? I think it depends on the regional or local associations bears make with human activity and human smells as Bird Brain said. In some areas the bears have not only associated human smells with the availability of food but, with some persistence, food that can be obtained, sometimes rather easily. This is where our thoughts and actions as humans come into play influencing bear behavior and consequently bear/human interactions. How many times have we heard this from rangers, biologists, wildlife conservation officers, animal welfare groups, animal trainers, Zoologists, hunting enthusiasts, etc? REPEATEDLY, I notice humans ignoring their responsibility in these interactions especially in the sensationalist fear mongering human centric media and personal reporting of "bear attacks", "bad bears", "problem bears", "bear problems" etc! Bears definitely do hunt with their keen sense of smell more so then us as humans when our stomachs are growling and salivating when that hot pepperoni pizza and wings are delivered at the door. So hard to train some humans though.

[Traveler]

I'm not sure if "God" gave the bears their great sense of smell, but apparently he gave the 42 children.

Elisha “turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord.” Then “there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them” (verse 24).

So to in summary.... there is a bear by the name of Elisha who curses hikers and apparently is able to call all bears like Tarzan could summon all elephants who wash with citrus soap. I think I'm getting it....

This stuff can be confusing....

[Traveler]

I'm not sure if "God" gave the bears their great sense of smell, but apparently he gave the 42 children.

Elisha “turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord.” Then “there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them” (verse 24).

So to in summary.... there is a bear by the name of Elisha who curses hikers and apparently is able to call all bears like Tarzan could summon all elephants who wash with citrus soap. I think I'm getting it....

This stuff can be confusing....

[BirdBrain]

To the OP. A black bear has a home range of as much as 100 square miles. If that was a square it would be 10 miles by 10 miles. A black bear can smell things 20 miles away. Therefore if you are in a black bear's home range, it is in your area and likely knows as much about what you are carrying as you do. The concept that bears are not messing with your food because they are not around is silly. If you are hiking, chances are very high that you are in a bear's range and it knows all aboit you. The reason you do not see it is because it wants nothing to do with you. It is an immutible fact that no matter where a bear is, it is there or not there because of its nose. It smells your food, your perfume soap, and you. You could soak in citrus for a month and it would still know you are in the citrus soap. Citrus soap may or may not be an issue with other animals that fear you less. It is because of those less fearful and less dangerous pest that I do not use soap with any smell. For me, smelly soap has nothing to do with bears. There is just no upside to smelly soap. Don't fool yourself. You still stink. With smelly soap you also might be attracting raccoons or rodents.

There is no combatting the odd perceptions of bear habits. Therefore I think it is best that I avoid these threads.

[lemon b]

I clean up whenever I get a chance. In my experience the keys are friction ( small cloth) and fast moving water. In the field the soap part is not all that important.
Of course in a real shower we all like soap... any soap works for me.

[Wülfgang]

I disagree..not so much about the soap, but the dirtiness.

A simple sponge bath with a bandanna in strategic areas helps prevent chafing, monkey butt, rashes in general and other maladies.

Get rid of the salts and sweat at before going to bed at night, and I suspect a person will be much healthier. Plus it helps keep the gear a little bit cleaner (and lasting longer), too.

Here, here.

A dab of soap and a washcloth goes a long way in staving off stink, salt buildup, and fungal skin infections.

[Offshore]

I disagree..not so much about the soap, but the dirtiness.

A simple sponge bath with a bandanna in strategic areas helps prevent chafing, monkey butt, rashes in general and other maladies.

Get rid of the salts and sweat at before going to bed at night, and I suspect a person will be much healthier. Plus it helps keep the gear a little bit cleaner (and lasting longer), too.

+1 on that - Animals ranging from wild to house pets evolved in a manner that they exhibit grooming behaviors. This probably wasn't for appearance sake. The ones that had the propensity to groom (absent evidence of a "grooming gene") were probably healthier and more reproductively successful.

[kenb2]

Peppermint has several hiker noteworthy benefits. http://peppermintoiluses.org/ In addition peppermint oil is sometimes an ingredient in natural insect repellents.

BTW Dr Bronners does make a peppermint toothpaste.

Peppermint oil is a key ingredient in a mouthwash/toothpaste ORAMD http://www.oramd.com that I swear by and use on the trail as a mouthwash. It's a potent bacteria killer. ORAMD is crazy expensive though so I've started making a homemade version from peppermint, spearmint and almond oils.

[CarlZ993]

Begs the question...What happened 21 years ago? is there a story there?

That was when I started backpacking again as an adult.