At the risk of overdoing the bear discussions I just had to get this out of my system. With all the talk on the forums recently about bear issues specifically in the SE (i.e. GA, NC, TN & VA), I wonder what’s changed.

Years ago prior to 2007 I used to hike regularly in places like Shining Rock, other parts of Pisgah NF and Mt. Rogers NRA. I never saw a bear back then in those areas, and rarely even saw any sign (e.g. scat, torn up dead logs, etc.) of bears. Since then I’ve been working on section hiking the AT, and thus it’s been a while since I’ve hiked in most of those areas on a regular basis. Now I’m seeing all kinds of reports of bears around those parts getting food and whatnot, and new (within the last few years) requirements to carry a bear canister if staying overnight in most of these areas.

So what the heck is going on? Since I haven’t hiked in these areas recently I can’t comment from actual experience, but it appears to be a combination of factors probably related to increase in hikers in the back country leading to more people that are storing food improperly, and perhaps an increase in the bear population. Who knows though, some of this could just be normal and be getting blown out of proportion.

What are your thoughts? Anybody have more knowledge on what’s going on want to give your opinion?