Wow bears on a zip line..... Call Geico!
Dogs are excellent judges of character, this fact goes a long way toward explaining why some people don't like being around them.
Woo
ThisOriginally Posted by Lone Wolf
I would add "with person in tent" to the first sentence.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
This Wikipedia list of people killed by bears is worth reading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._North_America
There are way more kills by black bears than I realized. The deaths seem to be more common in Canada and on the elderly. The risk to a camper with food in his tent looks small to me but it is not zero.
There were several deaths attributed to captive bears- there's a lesson to be learned in that. As far as black bears in the eastern US killing anyone in a tent, I didn't see any. There were deaths to people walking, at least one mountain biker, very small children and elderly people. Obviously black bears do some risk assessment. One guy was on a biathalon training run on a military base up in Canada so they do attack running and walking healthy athletic people. There are very, very few deaths by black bears here in the east and I don't see anything there that would make me change my mind about sleeping with food HERE IN THE APPALACHIANS.
"You're a nearsighted, bitter old fool."
Well stated
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
Would have to agree. Why take a chance ? Two summers ago while camping for a week, we had a racoon visitor EVERY night! He was not shy at all and tried different ways to get into the food every night. He and other little critters came around.
I always hang my food, toothpaste, deoderant- anything with a scent that might entice critters, or BEARS.
i'll take the chance. been doin' it 25 years. damn near died of a massive heart attack. ain't skeered of no bear
I disagree with Lone Wolf. I always hang my food… at the foot of my hammock.
I am not young enough to know everything.
There have bear attacks including fatalities near the AT in the south and in NJ and NY.
The AT goes through NJ Stokes State Forest (near High Point), where this incident occurred:
The boys were not injured, contrary to earlier reports.The bear invaded the camp where a group of nine inner city boys and two counselors were sleeping at about 4:30 in the morning Wednesday. It pulled at a sleeping bag and swiped at a tent and knocked it down, Herrighty said. The counselors and their charges clapped, blew a whistle and sang and shouted, and finally an conservation officer shot the animal in the neck, driving it away.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/201..._official.html
http://bachbio.com/njbears.htmCloser to home, there have been numerous black bear attacks throughout Northern New Jersey over the past several years, some of them serious. On June 29 2001, a young boy was mauled by a black bear while hiking with his family near the Delaware Water Gap. The bear had stalked the group for several hours before attacking. On August 28, 2001, a 500-lb. black bear chased an 8-year old boy near his home in West Milford and was deterred only by an intervening police officer whose 3 shots fired into the animal did not stop it but rather caused it to retreat into the woods. And on May 18, 2002, a hiker was attacked by a black bear in pursuit of food near the Delaware Water Gap.
...
I do think that there is more danger than I realized from food conditioned, habituated, and aggressive bears, the combination of the three. And if I were rewriting that chapter, I would emphasize that there are three ingredients, habituations, the food conditioning, and rewarding aggressive behavior over time that increased the chances of injury... . I have learned since the publication of the book that there is more involvement in serious injuries by black bears than I knew of at the time that I wrote the book. (Knochel v. State, Arizona Superior Court, Civ. No. 98-09396, Deposition of Stephen Herrero, January 6, 1999, at pp. 218-219)
There have been increasing bear-human conflicts in NJ and NY west of the Hudson in recent years. These are probably the result of bears obtaining food from suburban homes.
To me that is not possession. Food hanging there is sorta a jump ball. Good luck.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
Like someone stated before, Bears like all animals make an assesment. When I was a kid I remember stopping at a neat little pull off where people could watch and feed black bears. That was in the Adirondacks, now surprise surprise bear canisters are mandatory, not hanging, but actually canisters placed well away from your camp site. But unless black bears are habituated to humans they will avoid them. They know the smell of us and we smell the same awake or a sleep. And as to us being soft and fleshy, we are still large in comparison to most anything it might think to eat. IE. A black bear would be much more likely to go after food hanging away from its human counterpart than it would food directly around its human counterpart. We just aren't worth the potential fight. Half way down this link you can read what they actually prefer to eat. http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Publicatio...ricanblack.cfm As for me I do whatever the law says, but if it doesn't tell me I have to I keep all my food and garbage in my drysack inside my tent/ hammock.
Only quasi-related but interesting, the same website lists black bears as potential prey of brown bears. Fun fact, don't mess with a brown bear(grizzly)
why don't you just hang up a big sign, preferably in bearspeak.. to say I'm here in this tend. Tasty vittles.. come and get it! at the very least, put foot outside your tend but under fly. That way the bear, or more likely the mice, won't have to rip through your tent to get the food.
Here's the reason you don't store food in your tent! Letting bears get food causes them to get killed!
JENSEN, Uintah County — A black bear that had lost its fear of humans was shot and killed by a ranger at a remote campground in Dinosaur National Monument, the National Park Service said Monday.
The male bear began frequenting the Gates of Lodore campground on the Colorado side of the monument during the summer of 2011 to steal food and showed no fear of humans, according to monument Superintendent Mary Risser.
"It took food away from campsites and the Green River boat launch even as park visitors tried to scare it away," monument spokesman Dan Johnson added. "It even approached and touched campers sleeping on the sandbar near the river."
The Park Service initially partnered with the Colorado Division of Wildlife in the summer and fall of 2011 to try and trap the bear. That effort was unsuccessful and the bear "disappeared during the winter" when it went into hibernation, Risser said.
Then, on May 17, a ranger living in the cabin at the Gates of Lodore campground awoke about 5 a.m. to the sound of the bear trying to rip the screen door off the cabin, the superintendent said.
"We made the decision that we had to (destroy the bear) in the interest of public safety," Risser said, adding that relocating a bear who is habituated to humans "usually doesn't work."
On May 27, the bear again entered the campground and stole food from two campsites, despite the efforts of people to scare it off. That's when a ranger shot and killed the animal, which was easily identified as the problem bear because of a "distinctive brown marking," Risser said.
"Nobody joins the Park Service to do this," she said. "It's definitely the low point of a career."
The Gates of Lodore campground was never closed to the public during the problems with the bear. Instead the ranger and the campground host made contact with all visitors and advised them of the bear's behavior and the proper safety precautions, Risser said.
Many people do not consider Dinosaur National Monument to be "bear country," Johnson said, but there are frequent reports of people seeing the animals within the boundaries of the 200,000-acre monument.
"Park visitors are reminded to store food, garbage, camp coolers and other items that can attract bears in hard-sided vehicles or bear-proof storage boxes," Johnson said. "This helps keep bears from becoming conditioned to human food and helps keep park visitors and their property safe."
GA - NJ 2001; GA - ME 2003; GA - ME 2005; GA - ME 2007; PCT 2006
A wise man changes his mind, a fool never will.
—SPANISH PROVERB
Actually, here is a reason to keep your food in your possession.
Fear ridges that are depicted as flat lines on a profile map.
I am always amazed that people are scandalized at the mention of sleeping with food in their tent. Yet they routinely hang their food bags directly over their feet or heads in a shelter.
Any body care to mention the last time a bear entered a shelter to get food when hikers were actually in the shelter? It doesn't happen. Keeping your food close does.
I place my food bag underneath my knees in my hammock. Dual use.
If people spent less time being offended and more time actually living, we'd all be a whole lot happier!
On my first night out backpacking solo, I had a bear come visit me in my hammock. He was just sniffing around, and shuffled off when I sat up and started moving around. I was glad I had hung my food a good distance away, and glad to see it still there in the morning. He might not have bothered me any more than that if I'd had my food in the hammock with me, but my own comfort level, at the moment, is to hang my food.
So all you and ur hound eat are Marshmellows???
Depends on what type of food. Depends on where. In an area with a lot of people and smelly food I hang. Otherwise the backpack stays with me or right outside the tent. Only thing a bear ever stole was a half pint of Yukon Jack right off a picnic table and that stuff stinks.
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