Bear Country

[Dana]

Ok total novice here. I have done hiking and such.
My question is, what do overlanders do in bear country with onboard fridges and the like? When I hiked a lot we would hang our food and other bear attracting items from a tree. Thanks and sorry if there is a thread on this.

Edit, sorry just saw there is another similar thread.

 

[pierceg]

Fridge is in the truck.
Food is in the fridge.
If booboo wants my picnic basket he will have to work for it. A little bit anyway.

 

[MA_Trooper]

If it's inside the fridge in the rig it's most likely fine. food laying out on the seat may get a bear interested. They have been known to go for it. But the likelihood you will will have a bear in the wilderness trying to get into your rig is pretty slim. Its campgrounds and state/national parks where bears are accustomed to people bringing food with them that you need to really be diligent. I find that anything interested in the car will be scared off by unlocking and locking the car with the remote. The lights flash once and the animals flee. Not everyone has that option though.

 

[1derer]

I have seen many bears (Never had one come into camp) haven't had a problem when in remote areas as Chris has mentioned in National Parks and high traffic areas bears get bold, out in the forest very reluctant to come into camp and if so easily scared off, such as horn, lights, camp fire helps but I do like having a can of bear spray handy.

 

[Craig M]

I agree with @Chris Jones and @1derer. Black bears in the wild will typically give humans a wide berth. There are bears around a couple of the areas where we camp dispersed for years, and we've never had an issue. We are very diligent about keeping food and drinks (other than water) out of tents / hammocks / sleeping areas, and otherwise keep a clean camp. We do try and keep more separation from the cooking area too, when we know there are bears in the area, as possible.

I have no experience with brown bears, and frankly would be just fine keeping it that way. :)

 

[Dana]

thanks, for all the replies. That was my experience when I was a hiker. You had to worry mostly when around population areas. Still never had an issue in National parks. But we were even more careful in those areas. Even though we hung our food and other items we had heard stories of hungry bears actually leaping from a tree trunk to the hanging bag of food. Probably not hung properly. I know I am not the same person when hungry :-)

 

[Boort]

@Dana

I can attest to problem bears in national parks. Was camping on the west side of RMNP a few years ago, Had a black bear come around and the Dumbo 2 spots over from me had food in his brand new $800 ultralight tent. This was despite the provided bear storage boxes, Bright Yellow and Orange BEAR WARNING - Bear in area signs all over the campground and warnings from the rangers earlier that evening. She (the Bear) tore the tent a new entrance, stepped on dumbo, grabbed the food and started munching down. Dude wakes up with a bear on his sleeping bag and started screaming. She started running off ran through the campground caught a whiff of more easy pickins turned around grabbed a package of hotdogs some Rental RV num-nutz left out on the table. and ran up the hill.

It was fully hilarious to hear Dumbo telling the rangers how THEY were gonna pay for his brand new tent. I was enjoying breakfast waiting for them to slap him with a ticket and fine for not stowing his food in the bear locker.

People like this get bears killed.

Now none of this was witnessed first hand because after hiking all day my GF and I slept through all of the ruckus. I still don't know how! The description above is what I put together from chatting with the rangers and sharing some breakfast with Dumbo the next morning while looking over what was left of his tent.

Now in Montana I did have a run in with a cougar while sleeping in the truck. Nothing major but it was a big cat based on the Paw prints in the dirt.

Boort

 

[Dana]

Yeah no thanks on the Cougar. I have a similar story about some Boy Scouts in Yosemite. I heard the rukus and fell back to sleep. They didn't hang the food properly on the metal hangers provided. We would just open air sleep. Had some tarps incase it would rain. I think I want to have a tent now. More luxurious and now I am going to be overlanding I don't have to carry it on my back.

 

[Boort]

@Dana

Yeah no thanks on the Cougar. I have a similar story about some Boy Scouts in Yosemite. I heard the rukus and fell back to sleep. They didn't hang the food properly on the metal hangers provided. We would just open air sleep. Had some tarps incase it would rain. I think I want to have a tent now. More luxurious and now I am going to be overlanding I don't have to carry it on my back.

Funny you mention open air sleeping. The site with the cougar was on BLM land in SW Montana. On the way up we strung up a couple of hammocks and slept under the stars listening to the Cows mooing in the valley below us. The site was so nice that we decided to camp there again on the way home. We got there around 4pm, found that our water jug leaked on our sleeping bags, strung them up between the trees to dry and got a fire going. Around dusk all of the 100 or so head of cattle MOOOved right on out of the valley, all at once. We finished up dinner, cleaned up and decided to just sleep in the truck. It was early the next morning when the Cougar came by to check things out. I felt the truck rock on it's springs then settle looked around and saw nothing, felt it rock the other way again saw nothing. Latched the locks on the topper and closed the side windows. woke up the next morning to find the cat prints each bigger around than my palm in the mud from where the water spilled on our bags. Counted more than 10 prints all around the truck and a few more around the strung up sleeping bags and fire ring. NOT a fine feeling that morning.

Boort

 

[Dana]

@Dana



Funny you mention open air sleeping. The site with the cougar was on BLM land in SW Montana. On the way up we strung up a couple of hammocks and slept under the stars listening to the Cows mooing in the valley below us. The site was so nice that we decided to camp there again on the way home. We got there around 4pm, found that our water jug leaked on our sleeping bags, strung them up between the trees to dry and got a fire going. Around dusk all of the 100 or so head of cattle MOOOved right on out of the valley, all at once. We finished up dinner, cleaned up and decided to just sleep in the truck. It was early the next morning when the Cougar came by to check things out. I felt the truck rock on it's springs then settle looked around and saw nothing, felt it rock the other way again saw nothing. Latched the locks on the topper and closed the side windows. woke up the next morning to find the cat prints each bigger around than my palm in the mud from where the water spilled on our bags. Counted more than 10 prints all around the truck and a few more around the strung up sleeping bags and fire ring. NOT a fine feeling that morning.

Boort

Yes I bet, not a fine feeling. Cougars can be quite bold some times. Makes me think of a video I saw where a guy walked up on a Moose and was face to face. Luckily he was armed but even discharging it once didn't scare the Moose. Luckily it turned out ok in the end but I am sure his heart was racing.

 

[ArkansasDon]

I love hunting bear & have been for 30 plus yrs. We (Sally & I) disperse camp always in bear country. What I found IMO is depending were about in the country, black bears are attracted to many things that campers do irresponsibly. I found with my experience is people aka campers do not consider what brings bears to your camp site....food, garbage as of storage & disposal of trash & uneaten food, pets is another & their waste. Bears are meat eaters as of veggie eaters. Another attractant to bears is undone (unwashed) dishes left out during the night, as well as dirty dish water dumped too close to camp. Trash should be triple bagged no matter what & each bag tied off tight. Food should be stored in air tight containers or storage trunks. This storage container should be a expensive food storage locker & shouldn't be cheaped on when purchased.
Bears are naturally afraid of humans, but may become accustom to people by their lack of bear knowledge, stupidity & their poor camping behaviors. This is why some bears will become nuisance animals & will have to be relocated or even dispatched. IMO "I" feel too many unseasoned, amateur campers cause the problem for other campers who like to camp in good bear country by what I mention. These same types have the attitude "I" know it all mentality when in reality they know nothing & are the ones who cause the bears to become problematic.