How To Do Just About Everything
By Mary Ann I
DO NOT FEED THE BEARS.
Rate: (7 Ratings)
My Husband and I went dear hunting and planned on staying for a week, we got to camp on Friday and about 3:30 am a loud noise woke us up, we looked out our bedroom window in our camper and there was a bear about 20 feet from us (I'm guessing about 350 to 400 pounds) tearing our ice chests apart and eating our food. This bear ate everything except our onions and some of our carrots, needless to say we didn't get to stay for the week. We have never had problems with bears until this time. This is my way of handling the situation, my Husband has his own theory. I'll leave it at that.
Clean camp site.
Always make sure your camp area is clean from food and trash.
Bear eating your food in camp.
If a bear is outside emptying your ice chests, let him / her do it. Do not go outside to try to save your food. Food can always be replaced.
Keep your rifle in trailer/tent with you.
Make sure your rifle is inside the camp trailer or tent with you, not out in your pick up.
Bear hiding behind a tree.
Bears will hide behind a tree, so when you do go outside your trailer/tent make a lot of noise.
Restock food and head back to camp.
When it's daylight and safe to go outside, clean up the mess the bear left behind and go home to restock your food the bear ate. ( most little stores that might be closer than home are usually way more expensive) Then head back to camp, Don't let the bear ruin your trip.
Camping without trees.
I think a different camp area is where I would go and hopefully the bear has already been there and found nothing to eat and went on his/her way.
A happy camp.
Then after you are bear free have a great camping experience.
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Comments
bmi57 said
on 9/30/2008 It really can be a very scary thing when a bear wants your food. Your bear sounds like a very big bear too. Thank you so much wytetyger059 for your comment and rating.
wytetyger059 said
on 9/30/2008 Great tips! I moved into my house in West Virginia the end of July. We had no electricity yet, so we cooked some steaks on our bbq grill and having just moved from life in the city, we didn't think about bears. My son told me later he saw one when he went to the store, but it ran away. Anyhow, we left the food outside in a substantial cooler. Later that night the bear came back. He opened the cooler, took the plate the steaks were on out (and left the aluminum foil wrapping in the cooler), put the plate on the bottom shelf of the grill and ate the steaks. He left the chicken and fish. Obviously a gourmet. His paw print ont the grill was about 6" long. My son told me the bear he saw was standing on back legs and was about 6 feet tall. Needless to say, we keep a careful eye out for bear. We saw another one, younger, the next August.
bmi57 said
on 6/21/2008 Thank you Froggy1980, I will keep the hot peppers in mind in case there is a next time. I will also check out your article.
Froggy1980 said
on 6/21/2008 Great topic.. What also works is hot peppers!! Read my article on The Bear Will Think Twice.
imagery said
on 11/12/2007 We see black bears here all the time. They are nothing compared to the Brown Bears and Grizzly Bears you get out west. Black Bears will almost always run from humans, not so with your Bears. Great Article, thanks!