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cbigham · 11-06-2021, 07:44 AM

Had some encounters with bears, some comical, one potentially dangerous, most non events. Been my experience bears are not stupid, are somewhat curious, but mostly want to be left alone.

The big grizz in the photo I encountered at Tetons on way to visitor' center, walking dog about 7am in July. I had a habit of talking to rangers before they opened up, had a coffee. Colter Bay. One ranger was from New York, (Danny) heavy accent, we enjoyed chatting. Day before, dog had been watching with rapt attention out screen door at squirrels.

Walking in the morning, a grizz crossed in front of us about 50 ft. Dog got antsy. Know what she said? That's the biggest f*cking squirrel I ever saw! Can we chase it? No.. heel, sit...she did.Bear looked at us both as I told dog to sit, shook its head up,down as if to say that's right, man, thanks. Walked across, I took quick photo, proceeded to do some bear business digging some grubs out of a fallen trunk.

I told Danny of my encounter. " Whatchu think after the encounter?" I said for lack of a better word, your bears seem "tame," why? They talk to each other..oh? What they say? Didju see what happened to Joey? Naw..what? He got shot by one of them two legged things...F that I'm keeping away!

Danny was on the law enforcement and rescue side. Gist of bof the conversation was bears beennaround people thousands of years, they know we are dangerous too. Unlesspressed, usually its live and let live but there's deviant bears as there are deviant people. Killer dog photo..

cbigham · 11-06-2021, 07:59 AM

What's not discussed here is bear canisters. They work. Work well. In a kayak, hike trip in to the upper Green
River lakes area my son and I hammock camped. We cooked a good 300 yards away from camp, gas hiker stove. Hid the canister as directed away from camp. Everything in it, toothpaste, food trash, food. Put in a depression under fallen log so if found couldn't be rolled far. We heard some crashing around at about 5 am, but not bothered. Evening before, while hiking around we found on a hilltop viewpoint some logs arranged around a fire pit. Bear skeleton parts, skull with a hole in it. Maybe area had a bad vibe? I carried bear spray and a stout pistol.

cbigham · 11-06-2021, 08:20 AM

This one was in Mammoth area. Neighbor, Chuy and I looking over map at his camp. Bear comes around rv on right not pictured. Chuy recently arrived and was still loading things into the bear box before we sat down at table. We yelled at bear, banged pots, it just looked like what? You looking at me? Dragged his smores stuff out and proceeded to eat at front of motorhome. .then walked into open motorhome. Thankfully, everyone else was in the right motorhome. I told Chuy I hope it doesn't crap in there.. do you have bear spray? No.. and the gun is in there..I do..

Bear left motorhome, dragged the food a little farther forward was eating. I slowly walked over to motorhome door. Bear watched, ate. Slowly I closed it. Bear was fine until it heard the click!.

Charged. I shot that spray at about 15, 20 feet, it stopped about 8, 10 ft from me. I yelled, lurched forward, gave more spray. Good stuff! Got it in Wyoming. The look on the bear's face was almost human ..of terror, pain and almost .. shock, how could you do this to me? It ran, was confronted by another neighbor's two big airdales tied up, ran onto the stream bed crashing into trees, branches.
That was too close, probably should have let Chuy deal with it from afar�� Ranger story was the bear had a lame cub and was taking chances it normally wouldn't.

- same campground some years before, we went to ride motorcycles. Buddy couolensites down took his cooler out of his chevy astro van, put it on the motorcycle hitch rack at the cack windows which pop out a bit. Don slept there, gun, bear spray, window open about 4 inches sound asleep while Yogi came at night. Slowly, carefully, quietly, it opened that old, plastic squeaky cooler, not a sound! Ate $86 worth of steaks. Don was pissed next morning. Cussed, said never coming back here ..drove off in a huff. Bear prints all over vehicle, nothing left but wrappers. .. they can be pretty smart!

Bill Gail · 11-06-2021, 10:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GKW

I was hoping for some useful suggestions that might be useful for many of us. Hopefully there will be some coming that will answer some of the questions posted.

Living and camping in the Pacific N.W. we have seen many bears . In every case they ran from us .

Even so , we follow bear protocol when camping .

For protection we carry bear spray , a 12 ga. emergency flare gun from our boat , a 10 million candle power flash light ( will blind the animal temporarily ) and a portable air horn blaster from our boat .

We are not looking to kill the animal , only to distract them long enough to get away. All the devices will attack all the animals senses . Our plan is start with the horn and light , then go to the bear spray and last line of defense is the 12 ga. flare gun .

Fortunately for the last 40 years have never had to use any of our defenses.

jrd22 · 11-08-2021, 04:05 PM

To the OP- just follow clean camp suggestions and you'll be fine. I hunt and camp in one of the highest density griz areas of MT every fall and haven't had a problem with the trailer, nor have I heard of anyone else. Always carry bear spray (practice with it) or a gun that you are proficient with (we carry both) when camped in grizzly areas, they can show up at any time. The three grizzlies my sons and I had close encounters with while hunting this year all retreated when we made a lot of noise, even one sow with a cub.

Wellibe · 11-08-2021, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrd22

To the OP- just follow clean camp suggestions and you'll be fine. I hunt and camp in one of the highest density griz areas of MT every fall and haven't had a problem with the trailer, nor have I heard of anyone else. Always carry bear spray (practice with it) or a gun that you are proficient with (we carry both) when camped in grizzly areas, they can show up at any time. The three grizzlies my sons and I had close encounters with while hunting this year all retreated when we made a lot of noise, even one sow with a cub.

Thanks much for sharing your experience.