Bear Prevention.

[wkraemer]

How do you prevent bears coming into your back country camp?

I'm getting paranoid.  Maybe my wife has been talking to much.

[HikerHunter]

Haven't yet, but I don't leave food in camp that they would be attracted to either. Unless its vacuum sealed, its either with me or away from camp in a place a bear can't get to. 

[mburrows]

Keep your camp clean. Dont eat or keep your food too close to your tent. If you're really worried, put your food up in a tree.

Carry bear or a pistol or both.  If you are really worried about it you can get a portable electrical fence.

[Cougartail]

A bear tag.. Almost guaranteed not to have any problems. It's like they know.

[Jonathan_S]

Don't hang out with me

[bracer40]

Unless you’re planning a trip in grizzly country, you’ll more likely encounter issues with mice, chipmunks, or other little critters long before you’ll ever be bothered by bears.
Been visiting bear country for over 40 years and never had any trouble....tho I was once awakened by my very excited buddy over 40 years ago in an Ontario provincial campground, who described his horror the night before at seeing two “huge” black bears rolling on the ground next to the hammock I was lying in. I was quite drunk & stoned, but keenly remembered watching the wind blowing the treetops and wondering why somebody was driving up and down the campground road shining flashlights. When we pieced the parts together the next morning, it turns out the bears had rolled into camp just after we crashed in our respective sleeping bags.
My buddy (who spent part of the night terrified for himself and for me, wasn’t sure if he should slash the back wall of the tent and run for it, yell at the bears, turn on a flashlight, or just stay still. He chose that third option typically observed in dangerous situations (perceived or otherwise), you know fight, flight or freeze.
I was oblivious to them. Based on the remembered and observed evidence, they were rolling around eating our squeeze tubes of peanut butter & jam while I was drunkenly, even blissfully, marveling in the sights and sounds of the summer solstice night....

Lesson learned: don’t leave food out where critters can reach it. Paracord and a good throwing rock over a suitable limb and have never had anything get into our stuff.

[KFhunter]

had a grizz roar at me less than 100 yards away, my god it was loud!

it caused my hunting partner to shart himself and get behind me.   I was looking for his .22 derringer, make sure he didn't pop me in the knee and run...but then I realized he didn't' need to pop me in the knee as  he can already outrun me!

My and my G22 took the lead, we had to go right past where we just heard that roar come from, no other way out.

[pashok23]

A bear tag.. Almost guaranteed not to have any problems. It's like they know.

[Tbob]

Never had any problems with bears in WA. If you’re worried though, hang your food, keep a clean camp and I have some bear spray on my packs hip belt, just in case..

[hoytxl2009]

Keep food away from camp, and hang up in a tree. Don't eat around your tent either.

I've never had a problem with bears and don't follow any of the things I just said, so I'm a terrible example. My camp is typically changing everyday and carried with me as I go. That being said my food is always in my backpack.

[Jpmiller]

Guys I know that regularly hunt and live in grizz country talk much more and make a much bigger deal about the kill site than camp. For the life of me I can't remember what they say they do other than have a guy on lookout while cleaning and loading packs.

[dilleytech]

Guys I know that regularly hunt and live in grizz country talk much more and make a much bigger deal about the kill site than camp. For the life of me I can't remember what they say they do other than have a guy on lookout while cleaning and loading packs.

A few things I have heard them say, remove the meat away from the gut pile as bears will eat the guts and organs first. Leaving a sweaty t shirt on the kill if you have to leave it.

[Okanagan]

Good question, probably not as big a problem nor danger as many of us think, but bad when it does happen.  I recently moved back to WA after most of my adult life in BC, where for various work and hunting reasons, spent a total well over two years of my life (probably 3) sleeping on the ground, mostly in wilderness areas, mostly in places with both black bears and grizzly.

First, you can't keep a bear from coming to your camp.  It is what he does and what happens at that point that concerns us.

Do all that you can to avoid confrontation, and be prepared to kill the bear.  With experience we begin to read body language but if we haven’t seen many bears, err on the side of safety.

Be decisive:  after the bear makes contact is too late for good decisions and efficient protection or shooting.  Edited to add:  after a bear starts his rush or charge from close range, it is too late for optimum shooting.

All good answers thus far:  keep a clean camp and don't cook nor eat right where you sleep.  I prefer to sleep 25 to 100 yards from where I cook and eat, but on some cliffs, and when I've been lazy, I've made do with closer.  Even a few feet between food scent and sleeping spot hopefully gives you time to wake up while a bear first zeros on the food spot.

Especially in grizz country I sleep with a rifle right beside me, carefully laid the same each time and I practice putting my hand on the pistol grip in the dark before I go to sleep.  Ditto for a flashlight.  I sleep with the rifle magazine loaded but nothing in the chamber.

Twice I've had grizzlies come to the shot as I gutted an animal, and had a large black bear pace within 40 feet as I gutted a deer.  While gutting etc. pause often, listen intently during the pause, keep eyes on a swivel, rifle close, and two people are safer than a man solo if one of the two keeps watch.  This need not be fearful, merely alert.

I prefer not to leave meat unattended, and so leapfrog loads of meat over short carries rather than take a load all the way to my vehicle then return.  That keeps from leaving meat unattended for very long.  Of course, we have left game overnight and returned the next day and even left it gutted or boned out for a week in cold weather wilderness till we could fetch it with horses, etc. 

This is a repeat from a few months ago but when leaving meat, pee on some branches and place them around the carcass or meat cache.  That will keep most predators off of it for at least 24 hours. 

Re camp:  I've never used an electric fence but like the idea.  I've gone to sleep in alpine bivvies with grizzlies in view inside of 400 yards.  One of those came in during the night to within 30-40 feet downwind, but no closer.  I woke up, unsure why and in the morning found his tracks and some digging he'd done for roots.

On a tent camp by a vehicle, a grizz came boldly into camp just at dusk.  He did not threaten, merely joined us near our campfire and would not leave.  We moved camp ten miles rather than sleep in the tent or shoot the bear.

I've been threatened twice by other grizzlies, had several come into calls intended for other game, plus threatened by several black bears and had them come to calls of several kinds.  Have blundered within touching distance of two adult black bears.  I've not shot a bear in self defense, but probably should have and admittedly have been fortunate.

Be prudent but don't let bears keep you from wilderness nor from enjoying it.

[2MANY]

Thanks for the input.
All should learn from the ones that have walked the walk.

[skagitsteel]

Just sleep with bear tag in your pocket    I’m probably one of the least paranoid people about bears, I’ve spend many solo nights in the backcountry and see 30-40 bears per year in the areas I go.  I have poked my head out of the tent a couple times to see a nearby bear very content with the abundant blueberries.   I keep my food in my tent, cook in my vestibule, ect... never had even a curious bear snoop around. Bears do not like human scent and will avoid your camp, unless your in a national park where they get accustomed to people or you abandon your camp long enough for human scent to dissipate. If I were in grizzly country I would take a very different approach to camping.