More Bear Problems

[Wyo]

Bears are always a problem in Wyoming and Montana during the summer/tourist months. Some years are worse than others. Seems like this one has been particularly bad. Not the first time I've heard of something like this happening, though. I have to say, I don't think I'd have gone back to bed after this guy came around the first time.

Search Continues For Grizzly Who Ripped Woman Out of Tent And Killed Her | Cowboy State Daily

 

[bigwheelzip]

We never bring food into, or cook near, a tent to be used in bear country.

"At approximately 3 a.m., a 400-pound male grizzly awakened the campers but ran away."

"The campers removed food from their tents and secured it in an area designated for food storage before going back to bed."

 

[LVSteve]

Sounds like the bear got really PO'd at them hiding the food.

Seriously, if a large predator like that appears to have no issues coming to what sounds like a built up area, it's time to GTHO.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

Chamber of Commerce ain't gonna like this one bit

 

[Wyo]

Sounds like the bear got really PO'd at them hiding the food.

Seriously, if a large predator like that appears to have no issues coming to what sounds like a built up area, it's time to GTHO.

Very true. Game and Fish people are very concerned since this bear was clearly not afraid of people and they haven’t found it yet. They’re afraid it will do it again.

 

[arjay]

I can’t believe they stuck around and went back to bed :-O

 

[outta_ammo]

Sorry, at first I thought it said "more beer problems"...

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

BEARS

Out of a tent-- just a thought here, but it could of be time for her 'monthly' -- had a ranger tell me once bears can smell dog food through the can-- You can never be too careful in bear country-- trouble are hard lessons to learn.

 

[steelslaver]

Most 65 year old women are well past monthlies.

It has been dry this year and I suspect many of the berries etc did poorly. The raiding the chicken coop tells you it was one hungry bear. Food in the tent did not help. But given the ability of bears to smell, I have often thought most people have plenty of food odors attached to them that a bear would find attractive and not many tent campers take a shower every evening before turning in.

Ovando is in a river valley between 2 very much wilderness mountain ranges just south of Lincoln where the Unibomber had his cabin

Still thousands of people sleep out every spring, summer and fall nights in the Montana Mountains with no problems. Sleeping outside in a tent in Montana is way way way more survivable than Covid. Why worry?

 

[two-bit cowboy]

Talked yesterday with two bicyclists who were southbound on the Continental Divide Trail (2,500 miles, Canada to Mexico). They'd heard a story about a northbound couple being attacked by a griz northeast of Missoula. Killed the gal.

This tiny town where I live is about half way on the trail. Some days the trail is bumper-to-bumper with folks cycling and hiking the trail. The couple would have been through here in the last month, but the guys didn't know the gal's name so we couldn't look in the guest registry at the local eatery to figure out when.

It was the first bear incident we'd heard of on the trail this year.

Our closest we've heard of griz to us this year was photos on a trail cam about seven miles from here. It's wood cuttin' season; I'll be packin' the 500ES for sure.

 

[waffles]

Out of a tent-- just a thought here, but it could of be time for her 'monthly' -- had a ranger tell me once bears can smell dog food through the can-- You can never be too careful in bear country-- trouble are hard lessons to learn.

Menstruation has been studied as a potential attractant and the only bear it seems to actually attract (or more accurately, used products) is polar bears. The NPS has found no link to menstruation and any grizzly interactions, and experiments show black bears show no interest at all. I spend a ton of time in the outdoors and I really only hear that as a way to talk smack to women around the campfire (sometimes in mean spirits, other times not).

The issue was food. You don't ever bring food or scented items into your tent, you don't sleep in the clothes you cooked in, and you don't cook near camp. In Alaska the rule was a triangle with each leg being 100 yards. At each point you do one of the following: cook, store food (and any scented items in a bear can), and set up your tent. That, staying out of thick brush when possible, and carrying spray/other protection allow you to enjoy the great outdoors in relative safety. Griz are pretty cool animals as long as you're seeing them in the day and not with their jaws around you.

 

[Marshwheeling]

We’re gonna need a bigger boat.