Bear safety in RTT's and soft sided campers/tents

[Flounder]

I would love to know if any of the tasers now in use have any effect on a bear,!

A taser or gun have to overcome a bear's inherent strengths. Bears are engineered to overcome some insane wounds and still keep charging, biting and swinging those big paws. Our guides were shown a video of a brownie fighting another brownie. One had an entire paw chewed off. He won the fight, believe it or not. The amount of adrenaline a bear can produce is impressive.

Spray is designed to debilitate a bear's other great strength - his nose. A dog smells 100 times better than a human. A bloodhound's nose is 300 times better than an average dog. An average bear's snoot is 2100 times stronger than a humans. A naturalist who gave a presentation to our guides said a human walks into McDonalds and smells food. A bear walks into McDonalds and smells EVERYTHING, down to the bubble gum the fry cook is chewing. Bear spray is like a lightning bolt to that olfactory system. That same naturalist said it would be like blowing a train whistle next to your head. So, again, not a bad thing to have at the ready in the dark hollows of a tent, RTT or not.

[StaceyE]

My concern with camping in Bear country is we sleep right on top of where we sleep and cook. there is no "cook and keep food away from where you sleep". The whole purpose of the trailer we built was to keep everything contained in one unit - pull out kitchen, store foods on shelves, sleep in RTT. This being said, for me, if I were camping in Bear Country I think the electric fence idea makes sense. I know, some of you hard core guys think thats being a whimp. As long as I can sleep soundly I can handle being a whimp. Will be purchasing the fence this week.

[Flounder]

My concern with camping in Bear country is we sleep right on top of where we sleep and cook. .

Gotta say, that would make me nervous. Very nervous.

[mountainpete]

Let's start with a pic:

6078119279_6f0030461b_z.jpg

This was my camp last year at a lake in BC. You'll notice that we had a fire and cooked where we camped. In there area, there isn't space to do otherwise. We spent three nights at this camp knowing that on the other side of the lake, about 2 miles up, a very large male grizzly was spotted. We also knew that this area has many black bears. On the hill behind us were wild strawberries that were just not yet ripe enough to eat.

Am I concerned about sleeping in a roof top tent in an area like this? Yes. I think it would be foolish not to be.

In order to reduce the risk, we always take the following precautions:

1. We respect that we are guests in the bear's home. It's our job to be aware and stay away of them, not the other way around.
2. We keep the campsite very clean and place dry garbage in a safe place or burn them completely.
3. We ALWAYS keep a large canister of bear spray within reach. It has a spot on the tailgate of the truck and at night it is beside me in the tent.
4. I personally keep bear bangers within reach or on me and if I see something far in the distance, I will set one off. See: http://kananaskisblog.com/bear-bangers/2009/
5. We make noise in the camp at random intervals. If I hear something, I have even been known to set off the alarm in the truck at night.
6. We dispose of any dirty liquids at least 100 yards away.

I also believe that people who think the can take down a charging grizzly with a handgun are either expert marksman or delusional amateurs - there is little middle ground with a true attack. Noise is the biggest deterrent for a bear within visual range. While a handgun is an effective noisemaker, there are better options in my opinion. A shotgun with slugs and buckshot can be valuable in an attack in trained hands.

Pete

[Flounder]

Great post, Pete. Really great.

I was often a nervous wreck when guiding up to 15 clients on mountain bikes in thick bear country. We had our food in a 10' trailer and usually cooked our meals as far from our sleeping quarters as possible. Everyone had spray. Lots of noise made all day and night long sometimes.

One thing I remember very well. At the end of every dang trip we'd be cleaning up tents and find all sorts of food wrappers and residue inside. This after we'd tell people NOT to take food to bed. Aye!

[mountainpete]

Thanks. You make a good point about food inside the tent as well - I try to ensure that only water and medication is the only thing "edible" in the tent. That smell lingers and for ground tents can lead to a seriously annoying ant problem.

Pete

[Corey]

Gotta say, that would make me nervous. Very nervous.

Unfortunately those with off road tear drops, AT, and Sierra type trailers have built in kitchens where you cook, store your food, and your fridge, so what do you do?
My ARB fridge is inside of my rig just a few feet below me when I am sleeping in my tent.

I have seen shotguns listed here as well, I think the Kel-Tek KSG would be a wise choice since it has two tube magazines capable of having buckshot in one tube, and slugs in the other tube, all available with the flip of a lever to select which tube you want.

This gun is on my shopping list.

[Corey]

Been surfing YouTube for sprays, just ran across this short one.



http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...3l1027l0.7l7l0

[willywaxer]

"I also believe that people who think the can take down a charging grizzly with a handgun are either expert marksman or delusional amateurs".
Pete[/QUOTE]

well, tell that to these hikers: http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com...d-preserve5943
Nine rounds, no problem in a surprise attack. There's a whole sport of hunting bears with handguns you folks should be aware of. Nobody is disputing the superiority of a rifle or shotgun, but don't discard the handgun as an effective tool, particularly if you never used one on a bear. Of course, none of these weapons will be any good if you aren't trained to properly use them.

[upcruiser]

Some great discussion here. Since my trip this coming spring and summer entails a couple of international border crossings, bringing a shotgun or a hand gun isn't going to happen. I like the idea of doing some camp perimeter bear spraying in conjunction with keeping a clean camp and hanging food away from the vehicle and tent. Keeping spray on my person and in the RTT along with a boating portable air horn will likely be the way I go. Is there issue with bringing bear spray across the Can/US border?