Bears are not a problem

“The term "bear problem" seems strange to me. Who's to say theres any peoblem at all. Bears are awesome, I welcome any encounter I can have with those magnificant animals. Just hang your food and you won't loose it. Maybe you'll be lucky to snap a few pictures too. Of course I'm talking about the smaller black/brown bear of the South West. Grizzlies are in a different boat.”

“You say that now...............”

“"black/brown" should read "black/cinnamon". Grizlies are a sub-species (or another term) of the Alaska brown bear - Kodiak, too.

No - bears are not a problem, but they can be a nuisence, and can reap havoc on a camp.

My only encounter was with a grizzly. He prompyly fled the scene. I was quite relieved, because I know that bears are generally unpredictable - ask any hunter or ranger that have numerous encounters with them .

Just follow the standard safety practices when in bear country, and hope for the best.”

“Bears are not really a problem until the are eating your face and pulling you limb from limb. Before that the are super cute!”

“Yeah, What Hyper said.”

“Wait till you talk to someone who had their camp ransacked by a beer, and sense the true fear they had during the encounter...then see how you feel!”

“Thin air dont go camping in Elkmont campground then.Or are you the lady I met in the bathroom that thought all the bears in the smokies were circus bears? And her hubby was trying to feed it hot dogs.”

“As much as I can, I try to give them wide berth. Many encounters could be avoided, therefore making the bears a non-problem.”

“Hmmmmm. Like I said grizzlies are in a different boat. The smaller cousin of theirs, the black bear is rather timid and easily frightened off. I do keep my food hung well out of reach as to avoid going hungry. I also tie a bell to the cord to wake me up. All I'm saying is that bears are not to be feared, but that doesn't mean that you should walk up to one. Remember that you are visiting their country. And no I don't feed the bears, I just take pictures.

^^^ThinAir^^^”

“They say if a man sees a polar bear on the ice, it's already too late.”

“You cant blame a polar bear for eating a Canadian.”

“Black bear is a species. No they are not all black but they are all black bears. Brown bears are grizzlies with Alaska license plates.

Black bears are less aggressive but can still open your gut with a swipe or their paw. Griz = ?human, it?s what?s for dinner? (if there is nothing easier around). The reason Griz does not eat us often is we are just to much trouble or we smell bad.”

“I thought that there are more people attacked by Blacks than Grizzlies?”

“black bears attacks more poeple the grizzlies do.”

“Well I guess thats the last time I try to ease anyones fears about bears. I for one wont loose sleep on the subject.”

“GOOD!!!!!”

“Thin air, dont sound so down my friend. This subject has come up a few times before.”

“Don't worry, I'm cool, just thought cause some trouble.”

“blacks attact more simply because there are, like, a gazillion of them, and they occur in, like, every freakin' state.

Blacks prolly outnumber griz by 200 to one.

So, natch, blackses are encountered much more frequently than grizzlizzes, and the more frequently encountered, the more "situations" will occur.

It's the fuzzy math thing.”

“fuzzy math fuzzy math fuzzy math”

“While I'm in my tent and I hear something sniffin around camp and then hear big foot steps comming closer. And All of a SUDDEN, A big set of claws come RIPPIN through the walls of my TENT!!!..........i can rest assured that Thin Air told me that "Bears are not a problem". Must be some other critter.”

“Maybe someone can make a giant "ursack" to sleep in. Like a big wrapper the bear has to open to get to the ooey gooey inside.”

“LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
LOL! LOL! LOL! LOL!
NOW THAT'S FUNNY!!!!”

“LOL you guys are just too much.”

“LOL!!! HP...reminds me of a Far Side cartoon I saw. Two bears are peering over the bushes at a couple of guys sleeping beside a fire in their sleeping bags. One bear says to the other, "Look, sandwiches!"

Having read about the Ursack (finally!), I suppose it could be a good idea... at the very least they wouldn't need a body bag to carry you home in! ;-)”

“sandwiches! hah.....gotta love that gary larson”

“When walking in bear territory you should always wear little bells. You can tell when you're in bear territory if you find bear scat. Black/cinnimon bears scat contains little berries. Grizzly bear scat has little bells in it.

Bears become problems when they discover that humans carry food and that it is easier to raid camps then to hunt for themselves.”

“A friend from Portland told me a simple way to tell the difference between black and grizzly. If, when you climb a tree to get away from the bear, the bear climbs the tree to eat you, it's a black bear. If the bear pushes the tree over and eats you then it's a grizzly.”

“Spent a good part of this past summer in AK. backcountry, and I never saw a bear, once. I saw scat and prints but no beast. We hardly practice the ABC's of being bear aware, in fact it was quite the opposite many of times.

I was not until I was in ID. working in a fire spike camp up in Clearwater N.F. that I saw a bear. This blackie came in thru camp in the middle of the night sniffin almost everybody down. Only a few of us knew it had come thru. None of us had tents, and there was plenty of food odors in the air and nothing was raided. To many human odors.

I have heard stories/rumors about how others will treat their camping area with human scents. A urine here and a defecation there, like territorial markings. Anything and everything to spread ones human scent around. I think B.O. works wonders as a bear deterent, if you are ripe as all get out, and if there is slight breeze, no matter what food odor is in the air just one whiff of a human body is enough to deter most bears for the mean time.

It(bo) may not completely scare them away, but as long as you make you presences known and mind your ABC's about bear behavior one should have no problem.”

“The Bears have been a problem since about 1985 - they suck.”

“IMHO
If you are in bear country and become injured to the point that you limp, you should get the h-e-double hockey sticks outta there!
Why? You ask...
As seen on T.V., bears have a tendency to attack injured animals of certain species that they normally would not bother, ie, moose, caribou, elk, etc. This is one of nature's ways of getting rid of the sick and injured. Also, we DO NOT RUN from a bear because doing so would likely trigger their predatory instinct to attack. I believe that limping would have a similar effect.

Briar mentioned that he did not see a bear in AK, but he was in bear country, nonetheless. I would bet nine times til Sunday that he was spied by many, many bears, and if he had been limping, the bears would have suddenly become 12 feet tall and bullet proff.”

“...that's bullet "proof"”

“walkindude- if you're in your tent and you hear something sniffing around and hear lots of noise in the bushes it's probably gojo. He like like to get your adrenaline going like that. LOL”

“so does Sarabelle, I see now where she gets that from.”

“I never did have a problem with bears. I did smell them sometimes tho I gess. I am not shure what they are because I have never seen one. I would prolly like to smell his butt tho. I have smelled their doodoos in the woods. If a bear tryed to get my food like rats do, I would put him in my mouth and bite him and he would be dead like a rat. I think mebbe that I do not like bears awreddy. I think I will go in the woods by my hous tomorrow and find one and bite him, but first I will try to be his frend. If he trys to be mean, then I will not like him and bite him to dead. Dog, I hate bears. I am mad jus thinkin about bears. I think I will go beat up Skinny Kenny if he does not scratch out my eyes first.”

“Does gojo have Claws?”

“Bear = Cow”

“ThinAir = Troll”

“Now there's no reason to start calling names......WHINER!”

“ThinAir = Thin Skin”

“LOL @ bacpac!”

“It's too late for Tarp Rat to be on. I don't think thin Air is a troll. But I ain't always right either.”

“Thanks walkindude, I'm just hav in fun....

bacpac = bacpain or painass .... need assprin”

“Ahh the reserection”

“the bear problem is simple to solve. Just get a bigger caliber”

“It's only the worthless republican war-mongering bears that are the problem!”

“I thought that the bears were liberals?”

“nope tere a football team.”

“Where is the guy who started this post?”

“..got eaten by a bear”