--- In canoeontario@..., "G. Derbyshire" <gregderb@e...>
wrote:
> Pierre:
>
> Thanks for that last disclaimer! I, too, have had bears wandering
through my site, but our food packs have always been strung up in a
large tree; sometimes from a limb overhanging the lake we're camped
on, (all in dry bags, of course). Usually, we hang our food well
away from the site, and usually not on a pathway. However, bears
have good enough noses that they can smell food from quite far off --
even when it's sealed well, and even if the pickings are good in
nature, they'll come by for a free lunch if it's available. As well
as bears, other critters can also smell food in tents, so we never
allow ANY food in ours tents EVER. So far, we haven't had problems
with large or small beasts trying to nose their way into our tents,
and I attribute that to no lingering food smells.


Greg:

I will agree you should never eat in the tent, and especially never
allow anything in that has been fried or cooked. Sealed unprepared
camp foods - well, you are right, good rule of thumb not to have
food in the tent.

Bears, like any wild animal, have an unpredictibility factor built
in. This being said, I've had a great deal of experience with them,
both here and in Alaska. Though I'm Metis, I'm a member of the bear
clan of Ojibwe, not that that means anything, but folks in my family
have always been interested in bear and their ways and it is a
subject of interest to us all. I grew up in an area with a great
many bear, guided, hunted bear for many years, and my job as a peace
officer requires dealing with them on an on-going basis, usually
injured in some respect, so I do have some familiarity with them.
In all the years I've dealt with them, I've found them much more
likely to enter an unoccupied cabin or house than to enter an
occupied tent. I've only had two experiences with them entering a
tent. One of these involved a family from New Jersy who decided to
buy some Kentucky Fried Chicken, return to a campground, and eat the
chicken in their tent. This occurred during a bad berry year. The
other experience was personal and involved a "wild" bear, in which
the bear was totally inexperienced (my take) with humans, and
curious about them. This was in upper Ontario in the early spring
when, again, food for bear was scarce. This does not mean a bear
would not enter a tent during a time of good feed - it just makes it
less likely.

Bears that have knowledge of humans are always faced with two
conflicting emotions when entering a campsite. Fear and hunger. In
a year, or time of the year, when they are well fed, fear most often
wins out. If they are poorly fed, it is a constant battle, for
them, between fear and hunger. During a confrontation with humans,
they also sense fear, or the lack of it, from the human they
confront. While I am cautious around bear, I do not fear them, and
have chased them out of camp many times.

In the case of our latest trip, if the bear had entered the tent, I
would simply have shot it. Bears do not belong in tents. This is,
of course, an option I do not have when visiting Ontario, and I
would take more precautions.

I've not found bears to be good at sniffing out sealed food in a
hidden food pack. The cook site is what usually draws them, or
wherever you clean fish and dispose of the offal. I have found
bears to be good at removing packs from trees - hence my preference
for hiding the food pack off the trail rather than leaving it
hanging from a tree branch. This is not my idea alone, but has
become a common practise among the guides in our area.

Once again with the disclaimer: Opinons, etc. Everyone has one.

One interesting bit of bear behavior concerning a too tame bear:

Our area game supervisor has requested that I travel to a certain
portage where people who double portage return to their canoe, after
hauling the first pack across, only to find all the packs missing.
When the unlucky canoist travels back across the portage to pick up
the pack he's already brought across - it too is missing. This bear
definitely associates packs with food! The game people have been
laying for this bear numerous times, but the bear has not been
complient. I've been asked to go up and shoot the bear. The number
of ripped up packs, back off the portage, is at 200 - and climbing.

P.