bears in camp......

[capnTelescope]

Howdy, Razorback. Great video. That big guy looked awful close.

[drhill]

It sounds like you have an awesome trip planned. Definitely leave your guns at home and don't worry about the bears.

I have been living near the Canadian Rockies and hiking, biking and backpacking for nearly 40 years. Only on a couple occasions hiking have I ever seen bears. That was always at a distance and no problems. Since taking up mountain biking, I have run into bears more often, as a result of coming up on them quickly. Even so, the bear will usually dash off pretty fast when he sees you. Only once did one refuse to leave the trail and I had to backtrack.

The biggest problems with bears and wolves is in the front county (vehicle access) campgrounds where poor campsite practices have habituated some animals. Unfortunately at least a couple wolves had to be put down in Banff National Park last year due to campers leaving coolers and garbage out in their campsites. Likely, what remains of the wolf population is doomed to be destroyed due to sloppy campers.

The only place I have camped where I was a bit concerned was in Yosemite. Apparently the bears there have been feeding from campers and vehicles for generations and older bears teach their young how to break into vehicles.

Just keep a clean campsite and you have nothing to worry about. Have a great trip.

[capnTelescope]

don't worry about the bears.

Then,

Unfortunately at least a couple wolves had to be put down in Banff National Park last year

And there's wolves too? Lions and tigers and bears and wolves, oh my! What about T-Rexes? Did everyone forget to mention T-Rexes?

I did see a youtube vid where a wolf was chasing a motorcyclist. Apparently wolf sightings are so rare, it's like you won a prize if you even see one. And living to tell the tale of getting chased with video must be the Grand Prize.

I have got to get out of the city more often.

[tony.latham]

And there's wolves too? Lions and tigers and bears and wolves, oh my!

Bro:

It's no picnic up here, but there's plenty of camping space––most of the campers have already been eaten (alive).

Just check under you Taco and make sure you're not importing a (breeding) pair of those venom-injecting Texas diamondbacks that are as big around as Refrigerator Perry's thigh.



Double please!

T

[capnTelescope]

Bro,

It's no picnic up here, but there's plenty of camping space––most of the campers have already been eaten (alive).

Sounds like the critters are having the picnic and we're what's for dinner.

Just check under you Taco...

Nice belt or hat band. Where's the vitals on those things, anyways? I'm thinking glass bottom 'drop.

[Dusty Mark]

We traveled to Ontario, Canada in July 2016 and declared our bear spray at the border. The border agent wanted to inspect the bear spray and we had no troubles with him.

[IndyTom]

and I asked Yellowstone about bear electric fence, the aren't needed

Yeah, but in Jellystone, there's more to worry about than bears...





T

[CanuckShooter]

This is the thread I was looking for. I only went through 23 pages of "bear" search results to find it. This is an entertaining thread that deserves a bump.
Which brings up a question: Other than Tony Latham's paw prints that might have been from a bear that stepped in white paint, any other bear stories to relate?
Also, I'm planning a road trip through bear country this summer. Up through northern Canada to Alaska.

You may want to check what Canada allows. On the border crossing show. Pepper spray was not allowed and fire arms was a no no.

Sure, last fall we were breaking camp and when I turned around there was a grizzly bear standing 50 feet away from me. I grabbed my 338 Win mag hunting rifle and let off a shot to spook it off. It hardly seemed to notice and only moved about 20 feet into some thicker trees, so my partner shot into a tree beside it and then it went over the bank next to our camp. Five minutes later it came back up the camp and was coming straight at us, it stopped about 40 feet away and we shot into the tree beside it again, and it wheeled around and left. If it had come again, we would have killed it, but there is a lot of hassle with the conservation wardens when you do that so we try to not kill them if we don't have too.

BTW, I've heard those little electric fences powered by car batteries do a good job of keeping the bears at bay.

[CanuckShooter]

We spend a lot of time out in the wilds of northern British Columbia and have regular run ins with both black and grizzly bears, in the last few years our wolf populations have exploded so it's not uncommon to see some of them either.

[CanuckShooter]

]Here what a bear can do to your hard wall trailer.

[Don L.]

OMG!!!
Do you reckon bear spray would have run that one off?
Just wondering if I need to get some if I go into bear country.

[CanuckShooter]

Maybe, I'd rather have a 12ga shotgun loaded with slugs myself. If the wind is blowing in your face it's a bad idea to shoot off your pepper spray.

[CanuckShooter]

One summer we went up into northern BC to scout out some new elk hunting territory. We parked the truck and camper in a small gravel pit alongside of a forest service road and we were scouting on atvs. We got back to camp around noon, parked the machines and walked across the road to 'water the horses' and I saw a medium sized black bear stand up on it's hind legs [about 100 feet away] and give us a look over. It dropped down onto all fours and I could see it was approaching us by the movement of the willows it was in. It popped back out on road about 50 feet away from us and it's hair was all up on it's back, it was popping it's teeth and snarling and clawing at the ground and steadily approaching. We quite quickly got into the camper, dug out the 270, found the bullets, got the trigger lock off and by that time the bear was at the door. It moved off a little so we stuck the gun out and let off a shot to scare it away, but no dice. He was very very aggressive and continued to act unbalanced. So we shot into the gravel at his butt end and peppered him with gravel, and he ran off. That bear was dangerous, we would have been in trouble if we couldn't have easily gotten away from him, and he was only maybe 200 pounds. After we thought about it more we thought we probably should have killed him because if he always has that attitude he could hurt somebody. The COs probably wouldn't agree with that as the bear season wasn't open...but we never killed it so didn't have to worry about them.

[capnTelescope]

... got the trigger lock off ...

Which brings up the question of how to legally transport the ol' Large Firearm through Canada. Locked hard-side case? Trigger lock? Both? More? Less? Ammo stored separately, of course.

Here what a bear can do to your hard wall trailer.
Image

[CanuckShooter]

Which brings up the question of how to legally transport the ol' Large Firearm through Canada. Locked hard-side case? Trigger lock? Both? More? Less? Ammo stored separately, of course.

Once you have all the appropriate paperwork, unloaded...out of sight...and secured behind locks. I usually stick my 338 in a soft case on the back seat of my truck and keep it covered with coats and stuff so it's not visible. I have ammunition on a butt stock holder so that isn't a big issue, but if you leave the truck make sure the firearm is out of sight, the windows are up and it's locked. Some people have those locking storage boxes under their back seats too.