Camping Safety

[MickinOz]

Just read an on-line news article about a lady being dragged from her tent and killed by a bear in Montana.
Terrible thing.


Got me to thinking.
Would a teardrop trailer actually keep a bear out?

Mine's got walls of 17mm plywood. I'm thinking it'd at least give me time to bolt out the door on the other side if a bear was trying to rip through the side walls.
Dunno what I'd do after that, probably try and beat the bear to the tow vehicle I guess.

Not so confident about the front wall - 7mm ply on the outside, 3mm on the inside.

What's the general opinion on bear resistance of the trailer?

[edgeau]

Mate, most people do the lap when they retire. You sound like you are taking the drop stateside!

For our friends from other parts of the world the lap refers to a driving circum navigation of Australia. 15,823km or 9831miles on highway 1.

I am curious though what those who live in bear county think.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

[MickinOz]

Mate, most people do the lap when they retire. You sound like you are taking the drop stateside!

For our friends from other parts of the world the lap refers to a driving circum navigation of Australia. 15,823km or 9831miles on highway 1.

I am curious though what those who live in bear county think.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Nah, no stateside lap for me. But I am curious. And maybe drop-bears aren't some myth we dreamed up to scare the tourists...........

[GPW]

Just the Mice are enough to scare the tourists

[TimC]

Hard to believe but many folks I know won't go into tall grass, much less the woods, for fear of the mighty wood/deer tick.

[JunkMan]

Hard to believe but many folks I know won't go into tall grass, much less the woods, for fear of the mighty wood/deer tick.

Heck, I get them in my front yard!

[tony.latham]

For most of my adult life, I dealt with bear conflicts as part of my job. A teardrop, or any other camper, would only slow things down. (We keep a can of bear spray in ours, BTW.) But keep in mind, I don't recall an attack where a bear broke into a camper to eat people.

Predatory attacks on humans by grizzlies are exceedingly rare. The last one I recall in the lower 48 was at Soda Butte Campground near the NE entrance of Yellowstone in 2010. It too involved a tent.

What's extra odd about this fatality, was that she was camped with friends in downtown Ovando near the post office.



It's not a place you'd see me packing bear spray.

Tony

[Philip]

The best explanation I have heard of a bears power. What ever you can pry open with a crow bar. A bear can do with one paw. So going by that statement I heard many years ago. If you camper smells like something to eat. Yes it could open it. Is it likely to happen? Probably not if you follow proper bear protocal when in their home ranges.

[MickinOz]

A teardrop, or any other camper, would only slow things down.
Tony

I kinda thought the same, it's going to get in if it wants to.

It's not a place you'd see me packing bear spray.

Tony

She would have thought she was fine camping just off Main Street like that.

[booyah]

For most of my adult life, I dealt with bear conflicts as part of my job. A teardrop, or any other camper, would only slow things down. (We keep a can of bear spray in ours, BTW.) But keep in mind, I don't recall an attack where a bear broke into a camper to eat people.

Predatory attacks on humans by grizzlies are exceedingly rare. The last one I recall in the lower 48 was at Soda Butte Campground near the NE entrance of Yellowstone in 2010. It too involved a tent.

What's extra odd about this fatality, was that she was camped with friends in downtown Ovando near the post office.

It's not a place you'd see me packing bear spray.

Tony

So honestly usually when I camp in my TD, especially in bear country I do tuck the 44mag between the wall and the mattress. If I had to I can patch .44" hole in the side of my TD, and slowing down a bear in that case is probably sufficient for 5 rounds to do the duty.

Most of the time I just have it for 2 legged predators, but 4 leggers it would work on as well

[tony.latham]

Most of the time I just have it for 2 legged predators...

And the odds say it's more likely for that issue than for a bear by a lot.

We were camped on the Ruby River in Montana one fine trip and had someone pull into our spot in a government truck about 0700.

"Hey, I'm a government trapper with ADC. I put out some wolf traps on a calf they killed two days ago. Last night a grizzly stepped in one and busted the chain. He's in the brush somewhere behind your camp."

(For Christ's sake...) It was an IQ test. We moved.

Tony

[halfdome, Danny]

Since we usually visit Yosemite every year, I install a loud horn on the underside of the teardrop as I won't go outside to beat on a pan or honk the TV horn.
I have a horn button within a foot of my pillow.
Someone told us a baby bear was rocking the rear corner of our galley one night.

It's the red item in this photo.

Danny

[booyah]

And the odds say it's more likely for that issue than for a bear by a lot.

Truth, I hate coming back to my car from fly fishing in the river to see people "hanging out" around it. We're back in the middle of no where, with no reason to be "just hanging out" on my car... I keep a holster for the 44 on a chest rig over the life jacket and waders.

Not advertising, just keeping it handy

[booyah]

Since we usually visit Yosemite every year, I install a loud horn on the underside of the teardrop as I won't go outside to beat on a pan or honk the TV horn.
I have a horn button within a foot of my pillow.
Someone told us a baby bear was rocking the rear corner of our galley one night.

It's the red item in this photo.

Danny

That is a slick idea! for noise I keep my keys in the TD, and the TV is never far away. Panic button works well to make some noise

[halfdome, Danny]

Thanks.
I'm about the remove the aftermarket alarm in my Trailblazer.
The door lock/unlock button sits proud of the arm rest and the passenger or driver can inadvertently lock the door which can set the alarm off while driving.
The first time it happened we were towing the TD over a California pass.
People were pulling over since all our lights were flashing and the horn was going too.
Didn't figure it out until recently when I heard the doors lock and all hell broke loose.
Danny