RangerDanger
New Member
One of my jobs when I worked for the Forest Service was campground host at a backpack campgroung.
The camground was next to a dirt service/fire road, behind 2 locked gates, but I had the key since one of my jobs wa to haul out trash. Everyone else had to walk the 3 miles in.
I followed a Ranger out to the campground (she was a real Ranger, I was just a volunteer). She starts telling me about the campground, and the local animals.
She told me there was a bear, sometimes 2, that vistited the campground regularly, to raid campdites and the trash cans. We left after a short time and I was going to spend my 1st night there the coming weekend.
I had been camping for decades but had never had an ecounted with a bear. I had seen them several times while driving, and had camped in area's that had bears in the vincinity, but had never seen 1 close up.
But I knew that bears can easily kill a human, and I'd seen pictures of what bears can do to a car.
They can literally tear into a locked car. In fact, in many drive-in campgrounds it's illegal to leave a cooler in plain sight in your car.
Bears have learned there's goodies in a cooler, and use they're claws to tear through the steel of a car door.
Holy crap!
A friend stopped by the next day as I was loading my gear in my pack. He watches as I take out my .32 pistol and put in 1 bullet.
"You think 1 .32 slug's gonna kill a bear?" he aksed me.
And I say "oh the bullets not for the bear. If a bear tears into my van to-night, kills my dog and comes after me, I'm gonna shoot myself in the head so I don't get eaten alive."
I later learned that campground bears are for the most part harmless.
They'll walk into a campground, attracted by the smell of food. They've learned that it they walk towards a group of people, the people will back away, leaving their goodies for the bear.
If the people don't budge, the bear will stop about 50 of so feet away. If the people walk towards the bear, the bear will back up.
WHAT TO DO IF A BEAR APPROACHES YOU.
Don't show fear. Raise your arms, shout, bang pots and pans together. Throw rocks but not to hit the bear, just to land near him.
A hungry campground bear will make repeated attemps to steal your pickanic basket. If you leave your campsite, and at night, you need to hang your food (instuctions available at any Ranger Station and in camping books).
After awhile I got used to Elsa, the campground bear. One night I went to bed in my tent and Elsa walked so close by me I could hear her beathing.
P.S. Bears do not recognize people as food. They're not out to kill you. They only do that in self defense and to protect their young.
The camground was next to a dirt service/fire road, behind 2 locked gates, but I had the key since one of my jobs wa to haul out trash. Everyone else had to walk the 3 miles in.
I followed a Ranger out to the campground (she was a real Ranger, I was just a volunteer). She starts telling me about the campground, and the local animals.
She told me there was a bear, sometimes 2, that vistited the campground regularly, to raid campdites and the trash cans. We left after a short time and I was going to spend my 1st night there the coming weekend.
I had been camping for decades but had never had an ecounted with a bear. I had seen them several times while driving, and had camped in area's that had bears in the vincinity, but had never seen 1 close up.
But I knew that bears can easily kill a human, and I'd seen pictures of what bears can do to a car.
They can literally tear into a locked car. In fact, in many drive-in campgrounds it's illegal to leave a cooler in plain sight in your car.
Bears have learned there's goodies in a cooler, and use they're claws to tear through the steel of a car door.
Holy crap!
A friend stopped by the next day as I was loading my gear in my pack. He watches as I take out my .32 pistol and put in 1 bullet.
"You think 1 .32 slug's gonna kill a bear?" he aksed me.
And I say "oh the bullets not for the bear. If a bear tears into my van to-night, kills my dog and comes after me, I'm gonna shoot myself in the head so I don't get eaten alive."
I later learned that campground bears are for the most part harmless.
They'll walk into a campground, attracted by the smell of food. They've learned that it they walk towards a group of people, the people will back away, leaving their goodies for the bear.
If the people don't budge, the bear will stop about 50 of so feet away. If the people walk towards the bear, the bear will back up.
WHAT TO DO IF A BEAR APPROACHES YOU.
Don't show fear. Raise your arms, shout, bang pots and pans together. Throw rocks but not to hit the bear, just to land near him.
A hungry campground bear will make repeated attemps to steal your pickanic basket. If you leave your campsite, and at night, you need to hang your food (instuctions available at any Ranger Station and in camping books).
After awhile I got used to Elsa, the campground bear. One night I went to bed in my tent and Elsa walked so close by me I could hear her beathing.
P.S. Bears do not recognize people as food. They're not out to kill you. They only do that in self defense and to protect their young.
