Two active bear threads in QJ at once! What fun!

All areas of the boreal forest that call themselves "wilderness" have bears in them. Most bears will take off into the bush as soon as they are aware of you, that's why we hardly ever see them.

But bears need to eat, and will follow their noses to anything that smells like an easy meal: grubs, moose calves, double ziplock bags full of shrink-wrapped Nanaimo bars, foamies previously used to insulate frozen steak, Tupperware containers impregnated with the smell of last month's baloney-and-cheese sandwiches, anything. Some people even bring fajitas and ghee into the backcountry. Wtf!

Whether any given bear's food instinct will override his (her) human aversion instinct is a crap shoot. If you think you have enough to gain from rolling the dice, go ahead. Me, I pack everything that even remotely smells like food into barrels and stash (or into a dedicated pack and hang if backpacking) well away from camp. Of course that includes toiletries, first aid kit, etc.

Even the tea bags go into the food barrels. It's probably safe to assume a bear will know tea bags have no caloric content, but they are so small, why even bother thinking about it?

I'm in the been-to-Q-over-the-past-30-years-and-never-encountered-a-bear camp. Maybe we've just been lucky! (Now that I've actually verbalized this, I've probably jinxed it)

For the past 15 years or so, we simply tie our food barrel to the base of a tree far away from our tent. The barrel has bells on it, so if someone (!) is trying to get into it, at least I'll know it's time for plan B.

But most importantly, we keep a very clean site. At night, nothing odoriferous goes in the tent except a water bottle (not toiletries, not sun block, not insect repellant, not soap, not first aid kit,  and, of course, nothing remotely food related). Everything in the barrel is at least double zip-locked; the only food-related item not in the barrel is our one-burner stove which is stored elsewhere in a double-layered container.

we need a "Mr. Fusion"   (c) back to the future, 1985

Jan

I have a multi-fuel stove but I don't think it can burn *that*. 

or the stove?    if theres a fire ban?   Jan

Another thing that I remember reading is that indians (maybe not all tribes) would eat their last meal at noon time. By the time it was time to go to sleep there wasn't any food odor to worry about. Another thing you might want to keep in mind is that bears love the rocks and animals use waterways as highways from one place to the next. I've only had one bad night with bears being to close for comfort and it still doesn't stop me from solo hiking 8 to 10 miles round trip. Just use common sence and wear a bear bell and carry bear spray (which only works well in extremely close quarters), a bear bomb ( a flare type device that shots a bright flash at the bear and produces a loud boom) or a large caliber gun and a knife. More often then not I only have a jack knife folded in my pocket. I actually worry more about coyotes and rabies then bears. Most of my hikes in the past couple of years have been bushwacks because I like to see the forest, not the trail cutting through it. I don't see much wildlife as it is and I would feel honored to see a bear in the wild as long as we both respect each others bounderies. Don't survive the woods, live with it. Swizzle

Jan we all spit into a burning fire of course.

wow...i guess i was told......

regarding the toothpaste comment.   hanging it or hiding it to avoid scent dispersal.....

when you brush, do you all spit into a nalgene or something?  and then hang/hide that too?     i doubt it.

Jan

Its only Bearanoia when its happening to the other guy
 DB, that is quite the tale and I'm glad that the bear was more interested in your items rather than YOU
Everyone knows that bear attacks are rare and you shouldn't let the fear of one ruin your enjoyment of the outdoors
At the same time there are way's to lessen the odds of a encounter just like you would during lightning storms or high winds.
IF that bear wasn't discouraged by 800# of mad momma moose and your constant barrage of rocks and epitaphs then you can imagine what would of happened if it had turned on YOU as the object of its hunger
 I carry my Bear Spray and make no apologies for it. IF I was camping or paddling in the US, I would have my .357 with Buffalo Bore heavy ammo.
Paranoid? one person's paranoia is another's hoping for the best, being prepared for the worst
 I don't see any difference between carrying a comprehensive first aid kit in event of a life threatening injury, or a means to protect yourself in the event all your precautions fail?
 I always wonder when I hear of a fatal animal attack, bears/cougars/viscous dogs, whether the victims families who often are helpless witness's would say about not having a means to protect themselves because they didn't want to be  called Paranoid?
I'll bet if it was your (_*_) on the line and someone came to your aid with Pepper spray or a firearm, you wouldn't be calling them Bearanoid, you would be thanking your lucky stars they had the means and skill to save your "Bacon"

Bearanoia, PFDs... How 'bout know the risks well enough to pick your battles?

No clue on tea bags but, if it helps:
I do know one bear that decided a moose calf might be a tasty breakfast.. That didn't go as planned.

After the fight, mama walked around my tent and continued right through my campsite w/ calf in tow and I was also standing right on her intended path! She never even paused and passed with a wild "you want a piece of me..." look in her eye. I backed off as far as I could. She knew where she was going and that I wasn't going to stop her. She was big and scary looking. My guess is the bear was the bigger threat to her.

Still hungry bear shows up a minute later. After a chase or two, it could (I think) smell scented bait from 5 feet away while being chased by a rock throwing solo camper who already had enough fun for one morning. Still hungry bear stopped to check it out and since I'm now closing fast, thought it might like a wooden paddle so that's what it ran off with only to drop it 30yds later and keep running.

A few chases later, I KNOW it didn't like white gas.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

Yet it stopped in the bushes not 20 feet away from me to find out.

Still hungry bear really does not like being hit in the head with rocks and chased and yelled at but it seemed nothing was going to stop it that day.

In the hour or so we got to know each other and for me to strike camp, my food pack was happily hanging, unnoticed, between two trees. It was the very last thing I put in the canoe when I left thinking good thing it's morning and not evening. While I did want to camp there one more night, the risk just wasn't worth it to me.

Odds are, we'll never know for sure if bears are tea drinkers or not. Don't sweat the small stuff. My Rum has never been touched. Guess they don't like rum. Could be wrong about that though.