Have not seen a bear in camp, or in the park period. Have found scat a few times, mainly on/near portages.

My dad got hit once back in the 80s - it was on the south side of the big island in south Batchewaun bay. Cleaned them out, and crushed/put holes in a tin camp cup and bite marks in the plastic case of single burner Coleman stove we used to use. Also bit through his buddy's wallet - dad has the cup hanging on his wall, and I have the stove case. They weren't hangers, and we haven't except once on Draper, due to the morning after our first night dad swearing he saw a bear back in the woods.

After they got out of the park, they found out there was a known problem bear on that island...that was back in the days of him going and having little to no info. No checking with park office on conditions etc.

Quote:


With so many landfills all over, if one is in the bear's range, you can bet they spend a lot of time there.

Easy pickings compared to hunting/foraging in the wild.

You want to guarantee bear pics go sit outside a landfill if you have a good few and come evening the bears will be there.

The last time I had a bear in camp, intent on finding our food, was 1979.  We chased him out of camp at near dark but found out from the "neighbors" the next morning that he found them and wiped their food pack out instead.  About 10 summers ago we had a bear lurking around our camp on Knife Lake but never actually came in until we had packed up and left; then saw it on the shoreline headed to the camp to check it out.  Growing up on the edge of the BWCA country in the 1960's we saw bears often around our home and elsewhere.  Today it seems rare to see a bear out in the wilderness.  I too always look for any bear sign before settling on a campsite to stay.  IC

After about 55 trips to the BWCA and Quetico I have never seen a bear at my camp.  I have seen a yearling swimming across Quetico Lake and I have seen a bear at the BH parking lot.  The best way to avoid bears is to go to campsites which are not used very often.  It may not be a direct correlation, but the more a campsite is used the higher the probability of encountering a bear.  It is no different than if you catch fish in a certain spot you will return to that spot again.

That's a great story TT.
I've never seen a bear in or near my camp BUT have seen fresh tracks in the morning.

I sleep with my Bear Spray close by along with a knife and either a tin cup to bang on or my SONIC alarm.

IF I was in a group situation I probably wouldn't be as well equipped, I'd just make sure I was camped next to someone SLOWER than I am. 

My fist trip to the BW way back in 1983 me and my girlfriend (now wife) entered at Homer Lake and on a portage a couple of guys coming the other way told us about having a bear in their camp.

Being green as ever I decided to really make sure our food was hung high.  We camped on Juno Lake that first night and hung a weeks worth of food under the "bear pole" between two trees. The forest service would tie a wooden pole between two high trees back then.

I thought we were good.  Long story short a massive black bear casually walked into camp after dark.  It rattled the canoe, licked ants out of a rotting piece of wood by the fire pit, came right up to the tent and gave it a sniff all the while I'm banging 2 steel cups together standing at the door.

It calmly left our camp and 10 minutes later we heard a large crash back in the forest.  I didn't dare go back there.  Next morning we were cleaned out.  Everything except the coffee grounds was consumed.  We paddled out the next day through Brule Lake and spent the week at the Grand Marais campground.  In 19 trips since then I have yet to see another bear.

intrepid_camper wrote on Oct 7^th, 2018 at 1:08pm:


IC -

If you'll recall from sharing a camp w/OS, it "sounds" like there is a bear in camp EVERY night... right after he starts to snooze!

Jimbo   

OS    stop trying to scare the newbies 
How many times have you ACTUALLY HAD a bear in camp ???

If you’re gonna hang your food, might as well hang the ultimate snack in a hammock.

Ran across this calculator and though the hammock people here might learn something or confirm their methods are sound.

(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)