A bit of a twist on this......

I had the good fortune of a Moose hunting trip in Alaska with some college friends this year.  We were 5 miles into the mountains, and a long day's tredge through swamps and mountainous terrain from the trucks.  

The biggest issue throughout the week were the 3 dead moose we had hanging in game bags by day 4.  There were definitely Grizzlies in the area, and the MN contingent (which consisted of 2 out of 8) had some serious concerns about what might happen.  The weather was sufficiently cool to age the moose well, but I was amazed we didn't get any big, brown grazers in the 8 days we spent up there.

To make matters even more sketchy we often got back from field dressing moose around 1 am.  We would eat "dinner" and head to bed.  I was never comfortable with the lack of clean-up that was done (dirty pots sitting in the cook tent), and expected to wake up nightly to find myself with a bed partner who was looking for more than a good cuddle.

I have to say I would never be this brazen in the BWCA, or ever again in AK, for that matter.  With grizzlies within a mile or two from our camp, I can only think:

1.  We were INCREDIBLY lucky
and
2.  These bears didn't yet associate us with food.

Maybe the dead carcasses sitting in the bush helped, but we didn't see any sign of feeding on those either (with the exception of some very satiated ravens).  The closest we came to large mammal "danger" was the pack of wolves that patiently waited, and howled, just a few hundred yards away as we field dressed our second moose early in the week.

Maybe we have some of Cliff's luck, but I wouldn't trust it again.  Sleeping that close to bear spray and a .44 isn't something I care to repeat in the future, and we plan to work on this parties cleanliness and habits on our 2010 trip.