I've noticed in our Bear Watch section a report on a bear on the South Arm of Knife Lake which was a problem in late May.  Anyone been to Knife and had problems the last couple of months?  
Our next trip is Aug 17th and we are going to Knife Lake and will probably stay near where this bear was spotted earlier this year.  Would YOU stay where you know you might find a bear...or would you avoid it?  If you did stay there, would you do anything different than usual to keep your camp and food safe?? :-?

I love these questions.

I would do nothing different.  I'm very bear aware and do not worry about one showing up.  There is rarely any reason for a bear to approach my camp.  Food smells are controlled.  99% of my food is dehydrated.  Everything is at least double-bagged.  Stinky food is triple bagged.  I do not leave food available when I'm off-site.  I've never had a bear in camp and the only bear I ever saw in the woods was during a day trip, nowhere near camp.

I'm also pretty smug about it and pretty judgmental when folks are careless.

While taking all of the precautions regarding smells, clean camp, etc, I would avoid a campsite that was known to have a problem bear. Why? This bear has associated people with food, and as such, while they might have difficulty finding the pinata, they will be persistant, and be a constant nuisance until they either find it, or you leave. Why invite the hassle? I speak from previous experience...

Old Salt is right on the button. According to people who research bears and have investigated many contacts and attacks the worst bear is one who is habituated, that is, one that has become used to people and associates people with food. One thing can lead to another.

I suggest that Preacher man read Steven Herreres fine book "Bear attacks, causes and avoidance" and he might be a little less "smug". That is not intended as a slight. I happen to agree with his preoccupation of odor control. Habituated bears, however, are entirely different animal and the standard rules do not apply.

I suggest you avoid the area based mostly on the premise that you are unlikely to enjoy yourself there if you are constantly looking over your shoulder. I am usually always packing spray, it stays right on my hip next to my camera. It is only a last resort. If a bear comes into camp stand back and let him do what he wants. If he approaches you I would raise my voice and be assertive. Failing that I would let him have it and then depart as quickly as I could as the spray may only deter a determined bear for a brief time.

Most people are afraid of Grizzlies, and rightfully so. But most people would be surprised to learn that a black bear is far more likely to be predacious on people than a Grizzly. Don't believe it? Take it up with Mr. Herreres.

I agree, 99% of bear problems are self inflicted, all the reasons that have been mentioned.
Bears that have been habituated are an issue as OS mentioned. While they might not attack you, they'll certainly make your life miserable, so why would you want that.

There are also what have been called the " Rogue" bear. These are young male bears who have established a territory and see everything in it as foe or food. Unfortunately for us humans, were just another item on the menu for these bears, rare as they are.  

I've debated this with IC on the trip we took together. While I have no doubt that yelling/rocks/a beaver wood stick across the nose would deter the 99% I mentioned, the 1% that won't be is why I carry Bear Spray.

I'm less afraid of being killed by a bear outright, than mauled and left to die a slow and painful death. As a solo paddler, I plan for the worst, look for the best.

The recent episode with with Jack Hanna noted wildlife expert points out the value of being prepared for the worst. He did nothing wrong, but the bear(s) didn't see it that way :o

IC, I know you keep a clean camp, but IF you stay in a known problem bear area, I think it would be a wise choice to invest in some Bear Spray in case your unlucky enough to encounter that 1% ;)

With your baking skills, you'll have every Yogi and Boo Boo in the neighborhood showing up ;D

Thanks for the input guys...when I looked at the map and location of the campsites (even before I read about the problem bear) I said to myself "If ever there would be a bear in camp it would be here."  There are close to a dozen campsites nicely lined up on the shores next to each other like fast food joints at an Interstate intersection  ;D  Perfect pickings for a bear.
We will probably try to avoid the worst area, but I think the bear could be travelling far and wide and could show up almost anywhere.  I'll be hanging the packs twice as carefully as I usually do and giving everyone a pile of rocks and a stout beaver stick to stash beside their tent.  Son Dan is bringing a firearm too.
I have also NOT had a bear in camp in the past 25 years and only have seen bears twice in the Q and BW woods in that time frame.  

I would probably try to keep from staying at a known nuissance bear campsite.  The south shore of South Arm Knife has been a bear feeder for at least a decade, most likely because it's an easy day's paddle from Moose Lake and people aren't vigilant about their food/trash.  Take an island campsite, or be ready to pack up and leave.  Sure, bears can swim, but my experience is that they typically don't hole up on an island when there's lots of food on the mainland.  At least Knife Lake has lots of campsites, so if you have to pack up, you can do it without having to portage.

I would definitely stay away from a known problem bear on a hard to reach lake with only 1 or 2 campsites.

Habituation is definitely a problem.  My problem is knowing where these bears are and what are the locations?  Seeing a bear somewhere doesn't mean the bear is habituated.  Seing it there several times does.

Very little will ever affect my smugness.   ;)

Bear spray is something I should get, being mostly solo it's just prudent.

jjcanoeguide wrote on Aug 13^th, 2010 at 3:05pm:

Sure, bears can swim, but my experience is that they typically don't hole up on an island when there's lots of food on the mainland.

I wonder about that and here's why. (This is only my own surmising BTW and I could be mistaken). Moose often take their calves to islands to help deter predation from their #1 mortal enemy, wolves. I believe that adult male bears frequent the islands in search of these calves.

Like I said, I could be wrong but bear sign on islands is not at all uncommon and I expect to find it if I look hard enough than not. I suppose I would have to defer to canoe guides and fur trappers though on that one.

mastertangler wrote on Aug 13^th, 2010 at 8:36pm:

I wonder about that and here's why. (This is only my own surmising BTW and I could be mistaken). Moose often take their calves to islands to help deter predation from their #1 mortal enemy, wolves. I believe that adult male bears frequent the islands in search of these calves.

Might be true in early spring, but once the calves are old enough to walk with mom to forage I think the island incentive would disappear for bears.  

Most...not all, but most...places I've seen evidence of problem bears are on mainland or where careless campers often congregate.

Preacher wrote on Aug 13^th, 2010 at 5:33pm:

Bear spray is something I should get, being mostly solo it's just prudent.

I've been traveling with bear spray for at least 20 years now.  I started when backpacking in griz country, but decided to carry it as well when in black bear territory.  It is on my fanny (survival) pack belt and stays with me all day.  At night, it joins me in the tent (the model I use has a fluorescent safety clip ... easy to spot in the dark).

I never leave home without it (if I'm going to be in bear country).  In fact, I've shipped it ahead (along with stoves and the like) when I'm flying to an outdoor destination ... mostly to an outfitter or place where I'll be staying ... I've even shipped it to a nearby REI on occasion when I was going to hit the ground running upon arrival.

But the good news is ... I've never had to use it (but I'd highly recommend you try to get the wind to your back before hosing away).

dd

mastertangler wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 9:55pm:

most people would be surprised to learn that a black bear is far more likely to be predacious on people than a Grizzly. Don't believe it? Take it up with Mr. Herreres.

Well, yeah, black bears are more likely to try to eat you than grizzlies. But grizzlies still kill many more people than black bears, despite their far fewer numbers.

According to Stephen Herrero (I only have an old 1985 edition, but I'm pretty sure the following advice is still true), the black bears that see humans as a source of calories are often the old decrepit ones that can't find food for themselves anymore, and even the healthy ones can often be fought off with rocks, sticks, etc.

Grizzlies on the other hand won't usually attack you to supplement their protein intake, but instead because you (or your dog) did something to p*** them off, because they are just ornery, or for whatever reason they might have at the time. If you get attacked by a grizzly, get into the fetal position, cover the back of your neck, play dead and pray. (Again according to S.H.)

I'm not suggesting you take black bears lightly, but they're not at all in the same danger class as grizzlies.

All that being said, anyone who visits the backcountry should take basic precautions, most of which have been already discussed. Avoid unnecessary encounters, keep a clean camp, tie your food up well away from the tent, etc.

Don't depend on triple ziplock bags (ineffective) or bear spray (probably unnecessary in canoe country, heavy, and will likely be inaccessible when you need it)

Read Stephen Herrero's book. And follow my #1 camping rule: Never Ever bring food into the tent.

Joe,
Much of what you say is only 1/2 correct which in my book makes it incorrect. Let's start with your assertion that Grizzlies kill far more people than black bears. Bunk. It is fairly even and this includes the Canadian Rockies and Alaska with their high brown bear populations.
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Click on the statistics and you get the names and places as well as descriptions of activities.

That only old and weak black bears see people as food....again bunk. Many attacks are young bears.

The correct response to a Grizzly attack depends on the situation. You have described the classic "momma protecting her cubs" or "protecting  a food source" response. But if you lay down on a bear that is stalking you  :P.........You must determine the situation and formulate the correct response.

To suggest that triple ziplock sealing your odorous foods is pointless is just plain silly. Any airtight odor control is going to be highly beneficial in preventing interest from bears whose world revolves around their nose. If they can't smell it they usually don't find it. The exception of course is where they have gotten food before like a garbage can or the only good tree in camp to hang your food.

I suppose to the uncountable vast majority of people who enter the woods without bear spray and have never had a reason to need it find it easy to dismiss the potential need. I would question the people who have had to pull it out to avoid a possible mauling and find out their opinion.

Yes Joe, I am much more concerned when traveling through Grizzly country than black bear country but I wouldn't take any bear lightly. Knowledge is the key.

I suggest you re-read Mr. Herrereo's book as it seems you have forgotten a great deal of it.

OUCH! OK, I was a little tough on you  ;) but I have noticed if you speak with conviction on this site you better know what you're talking about.  

intrepid_camper wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 8:34pm:

...  Would YOU stay where you know you might find a bear...or would you avoid it?  If you did stay there, would you do anything different than usual to keep your camp and food safe?? :-?

I'd be careful, but Knife Lake used to have it's share of bears. I remember old Dorothy with her gloves and tools just finishing up some repairs on the cabin screens because of a bear. I once had to take a campsite on Upper Pauness Lake as it was the last one available, even though we saw a bear walk through it as we passed by. Yes it visited us but we deterred it easily and we hung our food pack well. But the next day I was a little lax as I'd left the pack down and was down with a friend on a rock playing cards... All of the sudden a bear was dragging my pack away so I jumped up and chased it away with my cheasy at my side sounding real tough. Another time I was just north of Moose Lake in like Splash Lake or something like that. We had a bear come into camp and we chased it off only to hear the campers down the shore have to chase it off too. But never did I move because of a bear. I understand you keep a clean site and take good precautions... And you have Dan. What bear wouldn't be afraid of Dan.  ;D One thing I've noticed that there isn't the good hanging trees as I remember having back in the day. One word of caution... If you would consider the "bear rope" that is offered at the BWJ... just note that it is a two pulley system meant to be hung by a branch vs between two trees. Hanging between two trees with this set up is not impossible but takes some thought. Only once on my ten day solo in May did I find a tree with a branch that was high enough and strong enough. The rest of the time I slept with one eye opened. I'm buying a barrel!  ;D

mt,

Yes, if you speak with conviction on this site, you had better know what you are talking about. And I did pull Stephen Herrero's book off the shelf before posting, not only to check my facts but also to make sure I spelled his name correctly.

Re number of grizzly vs black bear attacks. Based on your link, I count 40 brown vs 30 black bear fatal attacks starting with the 1970's. Herrero used a ratio of 2:1 (brown to black) in the first edition of his book. I am more comfortable with my choice of words ("many more") than I would be with yours ("approximately equal"). You are hardly being generous including the Canadian Rockies and Alaska in the stats, since that is where most browns and grizzlies live.

Re "only old and weak black bears see people as food" I did not say that.

Re "the correct response to a grizzly response depends on the situation". The first thing you do is determine whether your attacker is a black bear or a grizzly. If it is a grizzly, it is probably not attacking you for food (I thought we agreed on that), and you should play dead. If it is a black bear (and not an obvious mother-with-cubs situation), then there is a high likelihood that you are being seen as a meal and you should fight back. This is what Herrero said in '85, and what everyone here in the Canadian Rockies believes today. Does the latest edition of Herrero's book contain different recommendations?

The triple-ziplocking-is-useless claim came from personal experience. I have seen a (black) bear sift through a food pack to pull out a triple-ziplocked pack of Nanaimo bars, ignoring all the dehydrated stuff packed alongside it. The takeaway here is don't bring odiferous foods into bear country at all. I will reiterate: triple-ziplocking is futile for animals who live by their noses.

Finally, I also stand by my claim that bear spray is probably unnecessary in canoe country. Your Wikipedia link lists zero fatal bear attacks in BW/Q and surrounding areas (ie all Minnesota, plus anywhere in the area of Thunder Bay - Kenora - WCPP etc.) for the time covered by their table (maybe 40 years of good data). I'm not saying it could never happen (there were two fatal attacks listed for Algonquin), but I am saying that since there are something like 100,000 camper-nights spent each year in Q alone, the chance of getting attacked by a bear in BW/Q appears to have a very, very low probability.

Everyone has the right to make their own decisions on which risks to accept in their lives and which ones to actively mitigate. Here is a link that might put your estimate of the chance of dying of a black bear attack in BW/Q in perspective, and help you decide whether to take the bear spray or the Chablis:

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So mt, I stand firmly behind everything I wrote in my initial post, and you will have to be much tougher than that to penetrate this thick hide! :)

Ha, well done!

After reading your initial post I was left with the impression that a black is hardly worth any attention. In my mind your assertion that grizzlys take way more people than black bears made it sound like 10 to 1......I was countering that. As you pointed out 40 vs. 30 in the 70's..... what's 5 or 10 here or there? Sounds sorta even. :-? )

They can and will take people and, as we both agree, are far more likely to see people as a food source than Mr. Griz. Mr. Hero (opps, there I go again) BTW does not state explicitly that grizzly's will not hunt you as a meal. He cites several examples otherwise. The correct response is according to the situation. I think another thing we agree on is to never play dead with a blackie.

For Pete sake, of course AFTER a bear has found your food pack triple sealed zip-locks aren't going to do you much good (although I seem to have a tough time with them  ;D ). For those who are interested get the double zip "ziplock brand". Also great for freezing fish, no leaks. Much superior.

Yes, I know about the statistics concerning fatalities in the Q with bears. You are 99.999 % more likely to perish in a crash on the way up (God forbid) than to be taken by a bear. Stinking lousy bears, ( I do like seeing them) they used to never enter my equation until I did a bunch of research in preparation for hiking out west. What some people have gone through is truly horrifying. My evolution mirrored DD's. I started carrying in Glacier and it was a natural transition to just keep carrying. I wear it on my hip and hardly know it is there. What's another pound right  ;D.

Anyway, thanks for the discourse.
Al  
 

Joe,
Not to beat a dead horse but there was one other item I should make mention of. Check out my blog and look for the Algonquin trip. I relate what is a rather amusing story (now, not then) of being laid siege by a bear on a rainy night with the tarp dumping a gallon of water every 20 minutes on the side of the tent (a surprisingly good imitation of a bear wanting in). The adrenaline was screaming through our bodies and the only release was fits of laughter that was so intense my stomach was in knots.....
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What I don't think I mentioned was hearing the bear snuffling by the side of my arm only inches from me with only the tent fabric between us. That is the first time the hair on my arms and the back of my neck has ever come up. So I am totally with you on no food in the tent. I think if I had even an empty snickers candy bar wrapper in there things may have turned out different.

mastertangler wrote on Aug 15^th, 2010 at 1:45pm:

What I don't think I mentioned was hearing the bear snuffling by the side of my arm only inches from me with only the tent fabric between us.

Bear's definition of a tent:

Crispy outer shell with a chewy nougat center.   ;)

dd

Bear Encounter Learnings: (nice word) from both personal and trusted accounts from fellow travelers.  My limited experience.


(trusted account) Sawbill Area
It took a bear about 20 minutes to open up a sealed BEAR barrel. It recognized it and made a beeline  right for it.  I did see the photos from this all girl adventure.  This group has several years of wilderness paddle experience.

(trusted account) LLC
It took a bear about 30 minutes to bring down a PROPERLY hanged pack.
It climbed a tree 20 feet higher than the pack and swan dived directly onto it.   When it missed/fell it climbed and did it again until the pack was down.  All the time this grouped taunted and tried to run the bear off.  Another well seasoned group.  This bear was destroyed.

When it was eating from the pack it  merely wiped the pepper spray from its eyes and snorted  a bit.  It sat right where it brought the pack down, it did not drag it off. The guy discharged an entire can of counter assault into the bears face.

I have always carried counter assault, supposedly it will stop an "attacking" bear.  

AI
Two bear visitors were detered by  LOUD noise. An air horn and paint ball gun(not really that loud), made them leave town this summer on my trip.  I had neither, but I was able to get some rangers into camp.   I borrowed the airhorn to stay overnight but bears never returned.  I had an encounter two years before in this spot and had enough daylight left to leave, and would'nt have stopped this year if I had known there were again bear issues.


From now on I'm going to carry in bear country. I always disdained it, mainly because of weight and hassle.   After seeing the effect LOUD noise had on two bears that could'nt give a shit about whistles, hollering, banging, jumping up and down etc etc, I'm convinced of the usefulness.
While sidearms are legal, (not in Canada),  loud fireworks are not, I would consider something like M80's if they were.  

I do not have near the paddle travel mileage some folks here do, and have only seen bears 4 times. I have never paddled in grizzly bear country.   But I think a powerful noise maker is now worth the portage effort, even in black bear country.  It can double as a signal device.

I would try to avoid an area if it's known to have Bear issues.  

never seen a bear in camp


have seen about 5 of 'em swimming across lakes

wally wrote on Aug 16^th, 2010 at 10:58am:

have seen about 5 of 'em swimming across lakes

Ahhh, now they are running in packs!  :o

I like to run the shore as often as not and I am convinced I see a lot more wildlife as a result. Just on one day going up the falls chain I seen 3 bears. 2 of the bears were a stones throw behind some guys fishing off a point. It was kinda comical. The wind was blowing so everything was moving about and it was loud near the falls. It was a mother and cub and they kept raising up and looking at these fellows and I imagine they were scenting. The guys fishing had no clue what was going on. I gave some thought to informing them but the danger alarm in my head wasn't going off so I slipped on by.

;D  Nothing like bears to get a discussion going....
I believe everyone who weighed in is correct in their advice.  I still am pretty sure I will not ever be attacked by a black bear unless I am tied to a tree and covered in peanut butter.  I doubt if I'll ever take bear spray into the BDub or Q; with my luck if I needed it, it wouldn't be within reach anyway.  ::)
I do look for bear sign (scat or torn up trees and overturned rocks) and do not camp where I find it.  Bears do swim and I have  watched them on a couple separate occasions, swim to my island camps.  One landed and was quickly scared off and on his way.  One swam right by without a look at my site and kept on going.  
We are off for Knife Lake tomorrow.  I'll post our adventures when we return.  ;)

I don't doubt the majority of fatal bear attacks are by Grizzlies/Brown Bears, there shear size and ferociousness when attacking, make it extremely unlikely a unarmed human would be able to fend one off, if playing dead doesn't do the trick. Most people when in their territory are hyper alert, as their reputation probably exceeds the truth for the most part.

Black Bears are a little different. We've all see pictures of the clownish side of black bears. I've seen tourists get out of their cars and pose with black bears foraging on junk food people toss from their cars. 99% of the time it ends peacefully. This just puts the bear and humans in more danger. Humans lose respect for the bears power and wildness, and the bears lose their natural fear of humans.

Algonquin Park has at least 5 fatal black bear attacks, and more than a few near misses.  The most infamous was the 3 teens who were fishing in the park. While the fish they were carrying may have attracted the bear, they fact that it climbed 3 different trees too drag the teens one by one down to kill, proves the Rogue or Predatory bear is rare but not a myth. A couple was killed more recently after the bear attacked he woman and her husband came too her aid with a canoe paddle club.

Fellow paddlers saw the bear dragging one of the corpses around the campsite as the paddled past. When the ranger arrived, the bear still was there, and had fed on the bodies. After killing the bear, they found a pan of ground beef near the fire pit, untouched by the bear. I guess we taste better than beef :o

I carry Bear Spray, but also bring my version of a bear alarm/horn.
Being solo, I worried about leaving my food pack unattended on a 2x portage. I bought a personal alarm, like the runners use. It's the size of a deck of cards and uses a 9 volt battery. Alarm is piercing, like a household fire alarm.

On portages that are especially long, or I see signs of recent bear activity, I secure the lanyard cord to a tree limb, and leave the alarm in a zippered side pocket on my food pack. If a bear grabs pack, the safety pin will be pulled and even if the bear runs off, he/she will have 130+ decibels screaming in their ear ;D

I can't imagine any wild animal tolerating that.  I also take it in tent at night. I would activate it, before using the bear spray as a 2nd to last resort, my camp survival knife being the him or me final option ;)

I figure like most safety items we use, it's better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

The number #1 safety item you can have, is common sense. Unfortunately it doesn't come in a can, and  even if it did, some people wouldn't have sense enough to have a can opener ;D

What to do if the bear attacks?  Thumbs are made for eye sockets.  Whatever the plan I have is, it's subject to change in the event of an attack.  I only hope I wear the brown pants that day.

The odds are better for being hit by lightning than attacked by a bear.

2 stories to share.
In the Rankin Inlet newspaper there was a story about a guy who was woken up by the sound of a polar bear snifing him. When he opened his eyes he saw it was standing on his rifle. So he punched him in the nose. It worked.
That lead to another story about a guy who fell asleep on bear watch only to be awakened by the sound of a snoring bear sleeping next to him.

wrote on Aug 18^th, 2010 at 6:15pm:

That lead to another story about a guy who fell asleep on bear watch only to be awakened by the sound of a snoring bear sleeping next to him.

I bet it was his best night's sleep ever.  Warm, soft, soothing.

If we're sharing bear tales, I'll give the full details on the ziplock story.

This was about 15 years ago, in Banff NP, near Lake Minnewanka. Our first campsite was only 5 km's or so from the trailhead, easily reachable after getting off work in Calgary on Friday afternoon, and a good headstart on a long weekend backpacking trip.

After arriving, we set up our tent, had dinner, and were enjoying a cup of tea. Two other groups were set up in their own corners of the site (so it's not like Q - in the Rockies NP's, there are fewer backcountry campsites, and you have to stay at those designated sites, so you often have to share.) My backpack was propped up against a tree, with the food pack sitting in the main pouch on top - still lots of time to hang it up.

The black bear mentioned in the previous post wanders into camp from our end, has a sniff around, and heads over to my pack. Pulls out the food pack, and fishes out the ziplock containing the Nanaimo bars, ignoring the granola, dried soup, pasta, etc. Takes the bag a few metres into the bushes and scarfs down the whole thing - three layers of ziplocks, one layer of Stretch 'n' Seal, and one of wax paper, plus of course the Nanaimo bars.

Still hungry, the bear heads back to camp for more food. Nothing else in my food pack of interest, so he heads over to the next group: boy scouts in the process of cooking stew over an open fire. Totally undeterred by the fire, he has a sniff of their cooking, but this is not what he wants.

Over to the last group. Well, the two guys there had a great idea before setting out. "We can take a couple of frozen steaks, wrap them in our foamies, and they'll still be frozen when we get to camp!"

By the time the bear arrived in camp, the two guys had already eaten the steaks, and at this point were standing with the rest of us off to the side watching the proceedings. The bear belly-flopped the tent to collapse it, took one swipe to open it up, and proceeded to eat the steak-flavoured foamies.

During all this, someone must have made it back to the highway, because shortly thereafter, a park ranger arrived, dispatched the bear, and hauled the carcass over to the other side of the lake, well away from the area's hiking trails.

Since this thread has mentioned clean camp, and efforts to minimize smells I will ask this question here, now, rather than start a new thread.  

What do you Lake Trout fisherman do with the delicious smelling tin foil you use to cook up the trout.  And, do you eat the skin or burn it?  The foil and the skin seem like they would smell awfully good to a passing bruin.

I eat the skin, or at least most of it. Then I lay the foil in such a way, the fire burns up any remains. I make a point of not being down wind as I don't want my clothes saturated in anymore food odors than necessary.
Lk Trout being an oily fish "probably" contains more oily residue than so called drier fish. At least that's what I tell myself.

I leave the foil in fire pit until next morning and then roll into tight ball and put in zip-lock garbage bag, inside plastic liner of my food pack.
Since I hang my pack, I don't worry about odors from the fish foil anymore than I do from my packaged food, which is not vacuum packed, but stored in Zip-locks with the air squeezed out.

intrepid_camper wrote on Aug 12^th, 2010 at 8:34pm:

we are going to Knife Lake and will probably stay near where this bear was spotted earlier this year. [highlight] Would YOU stay where you know you might find a bear...or would you avoid it?  If you did stay there, would you do anything different than usual to keep your camp and food safe?? :-?

[highlight]

Well, guess if I were a bear hunter, then I'd stay where a bear might be found.......but  I don't hunt bear, so I camp pretty much where I feel camping  :)....if a bear wants to invite itself into the place I chose to camp....well then.....may the best varmit win.... ;D

Burn it.  I tend to burn all food smelly things.  If I'm not having a fire that day then I'll ziplock it all up and burn when I can.  Tinfoil burns, just don't breathe the fumes.

The skin is the best part when cooked crispy.

Why tempt fate? For that matter I'll avoid sites with excess garbage strewn about as I learned the hard way what that meant. I'd stay there if I had to but if there was another option I'd surly take it.

Lakers? I burn the stink and some of the foil and pack the edges out. I got more on foil at some point but for now that has always seemed reasonable.

I have a question for those who believe they can control what a bear might smell. Especially the one trip portage types. Do you pack your food or anything cooking related with anything tent related? It occurs to me this could be a trick question. That's not my intent. It's a legit question.

FWIW - if you fish, and catch/clean/cook fish (especially lakers), you're gonna smell like fish. Like everything else, you just get used to it and don't notice and yes I have seen a bear stand to wind a laker being cleaned a quarter mile away. I could smell it too.

Well we have returned from the forbidden Bear Zone of Knife Lake and did not have any problems.  We did see bears on two different occasions on our trip, in broad daylight.  One was on the top of a ridge we paddled by, and as soon as he winded us he was leaving.  The other we saw about 600 feet as the crow flies from where we were camped two nights.  I went out paddling and turned the point we were on to find a bear in the next little bay, he/it was coming down to take a drink out of the lake.  I was down wind of him so he didn't smell me and I paddled up nearly to him, maybe 30 feet away.  He was suspicious but still didn't really know what I was and wasn't scared of me,  I sat in my kayak and yelled at him and swung my paddle around in the air and finally splashed water at him which made him retreat about 15 feet into the brush.  Dan and Mike were at camp so I paddled back and gave them a head's up about the bear before I continued on my way.  They kept an eye on the food packs and had a sling and pile of rocks for ammunition but the bear never approached the camp.  36 hours later we were packing in the morning to leave and I kept hearing a large thing in the brush around camp and saw trees moving un-naturally.  I never saw what it was but think it was the bear, waiting for us to leave so it could come in and investigate the campsite.
Our last evening out we camped near the Birch Lake portage drop-off for the tows from Moose Lake.  A C.O. and a DNR fellow stopped to check our permits, etc. (got a ticket for improperly licensed boats  :-/)  The DNR guy said Ensign Lake has had several bad bear reports recently.

intrepid_camper wrote on Aug 29^th, 2010 at 2:06am:

.    A C.O. and a DNR fellow stopped to check our permits, etc. (got a ticket for improperly licensed boats  :-/)  The DNR guy said Ensign Lake has had several bad bear reports recently.

I've modified my origional post to a form of question rather than an assumption.... :D .....

:question...what form of improper licenseing was the  (naughty}watercraft displaying  :question

and , I take it that a MN. DNR game warden and an Onterio MNR C.O. were conducting international border sharing enforcement, as I,ve seen done a few times in the past  :question

What I bring in I pack out, didn't even have a fire on the last trip. I also check the bear reports when I PU permit. Hanging the food pack more and more-the pulley from the local sail shop makes easy work of it...maybe the video is doing trick, but I suppose it could be all the mice and....even saw a bear on the last trip, better than smelling one ;) How goes the battle Riversend?

We were using three kayaks from Spring Creek where Dan works...used previously and for sale.  He picked them up the day before we left and didn't look at the tags on them, so some were outdated and some didn't have any tags.  It was our fault.  Both the DNR and CO were USA.  They were kind to us but couldn't overlook the problem completely.
We always hang our pack and if we can't we tie it to a tree trunk with two separate ropes.  I use sailboat pulleys too.