Every time I talk about Quetico with someone new, they immediately mention bears: "Aren't you scared of the bears?" ... "What about the bears?" ... "Oh, I'd be worried about the bears." etc. etc. etc.

Even my wife. No matter how many times I say that bears are the least of my worries (and that the odds are greater for twisting an ankle or a knee, wrenching my back, hypothermia, bouncing a camp ax off a shin, slicing a finger, lightning or a falling tree etc etc.) her parting words are "don't let a bear get you."

Except ... I've never seen a bear in Quetico. I just came back from my 16th trip, and I've never seen a bear. I've seen tracks, and fresh ones on two occasions, but never the real thing, claws and all. That's 13 trips through Prairie Portage, two through Stanton Bay and one through French Lake. 15 trips in September, and one in October.

The guy who organizes our trip, Smashdancer, has taken 39 or 40 trips, by his best estimate. And he's seen only three bears -- none of them close, and none of them recent.

So, my question to all QJ'ers: How many bear have you seen in Quetico (and how many trips have you taken)? Same question for trips to the Boundary Waters, I guess (and I separate the two because I'm wondering if there's a difference in Q/BWCA experiences).

-- kypaddler

I've seen about 6 in 20+ years of doing ALL but one trip in the Q. All were either on shore as I paddled by or I caught them swimming in open water.

Plenty of tracks, fresh scat on portage trails but never seen one although one time I could swear I heard one breathing in heavy brush along side pile of fresh scat on portage trail.

I keep a real clean camp, double bag food and until last year hung my pack. Also don't cook bacon or other items other than pan seared fish or cooked on fire, which I don't think sends out food odors like fish fried in deep oil would?

I also don't usually stay on well used campsites and the Q with so many sites and the ability to camp anywhere probably doesn't get the Yogi type bears like places in the heavily used BWCA do.

I still bring my Bear Spray just becasue I like to be prepared for the worst and I go solo. I fear injury/lighting/hypothermia or a window maker tree falling far more than any animal encounter.

I've done taken 12 trips +/-, and have never seen one while camping or paddling. I've seen plenty on the highway, especially between White River and Nipigon. I did see one on the 2 track back into Beavehouse once, standing in the road trying to get a better look at our van.

Quote:

I did see one on the 2 track back into Beavehouse once, standing in the road trying to get a better look at our van.

  When Q-Dave was still in the outfitter business, he was driving me into BH when this huge brown bear crossed the road in front of us at full speed across an open section of woods.

Dave stopped the van and we both said " THAT was the biggest bear I've ever seen in CA!" Next year I bought/brought my UDAP Bear Spray which I still carry.

  You wouldn't beat THAT bear off with a stout stick of beaver wood, he'd be picking his teeth with it after he had you for lunch.  ;) ;D ;D

Only once, in 50+ trips, have I needed to take my food pack away from a bear. (A great campfire story btw).  ;)

I've seen a few more. We had one visit my wife and I when we were on our honeymoon, 38+ years ago. While I don't fear bears, it would be foolish to not respect them and always be prepared! 8-)

Traveling the Quetico since 1978 and have only seen one while camping, although it was only my second or third trip.  It was on the opposite side of Crawford Lake in late afternoon.  At that moment Crawford Lake seemed very small.

I did pass by a steaming pile on a portage early one spring morning, so I did not linger long.

I saw an elderly (about my current age now) lady working at the outfitters kick a small one in the rump a few times to run it out of the gargage can it was rumaging in.

One more siteing in Northern Wisconsin on the interstate, a very large black bear who bawled loudly all the way across 4 lanes of traffic.

Have heard wolves on almost every trip, some sounded very close, but have only seen one.  It was leaving Atikokan, standing along the highway looking scragley, hungry and maybe sick.  It might have weighed 35 - 40 lbs.

While we are doing critter sightings, our September trip this year up and back the Falls Chain had my bowman pointing and stuttering about something he saw on the bank that darted back into the woods.  After showing him several photos when we had net access again,  I believe he saw a full grown Fisher.  I have never even heard of someone seeing one?

Apologies for drifting off Black Bear subject matter.

Regards,

MossBack

Mossback,

I've only seen two fishers in all of my trips.  Both were sighted at a campsite one afternoon on Lake Agnes back in the summer of 1990.  They came back to our camp later that night & woke my brother who immediately exited his tent and proceeded to chase them through the woods with a hatchet (he thought it was a bear... still not a good idea).

I've only ever run across a couple bears in any of the parks and those were at a distance, rolling rocks searching for bugs or something on a shoreline or hilltop.  I believe I've heard a few cubs bawling in the woods a few times.

Wolves?  I have been VERY close to entire packs howling within a 100 yards more than a time or two but have yet to actually see one in the wild.  Your 35-40 pounder seems like a real "lightweight" wolf (even if he was scraggly-looking); are you sure it wasn't a coyote?

Ran into an American Mink scrambling along the shoreline of Pickerel Lake only a couple week ago.  That may have been a first for me.  A real curious critter.  He stopped to consider me passing by, stared for half a minute, then resumed his shoreline trek seemingly quite unconcerned about me.

Later,

Jimbo   8-) 

So Old Salt ... will you elaborate a bit more?

A "few" being like 3 or 6?

From the canoe? On the trail? In camp?

-- kypaddler

And I guess we could talk about wolves and fishers and pine marten in this thread, but I was sort of imagining a series of threads, maybe 37 or more, with bears being first, and then wolves, and then moose, otter, eagle, snappers, etc. etc. down to mice, with everyone telling their best mouse story.

Ha.

-- kypaddler

In Quetico: 

4 sightings, 4 bear?  #1:  Single bear--end of Lemay Creek on Kawnipi.  #2:  Sow & cub--shoreline; NE corner of Burntside Lake.  #3: Suzanette (west entry channel from Brent)...Large black bear began swimming across the channel (south to north) but spotted us before reaching the mid-point of the channel; reversed course and swam back to shore (quick shake and into the woods).  #4: SE portage out of Suzanette in the direction of Burt--Large black bear crossed the stream on a log and proceeded south down the portage ... I followed a few minutes later.  [I assume #3 and #4 were the same bear.]

1 sighting, 1 wolf.  North end of the channel separating Kawnipi and Murdock lake.  On a windy day, as I stood fishing the outflow of the west bank, a lone wolf crested the ridge on the east side and proceeded down toward the water, apparently looking for a drink.  The wolf was practically at the water's edge (perhaps 30 feet away) when he finally glanced over and spotted me.  He executed a quick 180 and proceeded back over the ridge in haste.  [Within 10 minutes, a deer appeared behind me and I've often wondered what would have happened had I not been there.]

dd

12 trips, 5.5 bears.  #1 & 2 Sow and cub on Kawnipi swimming the channel east from Rose Is.; #3 Cinnamon phase single bear turning rocks along the shore, same general area, same trip in '09; #4 & 5 small adults or large juveniles eating berries up on a hillside 1/3 the way up Agnes near a campsite we WERE planning on using...changed plans, even though they ran when they spotted us, last summer; and #.5 on the west end of Brent...my bow paddler spotted a juvenile on the shore that scampered away so fast I missed it, but heard it running, just this year in June.

I have seen either one marten or fisher, so fast, I couldn't tell, a moose and calf as we were coming off the portage into McNiece in 2010, and probably more otters than any other mammal, but beaver might be close or a tie. 

pd

I've seen a good number in the Q. Last year I ran into one on the portage between Basswood and unnamed on the way to Kett- big male. We saw each other at about the same time from about thirty feet. He stopped, s and I stopped (carrying pack), he stood up for a look and then he started walking again, like we were just going to brush past each other on the portage. I said "Yo! I'm a guy! (as opposed to another animal) and he ran off for another 30 feet before getting on his hind legs again to check. I said "Really, I'm a guy" and he ledt for good.

This year on the portage between Kett and unnamed, I was closing on unnamed with my pack and heard a noisy squirrel in tree branches just off the trail- too much noise and looked up to see the silhouette of a cub in a tree- turned for a better look just as the thought "cub what about mom?" pinged there was big brush rustling, huffing, jaw clicks and a sort of woofing. I did not look for mom and sort of rushed to the end of the portage. I returned (cautiously) with the camera but they were gone.

2 years ago, saw one a half mile away on north shore of Quetico lake (only 1 i have actually seen).  Years ago, carrying the canoe on short isabella creek portage, my Dad in front saw one 10 feet away at our packs, which we hadn't been gone from for more than a couple of minutes.  In 1994?, had a bear grab a pack out of the canoe at end of portage around Curtain Falls - lucky we got back when we did, as the bear dropped it into the lake when it heard us coming back- never saw that one.   That's the only bear encounters in many years.

Great stories, keep them coming. A bear grabbing a pack out of a canoe seems a bit unnerving.

As far as wolves, I regret to say I haven't seen one of those in the park either. Have heard them. Saw one on the road outside Ely.

And was about third in line carrying on the portage from Olifaunt to Fern one year when the lead guy came around the corner and startled a wolf standing in the middle of the trail. He said it growled or snarled at him and then took off.

-- kypaddler

Thought I saw a bear on the shoreline once, but as I paddled closer it looked to be a very large black otter. It was almost 3 feet long with about a 2 ft. Long tail, had short jet black fur, looked to weight about 30 or 40 pounds. It was shy a disappeared before I could get a a photo. I saw one 2 different years on 2 different lakes, one was Batchewaung, I don't recall the other. Sorry to the topic police, it's off topic, but didn't want to wait for one of the other 37 threads.

I've only seen one bear while canoe tripping. It was my first trip in 1983 while with my girlfriend, now wife. We entered at Homer Lake off the Gunflint.  On a portage I remember running into two guys coming out saying they had a bear in camp. Apparently I didn't heed the warning and we continued before setting up our camp on Juno Lake.

I remember it was extremely calm and quiet that evening. The kind of quiet where you just hear a hum. I thought it was amazing really. Until...... Until we started hearing branches snapping across the lake. Something was out there and freaking us greenhorns out.

I had hung our duffle food pack from a "bear bar". This was a pole constructed between trees by the FS. I assumed I was good to go.

Just after dark from our tent I hear our Grumman canoe start rocking around on the beach. I rush out and shine a light on the backside of a very large bear. I banged pots and pans which did nothing. The big Bear just took its sweet time going through the campsite and even standing up to sniff our dish towel hanging from a branch. I also remember it ripping open a junk log by the fireplace and licking grubs or ants from inside.

It did come within 10 feet of the tent but definitely didn't like my light in its eyes and turned around and eventually went up the trail where our food was. By now my girlfriend was petrified and crying and my heart was pounding out of my chest.
About 20 minutes went by and we thought we were good. Soon we heard a loud crash from the woods. We knew what that meant but I wasn't going to challenge it for our food.

The next morning we surveyed the damage. Everything was ripped apart right there. There was no trace of a large lexan jar of peanut butter. Apparently it consumed the plastic too. Two fuel bottles in the bag (don't ask...) were bitten into and punctured. Only our coffee survived although it was a little gooey from where the bear's tongue sampled it.

So that was it for our week. We were now done and paddled out through Brulé Lake in dangerous winds at our back. On an empty stomach I ran back to my Jeep then packed up to spend the week at the Grand Marais campground. And that's the story of my first ever BW trip.

kypaddler wrote on Oct 18^th, 2016 at 7:04pm:

So Old Salt ... will you elaborate a bit more? A "few" being like 3 or 6? From the canoe? On the trail? In camp? -- kypaddler

Inquiring minds want to know...

I haven't tried to keep a tally of bear sightings so I can only guess. Over the 40+ years of doing 50+ trips, I estimate seeing 8-10 bears. Most sightings have been from camp, some from my canoe. I can't say that any of my sightings caused fear, even the up close and personal ones. I do have great respect for bears and I actually try to avoid encounters. I have found that speaking firmly in a low, slow voice is effective. ;)

My introduction to Canoe Country in 2001 included a stay at the Northern island site at Big Current in Crooked. Our first morning there we went fishing when, about 7:30, a couple paddled by with all their stuff just thrown in the canoe. In a high squeely voice the female proceeded to describe how a bear terrorized their camp during the night. Haha we thought. Upon returning to our camp where we had secured our food pack about 10 feet up a jack pine, guess what. The bear must have heard us and bolted. The food pack was at the bottom of the tree with the top just about ripped off but nothing missing. Being much smarter than a bear I re-hung the pack on a branch about 5' out from the trunk. Went fishing then returning to camp, uh oh. We found a sow and cub feasting behind camp where we had noticed a large accumulation of trash earlier. Threw rocks and yelled but the damage had been done. Believe it or not we stayed another day. Caught fish and took them to a tiny island in Canada, upon returning to retrieve our breakfast the next morning we found nothing but fish lips on the stringer. I have returned to CC every year since! Quetico bears are much easier to deal with.
   

So chaga ... if I may, how many bears have you seen since that time, particularly in Quetico, and on about how many trips? I'm trying to figure out just how common bear sightings are, and whether the fact that I've gone 16 trips without seeing one is off-the-charts rare? (or something like that).

-- kypaddler

kypaddler,
The next encounter was in 2007. My wife and I were on a site on Woodside. It was 2pm on a nice August day.and we were just hanging around camp when a pack of wolves started going nuts on the south side of the lake. I glanced to the north and there is a huge head swimming directly to the wolves. After crossing about 1/4 mile he hit an island on a dead run and dove off the other side. All my trips are in August if that means anything.
Here is a link to my last encounter in 2014. We were trolling down Gardner Bay when we heard a huge ROAR from the west shore. Then this   (You need to Login or Register
I have seen the northern lights the same number of times fwiw.
This was my 16th trip, 14 of those in Q, all trips are 10-12 days.

Nice video. A few years ago the executive director of the Salato Wildlife Education Center in Kentucky was looking for a different place to paddle and I directed her to Quetico. She and her partner wound up going to Sarah Lake out of PP and came back with a tale of watching a big male black bear swimming across the northern end of North Bay. She said they actually had to coast their canoe to keep from running into it.

She also said they heard wolves all night long from their island campsite on North Bay.

-- kypaddler

chaga -

That was a heckuva good video!  Thanks for posting!

I was surprised to see THREE cubs.  For some reason I thought they generally had pairs.  That third cub seemed to have some sort of silver sheen on its right side & shoulder.  Maybe it was just the way the sunlight was hitting it.

Re: northern lights, I've been fortunate to catch them a few times.  However, the two very best shows (by far) were witnessed from the very same campsite on Jean Lake (35M), about eleven years apart, during the only two times I've ever camped there.  It offers a great vantage point since it's on a peninsula that juts out with a wide expanse of water to the NE.

Anyway, that was great bear video!

Jimbo   8-)

Jimbo wrote on Oct 20^th, 2016 at 5:56pm:

chaga - I was surprised to see THREE cubs.  For some reason I thought they generally had pairs.

I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination on black bears, but some time ago I accompanied some researchers on a trip to the mountains in Eastern Kentucky on a cold, cold day to change the radio collar on a sow and put chips beneath the fur of her cubs.

(For those not familiar, after being all but extinct from Kentucky for many years, a couple of decades ago wandering bear from West Virginia re-established a population in the southeastern part of the state, and it’s grown so much that Kentucky allows a limited bear hunt each year.)

Well, that research trip didn’t go as planned – her den was out in the open (a dead-fall of a tree) … she “woke up” (black bears technically don’t hibernate but are in a state called “torpor” … the drugged dart malfunctioned … and she took off, leaving her cubs exposed with wind chills in the single digits and snow swirling. And radio telemetry showed she crossed several ridges and kept going.

Long story short, the researchers grabbed the cubs, put them in a pack in the back seat of my truck with the heat running as they figured out what to do. I have a picture of one of the cubs  sticking his head out of the pack in my truck.

The point is: There were three cubs (all male).

I read some of the subsequent research, and it showed that the average litter size in Kentucky was 3.1, with documented litters of two to five cubs. But the study I read acknowledged that the 3.1 was “more than any nearby location.”

For what it’s worth … I just thought it was interesting.

-      kypaddler

  The survival rate for young bear cubs of all species is low considering all the dangers they face in their young lives. Besides the quest for food and natural hazards, male bears will kill cubs in hope of mating with the mothers. Lions do the same. Since black bear populations are on the rise for that to happen the litter size would have to grow bigger too I would think.

  Great video and a reminder that just becasue you don't see them, it doesn't mean they don't see/smell you.

"A bear grabbing a pack out of a canoe seems a bit unnerving."

and that daypack had all our paperwork, including our wallets -
was 2 tandems, so we take one boat and all packs across first, adn then go back for the second boat and gear - the pack was in the first boat, which we had put in at waters edge and reloaded - the bear must have heard us coming and took off just before we came into sight.  There was some mud on the food bag, which was in that canoe too, but nothing bur the daypack had been messed with - couldn't figure out what had happened until a bit later, paddling down the lake I reached for my water bottle - it was empty! - had 4 holes in it from the bears canine teeth.

Mad_Mat wrote on Oct 20^th, 2016 at 7:51pm:

and that daypack had all our paperwork, including our wallets -

"I'm sorry, Mr. Patrol Officer, I don't have my homework I mean park permit. A bear ate it."

At least four bear sightings over maybe 6 trips (all to Quetico).  All were while paddling, seeing bears in the water or on shore.  Never up-close.

I have had a few up-close encounters on adventures elsewhere.  While car camping, as we were loading the car to get underway in the morning, a bear strolled through our campsite completely ignoring us (food/kitchenware had already been stowed in the car). Another time what sounded like two bears wandered into our campsite (everything stored in bear-boxes) and we could hear them breathing from inside our tent.  My wife and son encountered one on a likeside trail on Glacier NP (while I and my other son were paddling down the lake).

30 trips in Q and 5 bears inside the park while camping or paddling, not counting cubs with mom. Probably more on the road to/from trips.

This years Leaf River trip in Quebec we saw 8 during one morning paddle before our lunch stop. Lots of blueberries too. hmmm?
We had head high willows lining the banks, so it made for some nervous scouting.

thanks for the info.

it would be interesting to have answers from every QJ member and plot on a map where they've seen bears, and then of course factor in the month of the year.

Canadian park officials have probably done that, of course, but ...

- kypaddler

Great video!  It's strange how far apart they were swimming.  I assumed most animals with young would stay together on a lake.

One of the cubs from my research-trip-gone-awry tale, photo courtesy of a dude named Joe Munson.

- kypaddler

---

I have made 40 trips into Quetico.  All of them entering from the north.  I saw one bear at the BH parking lot.  But there was a sign warning about a problem bear.  I also saw a yearling swimming across Quetico Lake.  My wife and I saw a pack of about 6 wolfs on the south shore of Quetico Lake.  But I have also seen a wolf a quarter mile from my house and on US 53 on the way to Virginia, MN.

I think there is a causal relationship between seeing bears and how often a campsite is used.  Bear learn about campers and that campers mean food.  After dealing with a few campers they also figure out that campers are harmless.  IMHO the best way to avoid contact with bears is stay away from well used campsites and portages.  I don't use well used campsites and I don't hang my food pack.  After 40 trips I have never seen a bear near my campsite.

Approximately 25 Quetico Trips.  We have seen five bears.  One was a real problem bear.  We had to pack up and leave the campsite in the dark and in the rain.  He would not leave the campsite and would approach within ten feet of us. 

Atwater wrote on Oct 28^th, 2016 at 12:07pm:

Approximately 25 Quetico Trips.  We have seen five bears.  One was a real problem bear.  We had to pack up and leave the campsite in the dark and in the rain.  He would not leave the campsite and would approach within ten feet of us.

Where was the campsite? And if you can remember, where were the other bears?

- kypaddler

I've done 15 BW trips since 2009 and I've seen only one bear - in our camp.  The story is in the trip report, which you can find here:   (You need to Login or Register

It's on the second page.