Go to your bulk food store and get a big jar of cayenne pepper. Powder that barrel with it every night. I don't think a sensitive nose would like that. Like a bear spray, only cheaper and more proactive.

I've said this before but I'll say it again...the best defense against bears is to be careful with your route and campsite selection.  Stay out of areas known to have problem bears and check each potential campsite carefully for bear activity.  This is easier to do in Quetico where there are fewer problem bears and (usually) fewer problem campers who may have stayed at a site before you.

Beyond that, I prefer to camp on smaller islands (less reason for a bear to even bother to check it out, unless he's learned there is sometimes food to be had), out on the tips of long peninsulas with lots of open water around, and avoid necked-down areas where bears might choose to make an easy crossing of a lake.  Bears can and will swim, but prefer to walk.  Take advantage of that.

Other than that, keep a clean campsite, fillet fish away from camp, and seal up your food.  I don't have too many illusions about odor these days.  Odor-proofing isn't bearproof, but it can't hurt.

As you said, prouboy, whatever seems to work.  Proving a negative is hard..."bears can't find my food if I follow [insert your system here]".  It's like trying to prove Martians don't exist.  Just because we haven't seen any isn't any kind of proof at all. 

Study the "enemy" and know his habits.  Design your system around that, knowing nothing is foolproof.  It works until it doesn't work.  You're never more than 2 days away from civilization so you won't starve.  You just might have to end a trip early due to another of the many hazards in the woods. 

Life is a calculated risk.  It goes much better when you know more variables in the equation.

Actually islands, especially the smaller ones in spring are bear magnets since that's where moose like to calve. The one that ate my gas can had an earlier fight with a cow over her calf.

After their argument, she saw me and stopped only long enough for her calf to catch up didn't care one bit I was standing on the path and just kept coming. She walked around my tent and right through the middle of my campsite, calf in tow. I just scrambled to get out of her way. She kept an eye on me with a wild look I'll never forget.

The bear followed them until it found me and decided to try his luck on something smaller. He didn't give up so I left the island and went a couple hundred yards to the closest mainland to repack and have breakfast. As I began unloading I see that darn bear swimming right towards me. So I load up again, grab a few rocks and paddled out for a meet and greet assuming he couldn't catch me in the canoe, I made it as unpleasant for him as possible. He had a bad morning overall. I figure I gave mama moose an hour or two head start.

Anyway... I walk around a lot. Dug up ant hills occur just as frequently on islands as mainland in my experience. I came across a shredded green pack on Rawn and a blue pack on Lookout Island (Pickerel) once and that's in the middle of nowhere. I think they don't really care how they get where they think a meal might be waiting.

Now I remember, too much fun reminiscing... I've had three other instances on mainland where just letting 'em know I was there, got one out of camp as I returned and the other two just kept on moving. Neither came back to my knowledge.

As a human that applies human traits to all creatures, if I were a bear that took the trouble to swim out to an island, I'd be harder to shoo, considering I'd have to swim all that way again on an empty stomach with nothing to show for my effort.  

Mad_Mat wrote on Mar 23^rd, 2009 at 7:11pm:


All good thoughts, starting with the basics of a clean camp.
I worried about the "portage robbers" my first solo, double packing leaves the food pack vulnerable, and taking the time to hang it, didn't seem very feasible.
 Being a inventive type guy, I bought a personal safety (jogger) alarm and adapted it for a pack alarm. As IC will attest, its very loud and shrill. At the size and weight of a deck of cards, its worth it for a little extra piece of mind. Would be good for emergency signaling device, NOTHING in nature sounds like that, so should attract attention?
Attached to the food pack, I can't imagine ANY critter being able to tolerate its high decibel screech right in its ear
 IF it could, it must be old and deaf, and needs the food far worse than I do