Boo!

Agreed........

I can't help but laugh at myself now. I spent years on the trapline with all sorts of scents in my packbasket and never gave bears a second thought. Coyote gland lures and beaver castor up the wazoo. 10 hours a day for months at a time and never seen a bear in either Washington state or the U.P. of Michigan. Maybe it was because I was always on the move.......I dunno.

As my pals Maltese dad would say...."Ignorance is blist"

[quote author=mastertangler link=1320010375/12#12 date=1320169862]Agreed........

I can't help but laugh at myself now. I spent years on the trapline with all sorts of scents in my packbasket and never gave bears a second thought. Coyote gland lures and beaver castor up the wazoo. 10 hours a day for months at a time and never seen a bear in either Washington state or the U.P. of Michigan. Maybe it was because I was always on the move.......I dunno. [quote]

Or perhaps the bears were hibernating.  Helped my grampa check his traplines back in the ol' days.  Typically a late Nov-late March gig.  Then again, that was in northern WI, not the UP.  I recall seeing something from the WI DNR about bear numbers over the past couple years

Mad_Mat wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2011 at 11:40am:


good one Mat............
Winter time is tough. 9 below and 2 feet of snow shut me down my last year in the U.P. of Michigan. Oct, Nov, Dec were my favorite months in the U.P.

In Washington you could go lower and stay running all winter although I did don some skis to try and catch Martin (with zero luck) in the higher elevations.

Without delving into the morality of trapping (I am torn and understand both sides) I can say without hesitation it was some of the best years of my life.

Here is a funny one........I was working at Mt. Rainier National Park as the night watchman during the winter and would run my line during the day (outside of the park of course). I had some coyote urine mailed to me. It arrived at the tiny post office inside Paradise Inn (Paradise Washington....A tourist mecca at Mt. Rainier) Unfortunately the parcel arrived slightly damaged and the odor permeated the lobby. They couldn't find me fast enough!!  

Quote:


I'm thinking that if your going to be a " Hider", you might want to stash the packs in the woods, not under a expensive canoe?
A smart bear might flip the canoe off to get the packs, a inexperienced one might decide to just paw their way into the prize.
Sorta like tearing up that old log to get to the grubs inside
I believe someone here either had it happen to them or related it from another canoe site?
Bad enough to lose your food, even worse your "ride"