Oh dear, if you're going to stash don't stash near anything you need.

kypaddler wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2011 at 3:01pm:

Just like you don't have to be the fastest runner in the group, just not the slowest!   

was he butterflying or breast-stroking?



oh, my point was not that a bear can't get to an island but that water creates a natural distance barrier.

1 -- a bear is less likely ("less likely," not "absolutely unable and unwilling") to make the effort to cross that barrier without motivation, i.e. some food smells. As in, you're less likely to get an accidental visitor that happened to be in the neighborhood and decided to drop by.

2 -- that barrier creates distance that mitigates (again, we're talking percentages) the chance that weak food smells will reach the bear's nose. 

And yes, I know they smell great distance and travel great distance ... and I know that "educated" bears will cruise campsites. Of course, from all the chatter on this forum, my sense is that that happens more in BWCA than Quetico.

-- kypaddler

But shoot, I bet watching that bear swim WAS an eye-opening experience.

Quote:


I have long wondered about this. As one with lot of experience in the water, doing something like fighting in the water is nothing like fighting on land.  Leverage is all different. This is not to say a bear woul not be effective but they might not have the same comfort level. So I would expect they would ned higher motiviation to go after a swimmer, a motivation that probably be lacking.

I also think although they migt be fast, they are less agile than a human in water. So a good swimmer might be able to outlast a bear.

All of this is pure speculation.

That gas bottle in the thread I linked to was bitten on an island. On the mainland, they have someplace to go. On an island, one could surmise that they may want to make their trip worthwhile.

The three encounters that were easily dealt with were on mainland. The island bear just wouldn't give up and so finally chased me off. I went to the nearest mainland to repack and have breakfast. I barely had the stove out and I look over at the island and that darn bear was getting in the water. He headed right towards me. So I pack up again, added a few nice throwing rocks and went out to greet him. He never changed direction so I moved a stones throw out of his path. I don't remember if I connected with any rocks but after he got out and shook off he looked back at me, made some sort of exasperated guttural sound, turned and ran into the woods. I assumed he was back on the trail of that cow and calf. I hope I made an impression on him.

Moose calve on little islands presumably to avoid bears but the blueberries aren't ripe yet that time of year. I was once told that Eden island (Quetico lake) Was about large enough to support a bear. One with cubs would need to supplement their diet with camper's food.

In any case if someone were to ask me where to camp based on minimizing unknown bear problems, I'd vote mainland over island any day.