Bear's ever been into your camp?

[Founder]

Question of the Day... Have any of you ever had a bear get into your camp and mess with things? Was it while you were there? What happened? Have any of you ever been actually injured by a bear or know someone who has?


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Brian Latturner
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[arrowone4me]

Happened more than once to us on the San Juan a few years back. Archery season. Actually we saw nine bears in one day.

 

[pufftuffly]

When I was in HS me and a friend went backpacking near Cooke City. We were there for a couple days. Let's just say back then I really didn't follow bear protocol and keep a clean camp and such. Anyway we came back to camp from fishing late one afternoon to a sow Grizz and 2 Cubs having their way with our camp. Luckily when they saw us they ran off. We picked up what was left of our camp and hauled a$$ out of there.

Recently had a grizz get into my boat one night and make a mess of things.

A guy I know walked up on a sleeping grizz that he didn't see. It jumped on him, bit and broke his arm, bit a finger off and then luckily it ran off.

Never had any problems with black bears.

 

[rmanwill]

Had bears rip up camp for about three days and totally ruin one army tent. Kept raiding our coolers. Every time we left camp the bears would come in and also at night. We even moved camp once and contacted the fish and game. They stated they would send the goverment trapper up, but never seen him.

Had number of times on San Juan and the back country of Wyoming that we saw bears very near camp, but never had one problem.

Also in Idaho on our yearly bear hunt the bears are always around. Never came into camp that we are aware of, but never caused any problems. We have placed the bear carcass across the road from camp (50 Yards) and had bear come and pack them away (tracks left). We have placed others there and secured them with a Coyote snare and the bear would lay there at night and eat the left overs and ##### right there while enjoying his feast. After that we haul them down the road a few hundred yards.

The bear seem to pretty much avoid people to all my encounters and hunts. That one bear that caused problems was near three camp ground on the Red Cloud Loop area-Vernal and I'm sure he had become accustome to dog food and human food being left out by all the summer campers. Once that happens they seem to never stop.

 

[Vanilla]

Yes, at scout camp at Camp New Fork, many years ago. Our troop was on an overnight canoe trip one night and a bear hit our camp. Everything was locked up in the provided bear boxes, but they were wood at the time and the bear still got in and made a mess of things.

It made for a cool story for a 13 year old at the time, but many years later I think back and realize how lucky we were to not be there that night! That would have been a scary deal.

 

[Soj51hopeful]

LAST EDITED ON Apr-10-17 AT 02:40PM (MST)[p]Had bears in my backpacking camp a couple times hiking here in the sierras. As soon as I made noise they took off. Only had a bear mess anything up 1 time in Colorado at base camp, he was licking the BBQ and knocked it over. We ran him off and he never came back.

I know one guy that got tore up but he shot a boar with his bow and didn't allow enough time to pass. Went walking up on the bear and got mauled pretty good. A couple other drunk dumbasses I know tried to catch a cub by hand and it ripped them up.

 

[Pooner]

Been there done that grizzly dance, not in camp though. Luckily it wasn't as horrible as it could have been cost me a month of the beginning of my moose hunt while I was in recovery though.

 

[Soj51hopeful]

Pooner more details!!!

 

[schoolhousegrizz]

I had several black bears come into our elk camp in Wyoming. One in particular tore up some stuff including a tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bags, food, etc. I'll let grosventrehunter tell you the details of how that went?My dad had a Grizzly climb into the back of his truck and break into the cooler in Idaho. I actually love seeong bears, I think it adds to the advenrure.

 

[Deerlove]

I had one in Co bite my jetboil so hard I couldn't get the fuel canister out.

 

[Nebraskahunter]

We were truck camping on an elk hunt a few years ago in Colorado and left the BBQ out over night, my brother in law was woke up by his vehicle moving side to side and the BBQ getting moved around. After a cup of coffee and a good laugh we started up the trail, after about an hour I checked our back trail and had a lion following us 30 yards away. We both locked eyes with him and he decided to sit on his haunches and stare at us. He eventually slipped off into the timber and left us wondering were he would return. I'm pretty confident I can out run my brother in law so I wasn't to worried!

 

[SlinginLead]

Several years ago, I was part of a big group camping at Whiskey Town Lake in Shasta County. One night, a very large cinnamon black bear strolled into camp. It ended up going into one of my brother's campsite. As we were all watching him from 20 feet away, he stood up next to my brothers food locker, and in one swipe, knocked all his cooking equipment, etc. right off the locker. While that was happening, 2 rangers pulled up, accompanied with a civilian witness. One ranger proceeded to shoot the bear in the ass with a sling shot and it quickly ran off. The rangers then told everyone they would be back later that night to take the bear out. Around 3:00 A.M., we hear a gun shot from the next campsite.
Apparently, the bear had swatted a kid in the head in the previous camping group, and also was lying in wait next to the trash bins, where is swatted a trash bag from a women.
The rangers just happen to show up when the bear entered our site, to warn us about a problem bear. Talk about timing.

The following year, at a campsite at Lake Shasta, the rangers got a call one morning that a bear was in camp. When they pulled up, they asked where was the bear, and everyone pointed to a tent. When they opened it, the bear was licking a women's face while she was in her sleeping bag. The women had put a strawberry flavored facial cream on that night. I don't think she will ever do that again.

 

[rutnbuck]

Had several encounters. Almost a weekly occurrence in the Yukon. Mostly ended some what peaceful. Had one come through a window I was sitting next to, in an additional room we had built on a camp trailer.
Don't know if I will ever forget any of them. However one sticks out as a thrill. In Ak working in a mining camp. We had a trailer house for a cook shack. The cook a gal with two kids a baby and one about 2-3. Well she was cooking breakfast with her kids in the kitchen. She had walked out of the trailer to fetch something out of a freezer that was behind the trailer. She had left the door open. When she came back in there was a blackie in the kitchen with her kids. I didn't see it but most of the guys could hear her screaming and took of running down to see what the matter only to see her chasing the bear across the tundra with a fry pan. Apparently she walked in seen the bear next to her kids. She grabbed the frying pan swatting the bear and chased it all the way to the back of the trailer and back to the front and out the door. Rutnbuck

 

[elkassassin]

> Had several encounters.
>Almost a weekly occurrence in
>the Yukon. Mostly ended some
>what peaceful. Had one come
>through a window I was
>sitting next to, in an
>additional room we had built
>on a camp trailer.
> Don't know if I
>will ever forget any of
>them. However one sticks out
>as a thrill. In Ak
>working in a mining camp.
>We had a trailer house
>for a cook shack. The
>cook a gal with two
>kids a baby and one
>about 2-3. Well she was
>cooking breakfast with her kids
>in the kitchen. She had
>walked out of the trailer
>to fetch something out of
>a freezer that was behind
>the trailer. She had left
>the door open. When she
>came back in there was
>a blackie in the kitchen
>with her kids. I didn't
>see it but most of
>the guys could hear her
>screaming and took of running
>down to see what the
>matter only to see her
>chasing the bear across the
>tundra with a fry pan.
>Apparently she walked in seen
>the bear next to her
>kids. She grabbed the frying
>pan swatting the bear and
>chased it all the way
>to the back of the
>trailer and back to the
>front and out the door.
> Rutnbuck


I Always like to hear Rut talking about the AK Bear Stories!









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[elkassassin]

Been Closer to a few of them than I wanted to be!

Had to Throw one a Samich once!

Another 'Guy' I know decided Baby Bear was going Home with Him!

All Fine & Dandy until Baby Bear was in a Gunny Sack & Started Squealing!

Mamma Bear showed up in .2 at Mach 5 & it wasn't Perty there for a while!

Them Cubs sure are Cute when they're little!(((And Not in a Gunny Sack!)))









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[hank4elk]

LAST EDITED ON Apr-11-17 AT 08:03AM (MST)[p]Yep,BB, in the Sierra's & on the coast.
Had packs broken & torn into & food was up in a tree.Had food in trees taken too.
Had my cabin broke into twice,neighbor got her before I did.We were sleeping on decks in wait...lol.

 

[eelgrass]

Bears were a way of life in my back packing days in northern California. We never suffered any major damage, but one bear did one year. You can only go so long without sleep.

 

[feddoc]

Never had a bear in camp.

In 2003 had a wolf in camp. Southern Colorado.

 

[RINK]

I was in camp with rmanwill for one of those episodes.. I was still a drinker back then, so it was interesting trying to explain to my Dad that " A bear really did tear your Army tent up Dad" and "No, we didn't drive a truck through it all boozed up" Although I was the cause of it, and learned to not open up a 7-11 tin package of sweet rolls, eat 2 of them and leave the other 4 in the package sitting on my pillow.. Bear crushed 3 Army cots, then ate the rolls on my pillow.. Hard life lesson, but, all food and trash get slung up trees since then.. LOL

Rink

 

[bugleb]

Spent a summer in Island Park cutting fence poles while a teen. Had a bear rip the back door off the camper and make a mess inside. Dumped bags of flour and sugar all over. It even bit holes in the matress on the bed. Later, we left a wall tent pitched with a wood box of food inside the tent while we hauled a load of poles home. Came back and tent was ripped top shreds, box was broken apart, food cans had tooth holes all over in them.

San Juan Elk Ridge bow hunt had a huge bear in camp one night while camped in a tent. It was so big looked like an angus bull with short legs. Eyes looked a foot apart in the flashlight. Waited until it got in front of the truck and then jumped in the truck and chased it out of camp. It keep coming back all night about every hour. My wife could hear it coming on the bare dirt road. I told my wife that it probably wouldn't return, but the next night, we saw a smaller bear headed toward our camp just before dark. My wife slept in the cab of the truck that night. The next night, she wouldn't stay on the mountain. I had to leave her at a motel in Blanding. If any bears came around that night, I slept through it.

A few days later, after I went home, my tarded friend got a buck and was at camp working on it on the tailgate of his truck a little after dark. A bear came right up behind him and scared the crap out of him. He chased it away, but it came back several times and was more aggressive and harder to chase off each time it camp back. He finally shot it with his bow, while holding a flashlight between his knees, and ended up getting into some trouble. The judge told the DWR that he had done them a favor by eliminating a problem bear, so he just got a very small fine.

 

[2lumpy]

I've told this one on MM forum before so let's see if can keep my emblishmenfs the same.

My son and I were float tube fishing a small lake near Cameron Lake, in Waterton Park in Alberta. We"d hiked in about 500 yards., carrying out tubes over our shoulders. It was sprinkling rain so when we got to the lake, I took my brand new, gotex lined, top of the line hiking boots off and put them in a plastic sack, and sat then on a little bench next to the lake and proceeded out into the lake to fish.

A while later we noticed a black bear walking down the shore line in our direction. Cool! A bear is allways a treat to see for us desert dwellers, from Utah.

Bear disappears into the brush and pines.

A bit of time goes by and we're focused on rising fish. Eventually I look over, toward the little bench.

S0B!!!! That bear is up on the bench, chomping on the plastic bag with my new boots still in it.

I let out a beller, like I was gut shot, and off goes the bear..............with the sack..........and my boots.

Long storry short, a hiker found my boots, but they was no longer water proof. Let's just say they got sampled and there was ample evident the Cool bear had done its best to devour them.

Question, could "you" justify shooting a bear for stealing your boots, leaving you bare foot in the back country. Hell, we used to hang guys for stealing a horse! ?

 

[MrSafari1]

Was hunting out of a small spike camp in BC, guide told me that they were having bear trouble. Bear showed up in the middle of the night and wanted in. Broke open the door and entered. Guide finally woke up when my 300 mag blew him back outside! Some bad habit's die easy!

 

[DIY]

Had two Grizz encounters on the same back packing trip into the Teton wilderness one year. The first was we had a camp set up near Robbers Roost on the Yellowstone river. Came back to camp one day to find a grizz going through my things outside of the tent. I just happen to see her before she seen me so I just sat back and watched her for a while. She was very interested in all the cooking equipment. She sniffed the tent a couple of times but never tried to get in. Now mind you if she would have tried to get into the tent I wa prepared to fire off a couple of rounds to scare her off. Lucky for me she just eventually wandered off. Later that day I spoke with one of the outfitters that had clients close to us and he said that the bear came into his camp while they were fishing and pretty much destroyed there cook tent.
The second encounter on that same trip was while I was fishing on the upper Thoroughfare river close to the park boundry I rounded a bend in the river and came face to face with a boar grizz. Well I couldn't say which one of us was more startled. Not wanting to seem like an easy meal I held my ground and slowly unholstered my .357 mag. After a tense couple of minutes the bear decided to just move on to a different part of the river, as for me a beat it back down the river. The rest of the trip I spent just as much time looking behind me as I did looking out in front.

 

[mntnguide]

Dealt with the humpback variety in the wilderness plenty..i was sleeping less than 100 yards from the trail cam in my wall tent this night... had one walk within feet of my head a different time as well at night, nothing like hearing the breathing and knowing a thin piece of canvas is all that separates you.

 

[Gator]

Eat up a elk that I had quartered and pulled up 10' in a tree they chewed the rope where I had put my bloody hands.

"I have found if you go the extra mile it's Never crowded".
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[bugleb]

My uncle had a ranch in British Columbia that was crawling with bears. Once he was mowing hay and his tractor broke down on the far side of the meadow. Before he reached the house, a bear chased him up a tree and bit his foot.

My good friend was camped at Yellowstone Meadows and had a bear in their camp one day when they came back from fishing. They spooked the bear and it climbed up a tree that they had a horse tied to. It was tied with a strong rope, and couldn't break it, but the poor horse had a neck about two or three inches longer by the time it was all over.

 

[devobrodie]

I have had several here in CA, Eastern Sierras, one stole a deer we had hanging, went through everything in camp, got between a guy sleeping on the ground and his truck, crunched a small fold up table, that's what finally woke us up! When he made the noise he ran under a guys lifted land cruiser and hid, the guy rolled over and was face to face with the bear! both made a big noise and went in opposite directions. A different trip, we had killed a couple of bucks on opening day, and that night we had cooked up some salmon put the left overs in by big 150 qt ice chest that I keep under by tent trailer, a large bear decided that he wanted some fish and lifted the ice chest and spilled everything. He stayed 40 yards outside my trailer all night, I kept shining the flashlight out there every bit, I had a bear tag and was tempted to get out my bow and try and get him with a flash light just so I could get some sleep!