Camping with Bears

My parents were visiting Bearizona today and it reminded me of this story...

Camping and Bears is almost a given.

But there are many things you need to understand about bears to ensure your, and their, safety.

Before we arrived to camp & hunt one year in Eagle, Colorado, we were told that there was heavy bear activity around the area and that we needed to take extra precautions with our food and clothing. Everyone was to place their trash in the main dumpsters every night and the ranger would pick them up and take them to the main shed across the main road from the campground.

MY RULE #1 with Bear Safety - Leave them alone - usually they are just looking for food. Which you should always have locked up in a bear-tight container and inside of your car.

We had the pop-up and my parents and their friends all had fifth-wheel trailers. We knew they would be fine, but knew that we were just in a tent on wheels.

 

Only a day or two into the trip, one of the friends we had met at the campground over the years of staying there told us to come look at something.

We all went over to their bus, which was converted into an RV. A bear had smelled the food from their refrigerator (which was inside their RV) and tore a hole into the metal from the outside. Now I’m not a scientist, but I think metal is stronger than tent fabric, right? LOL!

This made us all realize the sheer strength a bear has. It also made me start sleeping in the middle of the pop-up. Like that would help me, hah! – it’s only about five feet from the edge where a bear could easily rip through the tent fabric of the bed area! Still... it made me feel a bit safer :)

 

Having witnessed all of this, my mom made sure to tell me to be very careful on the mountain while hunting and to watch out for my dad. She wanted us to stay together and not separate as we have done a bit in the past. I found out from my dad later in the day that she told him the same story, “Watch out for Debbie...” So, understanding the bear activity, my dad and I did just that, stayed by each other during this year’s hunt.

 

One day, we returned to a mountain we’ve hunted in years past. We headed out in the dark and up to about 11,000 feet. This was the farthest we had been away from the camp, but knew that everyone who had hunted this area always saw a lot of elk. As we were heading up in the dark, just before sunrise, my dad had to use the restroom. I held his rifle and he was around the corner by a trough. As always, my eyes are constantly scanning the distance for whatever animal we are hunting, and those we are not, such as the bear that were in this area. With both rifles in hand, I spotted five elk at the top of the hill. It was not a safe or legal shot as they were on the edge of the hill and the sun wasn’t quite up.

But as my dad has taught me, we never want to spook anything out of the area. They may well come back down that mountain later when we are ready and it is safe to take the shot.

After my dad finished his business, he walked over to me. He could always tell when I had a bead on something – he looked in the same direction I was looking, as I didn’t make any movement to hand him back his rifle. I knew the elk were off in the distance now and told him what I had just seen.

Knowing we just saw elk and didn’t spook them, we decided to setup on the opposite hillside. We found a nice area of three good-sized trees in a circle. We setup in between them so that my dad could face one way, looking 180 degrees, and I could face the opposite way, looking the other 180 degrees. Our gear had a nice place to sit in between us, readily available, but not in our way.

 

After sunrise, but still early morning, I turned to the left, just about my cross over point of my dad’s view, and saw something dark and big running through the trees.

To this day I still cannot confirm to you it was a bear, but my eyes have been trained to know animals and what to look for in the wild (my dad noticed it too). This had to have been a bear! Just about 100 yards from our stand.

The feeling was so eerie; only those who have come across a bear in the wild can understand how I felt at that moment. I proceeded to quietly inform my dad, and we both kept our eyes in that direction for quite some time. I can’t say that for the rest of the day I was elk hunting; I was probably bear watching more than anything, especially in that direction.

Of course, this made for a great campfire story that night.

 

The next day, after dinner, we saw other campers gathering around a couple of rows down in the campground. Our friend, Dorla, had broken her ankle and was on crutches that year. So we hoped there was nothing wrong with her. We saw she was participating in whatever was going on there.

It appeared they were really interested in something, so my dad and I headed that way. Much to our surprise, they were all staring at the large bear getting into the trash dumpster! He was no small bear, and after about five seconds I said, “What are we doing here? We should be inside your fifth-wheel, dad.”

 

And, I swear the exact words out of my dad’s mouth were, “We don’t have to run faster than the bear, we only have to run faster than Dorla.” LOL!

Now, I’m sure we’ve all heard that statement jokingly used on television shows and in movies, but when you’re actually in that situation, I felt somewhat safe and yet felt bad for Dorla at the same time.

After a few minutes of watching the bear forage the dumpster, we decided we’d better head back to camp. Of course, when we were around the campfire and told my mom, she thought we were crazy to even go look. Since we knew the bear was in and around the campground, everyone decided to get inside their trailers early that night.

So, back at our campsite, my husband flared up the fire as we were in the last spot on the outside of that row of the campground. We would be the first to encounter the bear.

As I didn’t want to stay outside, I headed to bed, in the middle of our pop-up. 

After a short time, I heard a scary growl. My husband quickly opened the pop-up door and quickly shut it tightly again. He said the bear was just outside our campground and he realized he only had a stick of firewood to protect him. With that said, he stayed in the pop-up and slept with his loaded pistol right next to him. We didn’t even chance walking over to my parents’ campsite to get inside their metal and larger fifth-wheel trailer.

MY RULE #1 with Bear Safety - Leave them alone - usually they are just looking for food. Which you should always have locked up in a bear-tight container and inside of your car.

MY RULE #2 with Bear Safety - Remove any clothing you may have been wearing when cooking and eating at a campfire - bears will smell that and think it's food. And, it's a good idea to keep those clothes with the food, inside your car.

MY RULE #3 with Bear Safety - Always have protection! Whether or not you are a gun person, have something to protect yourself. Again, the bear doesn't want to hurt you (usually), so bear spray is a good option as well.

Moral of the story - you really do just have to run faster than the other person to get away from something as dangerous as a bear.

Camping Safety Tips: Part 2 – Camp Fires, Wild Animals, Dangerous Activities

Camping provides a great temporary escape from the stresses and dangers of suburban and urban life. However, the camping experience is fraught with its own set of dangers. The wise camper must take these into account and prepare in advance how to make safety in the woods a high priority and counter the inherent risks.

In part 1 of this two-part series, we looked at safety related to food preparation, preparing clean drinking water, and how to minimize the risk of illness from ticks.

In this second part, we will now turn our safety focus to properly handling camp fires, avoidance of wild animals, and giving caution due consideration while walking through any wooded areas.

CAMP FIRES

For many people, the thought of sitting, talking, or singing around a camp fire lies at the heart of the outdoor experience. No fire, no fun. However, a fire handled improperly can lead to inadvertent disaster. So safety is of the essence.

When starting, enjoying, and later putting out a fire, use common sense.

For example, if you are camping when the weather has been dry for a lengthy period of time, it would be safer to skip the camp fire altogether. This issue itself may actually influence your decision on selecting a time to camp.

Additionally, only build fires in camp ground provided areas, such as fire rings. Otherwise, clear out a small area in your camping site, and place rocks around a circle to set the parameters for your fire. Within the circle, dig a hole several inches deep for the wood you will burn.

If you have not brought your own wood on the trip, gather wood that is already dead and lying nearby. Make sure that any leaves close to the fire pit are raked several yards away and that there are no paper products lying on the ground. Throw those in the trash.

Once the fire is started, let it build slowly with smaller twigs and dead branches, only placing larger pieces of wood on the pile as the flame grows. Make sure small children remain several feet away from the flame, as the heat can become intense while it grows. And they certainly should not be close enough that they could slip or trip and fall in.

Tennis Shoe tip - if using a Fire Ring - metal will get very hot - hot enough to melt the rubber of your tennis shoes - I can't tell you how many of our camping friends have done this - LOL!

Never leave a camp fire unattended. When leaving the area (say for a walk) or going to sleep for the night, extinguish the flames.

And finally, when you are packed and ready to leave the campground, use a lot of water to douse the flames, saving your clean drinking water when at all possible. If you think you've used enough water, double it! Stir the ashes with a shovel (a MUST have if you will have fires while camping) and use more water until the remains are cool enough to the fingers.

Here is a good fire shovel that saves space - we've had ours for years and love it as if you're backpacking, it can be tied to the outside of your pack. It also has a pick which comes in handy in various situations.

And, if you are in an area with trees, be sure to look outside the camp fire to see if there are any possible root systems that have caught fire! This one was a surprise to even us, experienced campers - years ago, as we were putting out the fire (continuing to stir and add water while we were packing), we saw smoke about 20 feet from the fire pit! The fire pit must have been attached to the root system of the nearby tree - luckily, we always pack AFTER we have put out the fire so that we can continue to check and make sure it is out - OR this could have been a disaster!

WILD ANIMALS

Most people do not encounter wild animals when camping in the woods, certainly not up close and personal. But that does not mean they are not living in the habitat and posing a quiet danger to humans. It can definitely be entertaining to spot them from a distance, not to mention serving up great snapshot opportunities with a raccoon, deer, or even a bear. However, in such a situation, distance between you and the animal is one of your best friends.

Never (ever) attempt to feed an animal you encounter. It is not your pet dog or cat and may attack! That is an instinctive response. Even if you make no gestures that seem threatening, the animal may interpret it that way.

If a wild animal approaches you, back away slowly and do nothing to invite its approach. Depending on the type of animal, cougar or mountain lion, for example, teach kids to make themselves appear taller by taking their jacket or shirt and raising it above their head with their arms.

Minimize your risk of an animal encounters in the first place by wrapping all food securely and putting it away when you have finished eating. Then throw away food-related trash in camp provided trash receptacles.

And, always - always have a weapon to defend yourself! In my over 50 years of hunting, fishing, and camping, I have always carried a knife for safety - but NEVER had to use it - Better to be prepared and have that knife and not need it!

PERILOUS ACTIVITIES

There is nothing quite like a long, quiet walk in the woods. Remain on paths that have been designed for walks. Use common sense.

• Refrain from hanging on tree branches. Old, dying, or thin wood can easily snap off.

• Avoid walking close to or leaning over steep cliffs, whether they are primarily rock or brush. It would be easy to slip or lose your balance. A subsequent fall could be disastrous.

• Do not attempt to conquer gravity in the opposite direction either. That is, refrain from climbing steeply angled rocks. You are on a camping trip, not a mountain climbing expedition.

• In the winter, never walk on frozen water. Regardless of surface appearance, there is no method to assess how thin and weight-bearing capable the ice may be.

As you can see, the camping experience is not a danger-free zone. The great outdoors certainly provides compelling motivation to seek quiet time with nature. But this activity cannot be done with reckless abandon. In fact, making safety in the woods a habit actually assists with maximizing the many positives of the camping experience.

Camping Safety should always be top priority as it gives you piece of mind and ensures you have a fun camping trip!