Question on bears

[Dive_Guru]

Quick question, when you guys go camping with your boat, do you ever put the cooler in the boat and moor it off shore in say 10ft of water? Worried that if I do, the bears will swim out and get in the boat.


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[Talking moose]

Take a rope and throw it over a branch 12-15 feet up. Tie your cooler to it and tie it off when you are away from camp and at night.

[mikeym]

never heard of that ever happening. don't even know if bears are good swimmers or not, never really ever heard of bears swimming at all, just foraging in shallow water.

[Crankbait]

bears are amazing strong swimmers, but talking moose gave best suggestion.

[GWS]

What is the best way to keep bait cool for a week without power?
Anyone used dry ice? Or know where to find it?

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by GWS

What is the best way to keep bait cool for a week without power?
Anyone used dry ice? Or know where to find it?

good question. About all I can think of is in the lake or dig a hole down in the nice cool earth.

[newguy]

Originally Posted by GWS

What is the best way to keep bait cool for a week without power?
Anyone used dry ice? Or know where to find it?

Dry ice won't last for a week, 2 days at best.

[GWS]

Originally Posted by Talking moose

good question. About all I can think of is in the lake or dig a hole down in the nice cool earth.

I was thinking ziplock everything inside and burry cooler in rocks in the creek

[Talking moose]

Originally Posted by GWS

I was thinking ziplock everything inside and burry cooler in rocks in the creek

That could work. Or dig a hole the same size as the cooler, plop it in and cover with a few spruce boughs could also work. Either way keep it away from camp if your in bear territory. It's not easy defending your cooler on a dark moonless night...

[elkdump]

Originally Posted by mikeym

never heard of that ever happening. don't even know if bears are good swimmers or not, never really ever heard of bears swimming at all, just foraging in shallow water.

A couple years ago I watched a sow Grizzly with 2 spring cubs hanging on her rump hair swim across the Liard River near Watson Lake , the River is about 1km wide and very swift with endless swirling rapids, took them about 20 minutes, continues swimming,

All three made it with no problems,

Bears are excellent swimmers,

Next time a bear is chasing you for a quite snack,

Just jump in a lake,,,

[catnthehat]

Yup Bears swim very well, gave seen them in the middle of the Athabasca before .i wouldn't keep a cooler in a boat if I valued the boat!
Cat

[elkdump]

Recently a Grizzly tried to , and succeeded I believe, to crawl up on a charter skiff with several persons on board, broad daylight fishing in the ocean near the north end of Vancouver island ,,,

IIRC the bear got dead for his efforts,,

[KegRiver]

I just got back from a fishing trip where we camped in tents for three days.

We've been doing it for years. Only once did a bear come into camp. It never touched the coolers, they held only ice and drinks.
All our food was canned or dry, or frozen.

It did help itself to some cooked fish left by the fire. That woke me up but by the time I got out of my tent the Bear was gone.

Putting your cooler in your boat, no matter where you anchor that boat, will not stop a Bear. We've had them chew on empty boats.

Besides a determined bear is next to impossible to stop. And they are superb swimmers.

The best you can do is keep a clean camp, try to reduce food odors as much as possible and keep all food containers away from sleeping quarters.

I've seen where bears have broken into cars and campers. I've seen them pull down food containers hung from tree branches.

Hanging food items from a tree branch can discourage some bears, other will just hang around longer.

We keep our coolers on the outskirts of camp and keep camp clean.
A bear dog can help but aside from that, knowing where bears like to travel and at what times of year, does more then elaborate schemes to thwart them.

My bear advice, avoid if possible, reduce attractions as much as possible, and sleep soundly. Most bears want no more to do with you, then you with them.

[scel]

Originally Posted by mikeym

never heard of that ever happening. don't even know if bears are good swimmers or not, never really ever heard of bears swimming at all, just foraging in shallow water.

We see black bears swimming across choke points in lakes in Northern Sask almost every trip. And by 'choke point' I mean less than 1000m across. Not only can bears swim, they are extremely good at it. Other than a polar bear, I do not think bears are necessarily comfortable enough in the water to hunt without being able to put 2 feet firmly on the ground (like salmon fishing), but I certainly would not put it past them---especially if the food is not fighting back. They are tough smart creatures.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by GWS

What is the best way to keep bait cool for a week without power?
Anyone used dry ice? Or know where to find it?

I heat up boulders by the fire and put them in a pot with pea gravel when it's cold in the tent or the van to take the bite off the air. soze I'm thinking if you found three decent 10 pin bowling ball sized boulders and kept the in the deep freeze for a week then put them in a big cooler leveled out with pea gravel or sand or dry soil, I'm sure that really heavy cooler would keep a pretty decent temperature for your bait.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by scel

We see black bears swimming across choke points in lakes in Northern Sask almost every trip. And by 'choke point' I mean less than 1000m across. Not only can bears swim, they are extremely good at it. Other than a polar bear, I do not think bears are necessarily comfortable enough in the water to hunt without being able to put 2 feet firmly on the ground (like salmon fishing), but I certainly would not put it past them---especially if the food is not fighting back. They are tough smart creatures.

polar bear trivia; can swim at a constant rate as fast as an Olympic swimmer [yikes] and can dive to 30 feet [double yikes]

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by KegRiver

I just got back from a fishing trip where we camped in tents for three days.

We've been doing it for years. Only once did a bear come into camp. It never touched the coolers, they held only ice and drinks.
All our food was canned or dry, or frozen.

It did help itself to some cooked fish left by the fire. That woke me up but by the time I got out of my tent the Bear was gone.

Putting your cooler in your boat, no matter where you anchor that boat, will not stop a Bear. We've had them chew on empty boats.

Besides a determined bear is next to impossible to stop. And they are superb swimmers.

The best you can do is keep a clean camp, try to reduce food odors as much as possible and keep all food containers away from sleeping quarters.

I've seen where bears have broken into cars and campers. I've seen them pull down food containers hung from tree branches.

Hanging food items from a tree branch can discourage some bears, other will just hang around longer.

We keep our coolers on the outskirts of camp and keep camp clean.
A bear dog can help but aside from that, knowing where bears like to travel and at what times of year, does more then elaborate schemes to thwart them.

My bear advice, avoid if possible, reduce attractions as much as possible, and sleep soundly. Most bears want no more to do with you, then you with them.

I've heard that pouring Clorox bleach around eating areas before bed is a good deterrent, kinda like the mothball idea with mice. harsh to their nose

[Encephalophagous]

Originally Posted by Crankbait

I've heard that pouring Clorox bleach around eating areas before bed is a good deterrent, kinda like the mothball idea with mice. harsh to their nose

Pouring chemicals is more likely to cause harm to the environment. I would stick with keeping food in a locked vehicle or using bear lockers or bear hangs where applicable.

[Tannerdog]

It's almost impossible to "hide" your food or bait from a bear. When I was a teenager, a friend and I were lean 2 camping up Coal Creek near Fernie. We had a bag of our dry food hung from a tree branch about 20' above the creek. As it was hot out we didn't want to leave our perishables in the warm air so we buried an unopened pack of hot dogs and some cheese in a zip lock in the creek. We had it buried in rocks in about 1 foot of water. Could not see it at all. Next morning we got up and our hanging food was untouched (though lots of tracks around the tree) but everything we buried in the creek was pulled out and ate. Still can't figure out how she found that other than by smell as we waded out about 10' from shore to stash the food underwater.

[saddleup]

The only fool proof bear protection method I know of is as follows,,,,,

Dig a hole 4 ft wide, and 4 ft deep'

Start a huge fire in the pit you dug and let it burn down to ASHES

Take some garden peas, and carefully place them in a ring around the perimeter of the pit.

THEN WAIT FOR THE BEAR.... when he comes to take a PEA, simply kick him in the ASHHOLE.

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by Encephalophagous

Pouring chemicals is more likely to cause harm to the environment. I would stick with keeping food in a locked vehicle or using bear lockers or bear hangs where applicable.

Your encephalitis sounds like it's pushing your brain a little to hard against your skull.

around the areas where you have eaten your food, not left your food overnight.

[Marty S]

To keep bait, meat food etc in a cooler, make lots of block ice, bigger the better and more the merrier. We to go salmon fishing for a week plus drive so 11 day trip and throw ice away at end of trip when we got home. The coolers are those big coffin coolers from Costco. For a big trip, doesn't hurt to have one cooler of block ice and a second cooler for food and goodies. Freezing in milk jugs is OK but freezing big blocks in Tupperware containers and bagging and freezing more is best. Square/rectangular is best to eliminate air space, air is your demon. So is water, drain it daily.

No need for million dollar coolers???? Maybe they help, great if your a millionaire

[Crankbait]

Originally Posted by Marty S

To keep bait, meat food etc in a cooler, make lots of block ice, bigger the better and more the merrier. We to go salmon fishing for a week plus drive so 11 day trip and throw ice away at end of trip when we got home. The coolers are those big coffin coolers from Costco. For a big trip, doesn't hurt to have one cooler of block ice and a second cooler for food and goodies. Freezing in milk jugs is OK but freezing big blocks in Tupperware containers and bagging and freezing more is best. Square/rectangular is best to eliminate air space, air is your demon. So is water, drain it daily.

No need for million dollar coolers???? Maybe they help, great if your a millionaire

We do a two cooler method too, one for ice and then the other cooler. we also lined the inside of the cooler with one of those emergency tinfoil blankets and figured we get an extra two days of ice life. never tried wood chips, might this year