Black bear destroyed our tent

[herc883]

So this happened this weekend. On my parents land on the Battle River near Donalda. Has to have been a black bear. They are not something you see often around here but there have been reports of them around lately. There are muddy paw prints and claw marks all over it. There wasn't any food in or around the tent. We actually only set it up a month ago and nobody had even cooked or slept in it. Hasn't been stayed in or cooked in since last fall. Looks like he had himself a good time at least.

[mudbug]

That sucks

[Newview01]

6 years ago we had a black bear try get in our tent about 50 miles west of Ft McKay. At about 2AM. There was 6 of us sleeping in there.

[Red Bullets]

Trail cam time.

[NCC]

Looks pretty suspicious to me. I would think once the bear was in or out it wouldn't continue to tear the tent apart. In particular the roof. Surprised to hear of bears around Donalda.

[herc883]

I too thought it was suspicious... first thought was vandals but there are claw marks all over it and paw prints. Looks like he spent the majority of his time working over the stove flap area. A guy actually shot one in the area a few years ago after it had destroyed some bee hives. I have cameras down there but not watching the tent... they're looking for big white tails.

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[^v^Tinda wolf^v^]

Glad to hear you weren't in the tent. Too many bears pushing the boundary these days.

[silverdoctor]

Just goes to show that bears can be arseholes too...

[58thecat]

Too bad, a tent with the smell of cooked bacon over the years must have drove him nuts, could be potential issues with this bear now.

[Sooner]

On a draw year, my wall tent gets set up in late sept, leave stove and pipes in but not set up and misc junk. One basic haul in, one out at the end of Oct. Each trip in between we bring in the other stuff. Tent is a long way from the road and hidden in the back of a old cut block.

One time we come back to hunt a week after setting up, claw tears and a bite mark in the side wall, teeth and paw marks on the tarp. Lucky it was minor. Next trip I patched it but there has been a bear tag in my pocket ever since. Never seen it or had evidence of it coming back. But now sleeping in the tent is a bit less solid. Need to do the electric bear fence.


That's some serious damage. Have to say that bear went to town. Sucks to come and find that.

[Big Grey Wolf]

You guys got away lucky. The last bear that went into our tent ate every can of food, ate the can of Raid, ate can of bear spray, but really went over the line when he drank our bottle of whisky.

[takeiteasybird]

I had a similar experience 3 weeks ago. My friend and I went scouting in one of our usual hunting spots. As we were driving, dark clouds were rolling in so once we got there, we decided to set up the tent (I had a hammock and tarp) and then head out for the afternoon scout.

Once we got back I noticed that one of my poles was broken on the tent but didn't see any other visible damage. I fixed the pole with a repair sleeve and didn't think anything of it. Later on after we ate, my friend decided to go in the tent and realised the whole back side of the tent was shredded, his mattress had a chunk missing out of it, and his sleeping bag and blankets were pulled out of the tent and spread out in the bush behind.

We had a good laugh afterwards by the fire as it seams the bear just came in camp, destroyed the tent for fun and left.

The bear came back the next day as were having a fire in camp. He was a shooter if it would have been the season - they can be very curious...He didn't seems to concerned that we were there...

[bullgetter]

Curious if the door was open? I was always told to tie up the front door open when you leave camp for awhile. Bear can walk in and know where to walk out. If they push their way in they will freak out and claw there way out.
I bought an outfitters tent at an auction one time from an outfitter. Auctioner and owner himself told me it had only been used once. I could not open it up at the auction because of all the mud. Got home and laid it out on the lawn. It was shredded from front to back by I can only assume a bear. Door was still tied up closed. Cancelled the check and left the tent on the outfitters doorstep.

[wolf308]

Idk about the black bear. Looks like a classic example of dirty mike and the boys !

[herc883]

Got the bear.

[New Hunter Okotoks]

Originally Posted by herc883

Got the bear.

Nice work!!!

At least you don't have to worry about it coming back while you're in it.

[crazy_davey]

Originally Posted by herc883

Got the bear

"The bear"

I bet he is not the only one around...

[3blade]

Good job!! I was moose hunting by the battle river last year, came across more than a few trees with claw marks. They're not as rare as you would think.