Defend your food barrel?

In the 15 years (most years had 8 weeks of trips) of the Wabakimi Project, the 2-60L food barrels were always kept under the rain tarp where the cooking/eating was done. We never had any bear or animal problems. The garbage bag was also kept under the tarp. Sometimes Uncle Phil even cleaned fish at the campsite. I was surprised that we never had any problems with animals. We usually had a fire burning while the campsite was occupied, with Phil stating that when resident bears smelled smoke they associated it with wildfire and vacated the area. Perhaps the remoteness of the area and lack of contact with humans explained the lack of trouble.

The one time that I had my food taken it was by raccoons in the Cape Sable area of the Everglades. There were no suitable trees for hanging and I don't think it would have gone undetected wherever if I stashed it on the ground. We kept the food by the tent and spent the early part of the night constantly chasing them away until we finally fell asleep. In the morning we found that they got into our soft sided cooler by unzipping it. They got our bread items and spilled out our coffee but were unable to get into the hard sided cooler that had the lid tied down. I kept our two 5 gallon collapsible water jugs (raccoons steal your water there) in the boat which was anchored off shore about 50 feet. They remained safe, but I didn't like the idea of leaving the boat in the water like that as I feared it may float away if something went wrong.

I think the biggest factor contributing to food theft by critters is when they are habituated to finding food at campsites. The more remote I am the less I worry about it.

jdeerfoot said:

In the 15 years (most years had 8 weeks of trips) of the Wabakimi Project, the 2-60L food barrels were always kept under the rain tarp where the cooking/eating was done. We never had any bear or animal problems. The garbage bag was also kept under the tarp. Sometimes Uncle Phil even cleaned fish at the campsite. I was surprised that we never had any problems with animals. We usually had a fire burning while the campsite was occupied, with Phil stating that when resident bears smelled smoke they associated it with wildfire and vacated the area. Perhaps the remoteness of the area and lack of contact with humans explained the lack of trouble.

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Just got back from 2 weeks in Wabakimi and for the first time ever I just kept the barrel under the tarp. A couple of interested chipmonks but that was it.

Keeled Over said:

Just got back from 2 weeks in Wabakimi and for the first time ever I just kept the barrel under the tarp. A couple of interested chipmonks but that was it.

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Nice to hear you made it back! There was a news article about a bear mauling in Wabakimi while you were a way and it had us a bit nervous.

Alan

Surprised no one has suggested borrowing Mem's big white cat and tying it to their food hang/bag/barrel/box?

They ... spilled out our coffee...

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That's a declaration of war and I'm coon huntin' the rest of the trip.

Alan Gage said:

Nice to hear you made it back! There was a news article about a bear mauling in Wabakimi while you were a way and it had us a bit nervous.

Alan

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Yes, we had heard about the mauling from our pilot, Noah. According to him, the guy tried to run from the bear, resulting in a lost foot race and about 400 stitches. I have not seen the article though. It was funny - we saw a bear and a moose on the drive up, and 3 bears driving back down. One snowshoe hare at the outfitters. Nothing bigger than a chippie for 14 days. On the other side, not a single human in 14 days.

I had one notable bear encounter in Wabakimi this spring. I did a trip in from the west side. As I approached a portage around some rapids, a bear popped up from some thick trees on the opposite side of the stream. It looked at me for a second, I gave a yell, and it scurried into the woods. Good bear I thought, and proceeded to make my first carry. Upon returning to get my second load the bear was back. I gave another yell and whacked the canoe a couple times but it took a few steps towards me. Time to go! so I quickly hoisted the canoe and moved down the trail, knowing that I would hear splashing water if it decided to come my way.

I shoved off after loading my canoe and paddled over to the inlet of the same stream to make a few casts. Looking up, there was the bear, or I assume it was the same bear. I had planned to camp nearby, but that made me change my plans and paddle on down river to find something else. I then realized I had invaded the bears fishing grounds. Earlier I had seen spawning suckers in the shallow rapids. The bear must have been sleeping off a big meal when I disturbed it.

On my trips to Wabakimi I see lots of black bears. On this trip I saw 6 or 7 on the drive from Savant Lake to my put in and 5 more out on the trip of 10 days.

Mark

Thanks for the comments on Wabakimi as just started researching for our first trip there scheduled for this early fall and bear concern has been one of my questions as don't remember the last time I've hung a food pack. Instead I cover ours with a thick trash bag which is tucked tightly underneath and then the whole thing is tied up with what appears to be an old, plastic, jump rope as we all know bears are incapable of breaching trash bags or manipulating jump ropes. We then place it a number of paces away from the tent in a site-line from either of the doors so we don't have to guess if a bear is making that noise or just a chipmunk.

It depends on the animal... Check out the following video - especially the caption at 19:25.

The one time I had a black bear problem we did chase him away by making noise and throwing rocks at him. We were on an island and it was apparently his home as he wandered into camp in the broad daylight, climbed a tree and started chewing on the rope the food bag was tied to. We yelled and threw stuff until he came down and wandered off and then we moved to the mainland - never saw another bear the rest of the trip but did hear folks screaming and yelling on that island a few nights later. Haven't hung since and now I almost always have a dog with me and I have never had a bear in camp when a dog was along.

Blukanu said:

Reminds me of a stand up comedy bit from Mike Birbiglia , not word for word but something like this. “The experts say if a bear attacks you it’s best to just play dead. The bear will lose interest and go away. Ok….what if it doesn’t? What if it keeps eating me? At what point do I abandon that strategy?”

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This actually happened to an experienced woman hiker, I think it was in the Adirondacks. She did as recommended and the bear started eating her, first one shoulder and then the other. She had a radio with her and after the second shoulder decided to move a bit - breaking protocol - and radioed for help.

She was flown out and had to be fitted with prosthetics to replace her shoulders.

This was some 30 plus years ago, when it was thought black bears did not attack people without provocation. Her report is that she was stalked by the bear for some time before it attacked her.

Edit: I tried to find information on this with a google search and this was the closest I came:

Geologist Cynthia Dusel-Bacon lost both arms after a black bear attacked and tried to eat her in the Alaska Range in 1977. She survived only because she was able to use a radio to call co-workers for help.

The link no longer works. This quote was from an Outside article. So that would be 45 years ago. Memory is not so bad after all.

I just saw my first black bear of the season on Hwy 527 after leaving Armstrong ON on my way to Thunder Bay after a Wabakimi trip.

Should I be surprised that no one is carrying a firearm on their wilderness trips? Not only would it provide protection but could provide food if you're stuck in the wilderness .

The few bear encounters I've had have been during hunting seasons and I had a high power rifle with me so I was concerned but felt better than without it.

kbobb said:

Should I be surprised that no one is carrying a firearm on their wilderness trips? Not only would it provide protection but could provide food if you're stuck in the wilderness

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Unfortunately, lost all my firearms in a tragic boating accident.

Something to consider is whether or not bears are hunted in the areas you camp. That will often set the dynamics if the bears see humans as predators or prey.

it’s cool and all to get an up close wildlife encounter, but its always unnerving to me when a wild animal shows no fear or respect towards humans.

Erica said:

Geologist Cynthia Dusel-Bacon lost both arms after a black bear attacked and tried to eat her in the Alaska Range in 1977. She survived only because she was able to use a radio to call co-workers for help.

The link no longer works.

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Here is a video report of the attack on Cynthia Dusel-Bacon. If the details are accurate, it's truly frightening. The struggle and eating seems to have gone on for over an hour. Cynthia's life was saved, but she lost both arms and had to adapt to life by using prosthetics and her feet.

Erica said:

This actually happened to an experienced woman hiker, I think it was in the Adirondacks. She did as recommended and the bear started eating her, first one shoulder and then the other. She had a radio with her and after the second shoulder decided to move a bit - breaking protocol - and radioed for help.

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Protocol, as far as I know, is to play dead if it's a grizzly and to fight back if it's a black bear.

lowangle al said:

Protocol, as far as I know, is to play dead if it's a grizzly and to fight back if it's a black bear.

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Correct. Playing dead too soon (and never for a black bear!) can get you hurt. I've investigated two black bear "attacks" that were precipitated by the victims falling to the ground prior to any contact being made. Always stand your ground until contact is made--for grizzly, play dead (unless it starts eating you, then fight--nothing to lose); for black bear, fight back.

It may be incorrect but I've heard the only circumstance to "play dead" when it comes to black bears is when a mother is protecting her cub(s).

Alan

There is a recent podcast with Phil Shoemaker, an Alaskan fishing/hunting guide who had to shoot a brown bear off of his fishing clients. He has many years of outdoor experience in Alaska and been around bears for decades. It is interesting to hear him recount this event.

Jump to 15:30 of this podcast to hear his story.