Grizzly Bears and the species of bear called Brown Bear are not in most of the lower 48 states. They have them in the Northern parts(Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming) and the Rockies. Do not know have far East they go along our Northern border.
But in the rest of the United states when you see a Brown Bear it is as a Species actually a Black Bear.
We camped in an Arizona campground a few years ago where a black bear would come to camp every day at 3:00 pm. At 2:30 All the men would get togeather and run it back up the mountain. This July at Durango we had a black bear visit every morning just before daylight. These were more novel than dangerous. When I camped the wilderness areas had several bear encounters. I guess I have been lucky never had an agressive bear encounter.Never the less any bear visit should be taken serious. Use the precautions listed above and you will be ok.
Thanks for all the tips, hints and stories everyone. I've gotten more info than I imagined I might and hope they keep coming. In my previous small amount of researching this subject, I had read about the food and making sure it was kept in bear proof containers, but had no idea about the shampoos, toothpastes and such, thats really good info.
I also followed the link tatest provided which gave more valuable information. It looks like once i finally get to go in some of these areas, I just need to heed these precautions and things SHOULD be ok, but with a bear, guess you never really know. I have especially appreciated the hints about the dogs and how to proceed with them. The dogs I have are what you might call "country dogs" as most of their life they had free range of the woods where I lived because I was far enough back in the woods that I didnt have to worry about neighbors and such, but now that I'm a full timer, they have had to make some adjustments, just like all of us who travel in this way. We currently stay in state parks and private campgrounds for the most part, and are always on a 6ft leash, i dont really trust those long recoiling leashes either, especially with my larger dog, who while if you were walking along beside her on the street, would barely notice you, just dont try and come into the camper, because she protects what she thinks is hers, so it would be her more than likely that would show aggression if she saw a bear, because shes used to the squirrels and rabbits running away from her, so I'm not quite sure what she would do if something started running towards her instead of away, and if she was on the leash, as much as I love my dog, it would be every man and dog for him/herself at that point.
The Black Bears where I live run from my Labs on a regular basis. They are frequently in my yard and when i let the dogs out they get the scent and off they go with the Bear hightailing it out. I have never seen a Bear stick around and get aggressive with the dogs, that doesn't mean that they won't someday.
I did have a Bear go in my freezer that is in the garage and take out a package of Deer Sausage. He enjoyed it on the neighbors lawn while the dogs slept inside, where were they when you need them. I had to let that Bear know that he was not welcome around here, otherwise he would have thought it was his own feeding trough.
2006 Chevy HD LBZ Duramax/Allison
2006 Holiday Rambler Savoy 30sks
Having camped in bear country a few times in tents and RV's here is what we have learned. I keep 2 things with me while in tents, a 44 with solid bullets and an air can boat horn. They do not like loud noise so the horn blasted at them has works well. We have done it twice to chase them out of our camp. The 44 is more for comfort, having been woke up in the middle of the night by my wife to the words of "Wheres the gun?" and then spending the next 10 minutes listening to the bear snort, breath and make all kinds of noise next to our tent it was nice to have the gun there. In the morning when we got up we found the bear was less than 10 feet fro out tent thanks to my brothers that left a ketchup bottle out. Did not have the horn that time. Also I have been told by many rangers that if you have a dog in your camp most of the time the bear will stay away from your camp and visit someone else. I have taken my huskeys camping many times and have never had a bear visit us while they are there. I always keep them on a leash and under control.
One other thing, in California camps like Yosemite and Sequia they do not want you to put any food in your car at night. They want everything out including old wrappers, even gum wrappers. The bears will pull the doors right off your car. All food goes in the bear lockers. They are fine with you keeping it in an rv for some reason the bears do not bother with the rv's. This includes all cooking items like pots and pans. Now having camped in Yellowstone it is just the opposite, they have you put eveything in your car and cover it. I spent one night in canada camping and watched a bear walk up to the table in the camp next to us to a metal coleman cooler, took a couple of smells and then put a paw on each side and crushed it with one push. It just exploded. That bear ate well.
I spent a summer in Alaska and when we hiked we carried a 303 british rifle with us. Only saw 2 bears while walking and the bells on us or the dog we had alerted the bear and they were running from us by the time we saw them.
So just be smart when near the bears.
An important point about bears is that they need to eat bear food to live through hibernation. If they are not full of bear food, they will die. People food will decrease their chance of survival by a considerable margin.
So............being careful about food makes the bears stay healthy and stay away from us. Some rangers feel very strongly about this and write big tickets for poor food management. They really don't like killing bears that have gotten too aggressive because of free food.
Bill and Susan
84 Barth 30 tag powered by ht502/Thorley, Gear Vendors OD
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I had wondered about one of those air horns as I was reading thru these. Sounds like before my 1st trip maybe I should get one of these and some bear spray and bells
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