bears

[cheesehead]

has anyone ever heard of or tried using a battery operated electric fence to keep bears out of your campsite.

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Say cheese

[catfish1]

We do not have bear troubles around here. But when we lived in California and would go to the mountains to camp the trick was to make sure everything was picked up and stored properly. Even that little hotdog that was dropped in the camp fire. And then we used a tent so we tryed to clean up good. And it is not that I afraid of a bear ( but do respect them ) but when you have the family along that is a whole new reason to be more careful. later

Catfish1

[Dan Thiem]

Another thing, always do your cooking away from your tent site.

[kwkfsh]

Electric fences are about the only thing that will keep a bear out your camp if he wants in.

A good friend of mine in Alaska has a meat shed at the lodge where they butcher,store and hang approx. 8 moose each fall. It is ringed by 4 strands of elec. fence wire and it will keep the Brown bears out no problem.

You sometimes can see where they have come in looking for the meat, touched the fence and gotten blown back 6-8 feet from the jolt. They get really [PoorWordUsage]ed to be that close to so much moose meat and not be able to get at it. They will sometimes take out their frustrations by digging huge holes in the ground.

You take a charger that will do 10 miles of fence and use it to ring a 30'x 50' perimeter and they really pack a wallop.

BLM & USF&WS camps in AK are usually set up inside portable electric fencing to eliminate bear problems.

[cheesehead]

thanks for the replys guys. A concern that I have is what if the bear gets inside and cant get back out because of the fence. If the USF&WS use them I think I'll be ok also.

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Say cheese

[Seabass77]

Hey kwkfsh, you don't think there [PoorWordUsage]ed because they just got there buts handed to them but some fence? I would be [PoorWordUsage]ed too

[northman]

I would think the fence idea would be difficult since you would have to bring in the fence and battery. When I am done packing my truck is full.

There is one simple method that I have been using for the last 40 years with good success. In the last 45 years I have only had one bear come right into my camp and it was at night and he was only passing by. It was in the old days when My tent had the 4 ropes staked down, one at each corner. The bear bumped into one of them and nocked that corner of the tent down. My wife was scared about it but the bear passed on. Since then no bears too close to my camp. the method is for you the male of the camping group to [PoorWordUsage] around the outer edges of your camp. Spred them out so that you have sented pretty much all around your camp except near the lake water if you are camped right on the lake. Do not have your female members of your group do that however. Just the males. One male doing that is enough. Have the women use the toilet area accessable for your camp. To some animals like a bear. TO THEM, you are marking your area and warning them to keep out. Animals that should respect your boundaries would be: bears, deer, wolves, fox. Animals that might not respect your area would be: Moose, squirrls, chipmunks, rabbits, and other small mammals. Your only concern is the bears. When you go to bed, put your coolers about 10 yards away from your camp but inside your [PoorWordUsage] zone. There is no better method for telling bears to stay away. - northman

[freighttrain50]

i have found over the years that the best way to keep bears out of my campsite is to shoot em. just kidding, just take all of the necessary precautions and everything should be just fine.