Don't use them. I just sleep with my food under my head and a pile of rocks next to me. If a bear comes into camp we just pelt him/her in the face in rapid fire fashion.
If everybody in the backcountry practiced this method there would be no bear problem!
Bear Can, What do you like ?
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Rosabella
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Oh man! I'd NEVER get any sleep!!!
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markskor
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Cmon4aday writes: “Don't use them. I just sleep with my food under my head and a pile of rocks next to me. If a bear comes into camp, we just pelt him/her in the face in rapid fire fashion.
If everybody in the backcountry practiced this method there would be no bear problem!â€
If everybody in the backcountry practiced this method there would be no bear problem!â€
Last edited by markskor on Tue May 15, 2007 7:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Snow Nymph
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cmon4day wrote:Don't use them. I just sleep with my food under my head and a pile of rocks next to me. If a bear comes into camp we just pelt him/her in the face in rapid fire fashion.
If everybody in the backcountry practiced this method there would be no bear problem!
I hope you're not serious!
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free . . . . Jim Morrison
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cmon4day
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Yeah SnowNymph, I can't be serious. I was figuratively speaking. I own a bear vault, I like it better than the Garcia, but don't like the bulk or weight. One advantage is it makes for a good seat for around the campfire.
As far as rocking the bears, I did not make this up. This came from Harold Bassey (sp?) who was the head backcountry ranger in SEKI for over 30 years. His philosophy is defend your food. One of the techniques is to throw rocks at them in rapid fire fashion, not just one or two. And if every encounter with humans was this negative, the bears would shy away.
This technique satifies what Marksor is saying about safety. Both bears and people. When bears avoid people, people are safe, and bears don't get pelted.
So remember, "Rock the Bears!.
As far as rocking the bears, I did not make this up. This came from Harold Bassey (sp?) who was the head backcountry ranger in SEKI for over 30 years. His philosophy is defend your food. One of the techniques is to throw rocks at them in rapid fire fashion, not just one or two. And if every encounter with humans was this negative, the bears would shy away.
This technique satifies what Marksor is saying about safety. Both bears and people. When bears avoid people, people are safe, and bears don't get pelted.
So remember, "Rock the Bears!.
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BSquared
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Cmon, I'm glad you really do use a bear canister! Phew! I completely agree about the rocks -- good medicine for nosy bears. There's a corollary though: if you find the perfect campsite, and next to the obvious place to pitch your tent you find a small pile of pitching-sized rocks ... maybe camp somewhere else! 
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markskor
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"If you find the perfect campsite, and next to the obvious place to pitch your tent you find a small pile of pitching-sized rocks ... maybe camp somewhere else!"
Alternatively, maybe, since the rock pile is still there...no bears showed.
Glad you admit to using a can Cmon; I apologize - however...a few years past, up at Kearsarge Pass, (before the bearcan rules), one night camped above timberline; we stashed our food bags under a giant cairn and slept with one eye open...ready, armed with a granite aplenty.
Sometime in the early evening, the biggest bear I ever saw wandered by, destroying our rock pile...we fired.
The entire party pelted it with boulders...I hit it hard in the chest with a 10-pounder, others too - rapid fire. It just looked at us, turned back to the cairn, and walked away with a food bag.
Alternatively, maybe, since the rock pile is still there...no bears showed.
Glad you admit to using a can Cmon; I apologize - however...a few years past, up at Kearsarge Pass, (before the bearcan rules), one night camped above timberline; we stashed our food bags under a giant cairn and slept with one eye open...ready, armed with a granite aplenty.
Sometime in the early evening, the biggest bear I ever saw wandered by, destroying our rock pile...we fired.
The entire party pelted it with boulders...I hit it hard in the chest with a 10-pounder, others too - rapid fire. It just looked at us, turned back to the cairn, and walked away with a food bag.
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