Study: Bear Canisters in Yosemite

[balzaccom]

I have seen plenty of bear where there are few people. Being away from popular places is no reason to not expect bears.

That may be true, but we have seen way more bears in public campgrounds than in the backcountry.

[Wandering Daisy]

Perhaps you see more bears in campgrounds because habituated bears are bold; you actually may see the same bad bear over and over again. Unhabituated bears in the backcountry generally avoid people, so you have to be looking for them, way in the distance, scooting away. The exception are mothers and cubs, which instead of scooting away will stand on hind legs and challenge you while they send their cubs up trees. All the bears I have encountered have been while hiking during the day. I have only had a bear raid my camp at night once, in the Wind Rivers, not in the Sierra. I did wake up one morning camped on the Merced River below Merced Lake, bear teeth marks on a tube of toothpaste I had left out accidently. But the bear never bothered me, cowboy camped nearby.

Goes to show that any individuals experience with bears is anecdotal, not a true survey of where bears hang out. I rarely see bears in campgrounds because I rarely camp in campgrounds, LOL! All the years of requiring bear cans has lead to less habituated bears in the backcountry, thus I see less as time goes on.

[mrphil]

We see bears all the time. Their populations obviously taper off above tree line and where food isn't, but I don't even think about it and lost count a long time ago. Probably the highest I recall was about 11k-ish, just making tracks to somewhere else while following the berries ripening. We don't bother them, they don't bother us.