Bears and garbage
Hi all We are taking our first trip to northern Canada and Alaska this year. We plan on doing some boondocking, not sure how much but we want to be prepared. I’ve seen and thought of several differen...
Forum Discussion
The bear bell idea has been debunked, if anything tests have shown that bells mildly attracted bear who are curious by nature like most omnivores.
"In the most advanced testing, bear biologist Tom Smith jingled bear bells in varying volumes in front of brown bears in Katmai National Park. Regardless of how vigorously he shook, 15 different sets of bruins ignored the bells. And yet they snapped at attention the second he broke a pencil in half. This isn't 100-percent proof that bears don't respond to bear bells; Katmai bears are known for being relatively non-aggressive. But it means that in this specific case, the bells failed to warn and change my behavior as intended."
Backpacker mag.
"In the most advanced testing, bear biologist Tom Smith jingled bear bells in varying volumes in front of brown bears in Katmai National Park. Regardless of how vigorously he shook, 15 different sets of bruins ignored the bells. And yet they snapped at attention the second he broke a pencil in half. This isn't 100-percent proof that bears don't respond to bear bells; Katmai bears are known for being relatively non-aggressive. But it means that in this specific case, the bells failed to warn and change my behavior as intended."
Backpacker mag.
