Bears
Just a couple of months ago we had a "once in a lifetime" experience in Glacier NP. In 40+ years of hiking in Grizzly country we never saw any bear while actually hiking. But this time, while on the h...
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BadgerMcAdams wrote:
Several years ago, my father was the maintenance guy at the Monument Lake Camp Grounds outside of Trinidad Colorado. We would go up and visit during the summers. At night around 8:30 or so dad would hop in the pickup and go out on bear patrol.
The first time I went with him, I thought he was pulling my leg...Until we round a bend in the road and there is a black bear, batting around an Igloo ice chest like it is a soccer ball. The lid comes open and all the food, ice, beverages, etc come spilling out like a Carnivore Slot Machine. The bear just got a bite of something and dad stuck the barrel of his 12 ga. out the window and popped a round of rubber bear shot into the backside of the bear. It jumped and took off for the brush at about Warp 6.
We got out, collected the debris and cooler, and continued the patrol. I asked about the shells and he said that the ranger would drop off a box (25 shells) about every 2 weeks or so. The rubber pellets don't penetrate (unless it is point blank - 10 feet or so) but sting like hell and run the bears off.
The people took their cooler back, they wanted to show it off to their friends. The bear had bitten into the cooler and had ripped the plastic with its teeth...I have pics of it someplace. Will see if I can dig them out.
Never underestimate wild things...Because in the wilderness, you are no longer at the top of the food chain.
Coolers are nothing for a bear. Heck, cars aren't even that much of a barrier. I was camping at the Mt Whitney portal and we saw an Isuzu Trooper with the passenger door peeled back like a can of sardines. Turns out the owner had not followed the warning posters and had left a bag of tasty cashews in his vehicle. The bears put their claws in the rubber gasket at the top of the door and pull down, the glass breaks and they climb in and get their snack. That same trip we had a black bear about 3' from our tent, luckily the neighbors dog started barking which had that bear moving at warp 6. Like Florida the California black bear is relatively small averaging about 100lb less for males than those in the west and midwest.
