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Bears
and Food Packs - Are We Overreacting to this Problem?
By: Richard Munn
Based on recent forum postings and discussions I have had with
other paddlers, it seems to me that we're becoming a bit
obsessed with protecting our food from bears. In thirty years of
wilderness canoeing, I have yet to lose a food pack to a bear
(touch wood). I lost a package of cheese to the local deer mice
once, and have dealt with some pretty aggressive raccoons, but
never a bear. Is this a unique situation? Am I just lucky?
Perhaps it's because I don't often paddle in heavily used parks
where the bear population has become habituated to the presence
of paddlers and adept at relieving these same paddlers of their
food, but I don't particularly find the bear problem a serious
one. I have to ask myself if we're getting a little carried away
with this.
In part, this is probably due to our natural fear of bears.
Despite the fact that bears for the most part don't hurt people,
we still recognize that they are big, wild creatures and they
have all the necessary equipment (teeth, claws) to do us serious
damage if they so desire. Of course, many people who spend time
worrying about bear encounters don't give a second thought to
marching up and patting a strange dog on the head, even though
statistically speaking, that dog is much more likely to hurt
them than a bear is, but that's another whole issue.
Over the past few weeks, we've had questions posted on the site
about two new products. One is a submersible food pack. The
theory behind this pack is that you weight it down and store it
underwater by your campsite, thus eliminating any odours that
may attract bears. The second product is essentially a
drawstring bag made out of Kevlar fiber, which is supposed to be
tough enough to be impenetrable to a robbery attempt by a bear.
I'm not questioning the efficiency or quality of either of these
products. I'm sure that in a test situation, they work just
fine. I am wondering though, if they are a solution in search of
a problem.
In typical fashion, I think that we are trying to come up with a
high-tech solution to a problem when there may be an easier way
of handling it. We're appearing to be trying to use technology
to compensate for care and cleanliness. In my opinion, there are
a several basic things we can do that will prevent nearly all
bear problems.
Obviously, the most important is to be diligent (almost
fanatical) about keeping a clean campsite. Avoidance is always a
better tactic than actually having to deal with a problem. When
it's time to retire to the tent, there should be no food left
lying around that may attract bears. This means leftovers from
supper, GORP or other snack food, food scraps that may have
fallen on the ground during meal preparation, garbage in the
fire pit, dirty cutlery or even dishwater containing food
particles.
Second, we should try to eliminate all sources of food odour. We
have recently begun to carry our food in plastic barrels, and we
don't use these barrels as cutting boards or food preparation
tables. I believe these barrels are a much better choice than
food packs because of the airtight seal.
Third, food should be stored some distance away from an
established campsite. It seems to me that bears are creatures of
habit, and will check the most likely source of food first. In
nearly all cases, this is the fire-pit / kitchen area. If they
don't find anything there, they are going to wander off in
search of their next free meal. Hanging food packs is certainly
a reasonable option, but we are also adopting the approach that
a clean, properly sealed food barrel can sit on the ground in an
out of the way, distant area without significant risk.
Finally, I believe that we should be a bit aggressive about
protecting our food from bears. The line that defines the
pecking order between bear and paddler seems to be moving. Who's
the boss? In most cases, there is little doubt that it's the
human. Many of us have discovered that a bear's natural tendency
in an encounter situation is to turn and run. The majority of
bears can also be driven off by a bit of yelling and pot
banging. I say "the majority of" because bears that
are not driven off from an illicit meal quickly learn that they
can help themselves to whatever they want without consequence. A
bear that munches on the contents of a food pack while the
rightful owners of that food stand quaking in the distance
quickly realizes that he has moved himself up in the hierarchy.
We may not win every time in a bear-human contest over the food
pack, but we have a duty to make the experience as unpleasant as
possible for the bear.
I am certainly not recommending that anyone try to march up and
smack a bear on the butt with a paddle to drive him off.
However, I do believe that if a group of six paddlers emerged
from their tents and caused a major ruckus, most bears would
probably give some sober second thought to the wisdom of trying
to get a free meal from that particular campsite. By doing this,
we elevate ourselves a notch in the bear-human hierarchy, and we
are doing both the bear and future campers a real favour.
Richard Munn is the webmaster of the Canadian Canoe Routes Site.
Now that he has written this editorial he fully expects that the
forces of irony and poetic justice will kick in and he will lose
his food barrel to bears on his next canoe trip.
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