Hacksaw, I think you'd worry more about polar bears (if you're that far north). I met a guy once who lost a member of his mining expidetion team - the cook went outside for some firewood, and a few hours later someone went to see where the food was. Found a shoe near the wood box.

Either way, I've only met black bears while in CA. The Yosemite ones are relatively tame, but most of the backcountry ones were pretty shy. Never had an incident where they got closer than about 15 yards, thank goodness.