Found this on the internet and initially thought it was funny, then I though "hey, that could be my food bag!!!!".

Then I thought, "samhain, you goof. When was the last time you saw a bear in the wild?"...

Bear on a Rope...

What are the anchors on that line? What's the test of the line?

Looks staged.

The way I see it, the bear goes through tha much trouble...well, he can have whatever he is after...

He was only after bird feed there. Imagine how persistent he might be for meat. People forget that bears are just walking garbage cans...

"Irving! IRVING! Leave that stupid bird feeder alone! You look like an idiot up there, what will the neighbors think? Come on, I've got a noseful of raw steaks in a cooler at a campsite over the rise. IRVING, DID YOU HEAR ME?!"

Samhain--you got it!!.the last bear i saw in the wild was running up a hill.he even left the fish he was working on when i paddled by..i think most people get there bear/wild animal information off the covers of old Outdoor Life magazines.
having said that i still hang high..it's many-many days back to the landing.



your in more danger slipping on a root or tripping a rock and busting something than any rampaging bears.

A good site with material on bear behavior,
http://www.bear.org/website/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=100001

There are just a couple of cautions about it.
Bear, and any other large animals, even including deer, are capable of doing a lot of damage and you can never really be sure how they will react in any situation or at any time.

Remember that and give them the respect which they deserve. Respecting them means having a healthy sense of caution, it does not mean unreasonable fear or abject terror.

Respecting them also means taking steps to keep the bears out of trouble. Things like not baiting them into your camping spots by leaving your leftover food laying around.

I see bears around fairly often, but in the woods they are usually moving away and you are more likely to step in a steaming pile of bear crap on the trail than to even see a bear's big butt going over the hill.
It is the ones that have gotten used to people and come into towns or camps looking for food that worry me the most.

Since the spring bear hunts were stopped in northern Ontario there have been many more bears in contact with humans. They have become quite bold about entering towns to raid the garbage bins.

PS. Bear on a rope looks like a cub of the year and the worry is more about where Momma is.

Bears are highly intelligent and they learn pretty quick that campsites are pretty interesting places to look for food. I've read stories where they've learnt that at the other end of any rope is dangling a bag of goodies, break that rope and the goodies fall down... Enter bear canisters. Last story I've heard, a small, elderly bear in Yellowstone specalized in opening those. Hopefully she's not passing that skill to other bears.

For the best interests of both people and bears people should make their campsites as uninteresting as possible, but given humans capacity to learn from other peoples mistakes I am not exactly optimistic... It takes only a few idiots to educate bears into campsites = fun & food, and it's really hard to undo that learning.

something to think about survival wise is that you will most likely not be trying to survive in a well used camp ground or near a trash dump but in some sort of "outback" where the animals are not used to people and will run or stay away from your shelter. my buddys at bwca.com are pitching tents in places where a fishing party may have been camped for several days,leaving fish bits and grease around the fire place.which is why i "go deep" into back country lakes..but if your in a real survival deal your problem is not people around attracting bears but no people around to save you.

here in california, in many areas, hanging food is not an acceptable manner of food storage - persistent bears will get their food.

some of the hard canisters (1) stored well away from the campsite, and (2) your food preparation area kept well away from your sleeping area have been found to be best.

the bears learn fast.

CANOEDOGS- I would go higher, or that picture may be misleading.

OP- Cool picture and I've heard of that happening. Sometimes we hang, and sometimes we put stuff under our vehicles depending if we are jeep camping or not. Obviously they acn get into stuff under the jeep, just makes it a bit harder and easier to yell at them to run before they get nito it

"...you will most likely not be trying to survive in a well used camp ground..."

You can be caught in a survival situation ANYWHERE! A well-used campground in summer isn't necessarily a well-used campground in early spring or winter.

Good reminder,Susan.

Awwww, Mom!!!

(Irving climbs down rolling his eyes and hoping mom doesn't see him do it....)

And those are the best times to use said campgrounds

Nice to have the entire place to yourself, and it cost $0.

Agree the "shoulder seasons" are often the best times to be anywhere outdoors.

Problem with lax bear precautions is that, however the short-term may inconvenience humans (or worse), the bears pretty much always face death as a result of most interactions with humans.

just as a side note, that photo was taken at a camp on Lady Boot Bay in Northern Minnesota that was the site of a bear attack some years ago.a bear attacked a solo camper who was part of some sort of outward bound program.that person got into the lake and the bear did not follow.it then ended up miles away at Boot Bay and jumped a guy who was by the shore.the bear was driven off by a fellow camper using a paddle.by this time the rangers were on the lookout and found the bear in a camp once again miles away and shot it..the bear was discribed as sickly.at the canoe site i post at i'm known for finding lost or hidden camps that don't get much if any use.unlike the big "fishermans" camps which are used every day and where there is lots of cooking and attract bears,mice,even ravens and seagulls.but like i said i think of survival as lost in the woods or injured where the chance having someone find you is remote..



this is the only "bear" i saw in many-many years---

Thanks for the info about the picture and the bear attack.

I understand what you are saying about how you think of survival situations.
My interpretation of survival situation is a bit wider in scope I guess.
To me a survival situation is being in any position that places my life at risk. That means anything from toxic spills, power outages, getting caught in a storm, fires, accidents,...the list can go on a long way and even includes getting stranded in the bush.

The thing is that we don't get to choose where or when TSHTF.
You could slip in the tub, break some bones and find yourself in a survival situation right then and there, especially if there was nobody handy to hear you fall, or prepared to act even if they did hear you.

IMHO the biggest part of survival is not getting yourself into survival situations if you can help it.
That is why I prepare and equip. If I am prepared and equipped for getting stranded overnight in the bush then it is just an extra overnight camp or two instead of a survival situation.