Staying Safe in Bear Country While grizzly bears are massive, carnivorous animals, reports of their blood lust can be sensationalized. According to the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center, most bears avoid people, and most interactions involve both parties running in opposite directions. Bears aren’t usually after you—it’s your stuff they want. The list of things they find attractive is long: All human food, pet food, and livestock feed Garbage, cooking pots, oils, and utensils Fuel for stoves and lanterns Unopened canned beverages Cosmetics, insect repellents, lotions, toothpaste Bird seed and hummingbird feeders Camping safety is a matter of planning. All of the items listed should be stored where bears cannot get to them: In a bear-resistant food storage box provided at many campsites In a hard-sided vehicle (not a cooler, tent, or popup camper) In a bear-resistant backpacker food cache Suspended at least 10 to 15 feet off the ground and at least 4 feet from each vertical support. Those formidable three-inch-long claws come in handy when tackling enrichment items like this flavored ice block.
the expansion of humans into what was the wild, which can lead to conflict between bears and people,” Hali explains. “The bears require an expanse of habitat to find the food they need to get through the winter. Human land development, oil drilling, logging, and recreation activities can disrupt the bears’ ability to follow their natural food sources.” Coexistence is possible, however, if we understand grizzlies better—and give them some room.
Bear Basics Color would seem to be the easiest way to tell grizzly and black bears apart, but in fact, grizzlies come in shades ranging from a light cream to almost black. No matter what their base color is, though, their fur is always tipped with white or tan: the word grizzly means sprinkled or streaked with gray. Grizzlies are also distinguished from black bears by the prominent hump between their shoulders, a snout that rises more abruptly into the forehead, a longer coat—and those claws! They are formidable, each one reaching the length of an adult human’s finger, and contribute to the bear’s digging ability. “They dig underground for food, and sometimes that ground is hard,” Hali says. Size is another giveaway: male black bears tend to measure 2 to 3 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh at most 300 pounds, while grizzlies can surpass 850 pounds, with a shoulder height of over 3½ feet. Montana and Scout still have some growing to do, but they are good-sized boys now, weighing over 500 pounds. Like bears in the wild, their weight fluctuates depending on each season’s eating pattern.
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Campers are advised to follow all local regulations and, in general, follow these guidelines: Do not sleep in the clothes you cooked in—you don’t want to smell like food! Keep a flashlight and your bear spray in your tent at night. Keep pets leashed. In a backcountry camp, place sleeping areas at least 100 yards away from cooking and foodstorage areas. Avoid aromatic foods such as fish and bacon. Never place food inside your tent. Sleep in a tent, not out in the open. Camp away from trails, berry patches, carcasses, or fresh bear signs. Pack out all garbage and food scraps with you; do not bury them. If a bear enters your camp and behaves in a bold manner, and attempts to scare it away are unsuccessful, get to a safe area. The bear is likely human habituated and food conditioned, and it could potentially be quite dangerous. Report any such incidents to local authorities. And, of course, despite what Yogi always said, keep the pic-a-nic baskets to yourself, and never feed the bears.