Mosey
With due respect to my ursack and such using friends... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I Have probably actually hung my food in a tree or other place to keep bears away maybe ten times in my life. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> I have camped hundreds of nights in bear territory with either - my food in my pack inside my tent, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />or my pack inside the tent and the food tied 6 feet off the ground to keep out chipmunks. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />I have NEVER lost food to anything but a chipmunk. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I will kill to defend my tent, pack, or self. I keep my spectra pack in the tent, always have. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" /> [This was meant to be a joke] sorry <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Bears are not only extreme scavengers, they are very inteligent animals and there are other ways to deal with bears. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> Bears do not come into my camp. The closer a bear gets to your food, the more it becomes his food, so you have to keep bears out of camp. Also bears are cat burglars who will sneak up, grab an item off a picnic table, and run away and eat it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Oh and bears do relate to having things thrown at them, <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />unless you actually hit them with it. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif" alt="" />Hit a bear with a pan years ago, he took off at 50mph and kicked the pan about 100 feet, found it in the morning.

I go out maybe 50 yards from my tent and examine the terrain. If a bear approached my tent, how would he get there? Then I locate major trees along that path and urinate on them. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />I create a "circle" of maybe 5-6 marked trees around my territory, and the bears seem to respect it. Oh and I bang on a pot and scream "Hey I'm camped here you stupid bears", <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />just so they know a human is around.

I know a place in the Sierras that is home to a huge bear (or it was years ago) and I used to solo off trail and camp in his home area. I have marked my area and slept with the food in my pack in my tent. Around 8 in the morning I heard him walk past my tent. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Ten minutes later I was dressed and out of the tent and he was mabey 100 yards away eating some old dried up berries on a bush. Suddenly I spooked him and he ran one way, and ten minutes later I made time going in the exact opposite direction. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Jim <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />