When you are camping out in the wild there’s a good chance of running into wild animals. Hopefully, you run into small animals like squirrels and not big animals like a bear. If you do see a bear at your campsite you need to be prepared and know what to do to keep your family and yourself safe and also keep the bear safe.
When you are camping the last thing you want to deal with is a bear up close rummaging through your campsite. These bears are wild, strong, and dangerous so you need to keep a distance when you encounter them.
Bears can be found in a lot of the states. If you plan on camping in Alaska then you will see polar bears, if you camp in other states you will likely see either grizzly bears or black bears.
What should you do if you encounter a bear? You should keep your distance but do not run away from the bear, have bear mace or other items you can use to protect yourself if the bear charges at you.
A good rule to keep the bears away from you is to keep your campsite as clean as possible so bears don’t show up at your campsite looking for food. This article will go into more detail on what you should do if you encounter a bear.
What Kind Of Bears You Might See?
There are three types of bears in the wild that you might see depending on where you camp. If you plan on camping in Alaska, you are most likely going to see polar bears. Camping in other states you are most likely going to see the other two kinds of bears, the black bear, and the grizzly bear.
In North America, you can find black and grizzly bears in Idaho, Northern Canada, Wyoming, and Montana. Those are just a few places you can see those bears. In some areas you can only find one certain type of bear-like in California you will be more likely to see black bears than grizzly bears.
Black bears are timid compared to the other bears but they will attack you if they feel any sort of threat. So never try to pet them at all no matter if they are small, it just means that there is a mother bear nearby and she will attack you to protect her cubs.
What Are Bears Attracted To In Your Campsite
Bears have a very strong sense of smell. Even better than a dog’s sense of smell. So what are bears attracted to? Bears are attracted to your food and anything that smells good enough to eat, from sunscreens to toothpaste. You must put everything away before you go to sleep or walk away from your campsite.
Try not to throw food into the fire pit thinking you are getting rid of the food, the bears can still smell that there is leftover food in the ashes. Which means they might come to your campsite to try and eat it.
Other items that you might not think will attract bears to your campsite but in reality, it does are birdseed, clothes you wore while cooking, trash, pet food, greywater from cleaning dishes, and small pets.
What To Do When You See A Bear / Bear Safety Tips
Now that you know it doesn’t take much to attract bears to your campsite, you are wondering how to prevent bears from getting to your campsite. To tell you the truth, there’s is no guarantee that a bear won’t show up at your campsite but these tips will reduce your chances of running into a bear while camping.
The only time you would want to see a bear while camping is when the bear is far away. It will be an exciting experience for the family, especially for the kids. If you do plan on going camping for bear watching then remember to follow the park’s specific rules.
Prevention
Do not camp at places that are known for bear activity, it may be obvious but people would camp there so that they could see a bear up close. For sure you do not want to see a bear up close and personally. You should only camp at designated areas so that there are less likely chances of a bear going through your campsite.
Camp In Groups
Bears are unlikely to walk up into a group of people than if you were to camp alone. A big group would make a lot of noise which keeps bears away. If you are planning to do any activities like hiking or fishing while camping then you should bring at least another person with you so that there’s help if you need it and also they could help keep the bears away.
Storage Of Food And Beverage
Even if you place all your food and drinks inside a cooler (even if it’s a bear-proof cooler) a bear can still smell the food and would try to open or break the cooler to get to the food. You can also use bear canisters to keep your food in. Some campsites will have you hang all your food from a tree so it’s off the ground. So be prepared to have some ropes and bags to hang your food 10 to 15 feet off the ground.
Even if you don’t camp at a site known to have bears it’s always a good idea to keep your food safe so other animals can’t get to it when you are not looking. You can tie your coolers down to the campsite table. Raccoons are known to steal food too, they could open the lid of the cooler. So wrap the rope over the lid when securing the cooler to the table.
How To Spot Bear Activities
Things to look for to tell if there is a bear around in your area.
- Bear poop
- Paw prints
- Dead animals
- Trees with scratch marks
- Day beds where they would gather leaves and sticks to sleep on
- Bears would rub themselves on trees, you may see fur on the tree
- Bears are more active during dawn and dusk
- Wild berries are some of bears favorite food so you may see a bush with all the berries gone on one side and not the other side
Preparation And Cleanup For Food
When you are in bear country, food preparation and cleanup is an important factor for avoiding a close encounter with a bear at your campsite. If you are planning on fishing or hunting, you should always clean your catch away from your campsite so that the smell of your catch does not stay at your campsite. Also, you should use gloves and aprons so the smell and other things don’t get onto you and your clothing. Any remaining carcasses should be kept far away from your campsite.
Once you are done cooking and eating, it’s time to clean up and wash the dishes. Remember to dump the greywater 100 yards or more away from your campsite. The best way to go about cleaning up would be if you could clean and wash the dishes away from the campsite so that you don’t have to carry all the greywater at the end to go dump it.
You want to do everything away from your campsite because the smallest amount of food will attract bears to your site if you aren’t careful. Once everything is clean you should put all your cookware and dishes with your food items and maybe hang them from the tree so they could be off the ground.
Unscented Toiletries
It’s best to not use any deodorant at all while camping, even the unscented ones. Bears can still smell them. You shouldn’t use scented lotion and shampoo too because not only will the bears smell it, other unwanted guests will come like mosquitoes.
Useful Items Against Bears While Camping
Some of the useful things against bears will be air horn and bear spray. You can use the air horn to scare off the bear if they do come into your campsite. Bears are scared of loud noises so the air horn could send them running away. You should use the air horn only when the bear is far away from you and you are trying to scare it away from your area.
If the bears are charging at you trying to attack you then you should use the bear spray. The bear spray should be used as one of the last resorts because it will hurt the bear for a bit. The bear spray should only be used when the bear is close to you because it will spray everywhere when it doesn’t hit the bear.
The bear spray is very powerful, it can stop a bear in its tracks so use it carefully and try not to hit yourself or anyone else with it. You should carry the bear spray in a holster around your waist when you are in bear country just in case you encounter a bear.
What Should You Do When You See A Bear
If you see a bear while hiking, don’t panic and start to run because the bear will chase after you thinking that you’re its prey. The best way is to slowly step back away from it while keeping your eyes on the bear but do not make direct eye contact. You just want to see if the bear is coming closer to you or not. Pick up your kids and pet and try to get out and away as far as possible.
If you see a bear at your campsite then try to get as far as possible then use an air horn to try and scare it off. If it doesn’t work then just get away as far as possible and just let the bear do its thing until it decides to leave your camping site. The bear may damage your things but at least you are safe along with everyone camping with you.
If it comes down to it and the bear is really trying to attack you then your best bet is to fight back and use bear spray or try punching the bear’s eyes and nose if you don’t have bear spray with you. Use whatever you can to fight back, knife, rocks, sticks, kicking, pretty much anything to hurt the bear if it really comes to it. DO NOT PLAY DEAD.
Try to remember this is a rare occasion that a bear will try to go all out to attack you. Most of the time a bear will attack you to try to protect their cubs from you, so as long as you don’t threaten the cubs and get close to them you should be fine.
Conclusion
Being aware and prepared when camping in bear country should be good enough for your family and you to be safe from close encounters with a bear. Don’t let this prevent you and your family from enjoying the great outdoors. Spotting a bear from afar is a great experience for you and your family to remember. So get out there, hope you and your family have an awesome adventure.