We also don't need bear bags here!
We also don't need bear bags here!
What the hell is a bear bag? I'm just imagining a tarp with red writing on the side of it saying "GO AWAY BEARS!"
I often think about what it would be like to move to the US just for things like the camping opportunities among other things but the thought of bears always overwhelms me and I know I wouldn't go anywhere near the woods if I went over there.
That's a brilliant thread you linked there, some amazing pictures, I'm a photographer so things like that really inspire me to get out there with the camera and get on with it (the only drawback being my camera gear would weigh more than the rest of my gear all together).
It would be good to meet some more folks, numerous redundancies has meant i don't get much time to form friendships before I have the whole poverty issue again. Sitting at home looking for jobs doesn't do much for the old social life.
"YOGI GO HOME!"?
Seriously, it's a stuff sack that your food and other smelly items go into. A line is attached to it and thrown over a limb. To hang it properly, you need it to be at least ten feet off of the ground (if I can jump and touch it, it's too low) and six feet from the nearest tree/other item that can hold a bear up. Most folks use the PCT method, which is described here (though I use a cow hitch rather than a clove hitch to hold the toggle). It works pretty well for keeping squirrels and other critters out of your food, too. Though that doesn't require quite as tough tolerances on how far from everything the bag is.
Anyway, bears won't generally attack a human unless said human is doing something stupid or gets between the bear and its offspring. I've seen three bears in the wild--all in the same mile of trail, on the same day. All of 'em turned around and ran as soon as they heard me. Now, it did cause me to rethink where I was going to camp that night, but that's only because a juvenile was involved and I was on a solo trip. If there had not been a cub, or if I'd had someone else with me, I probably would've stuck to my original site that night (within a mile of both sightings).
You would probably wild camp for years and never even see a bear. They are a problem in camp spots frequented by folk who have bad camp manners and it is easy to find places far away from these spots. Been an camper, hunter, and fisherman for five decades and (outside of some bad campgrounds) have only seen the back side of bears as they run like scalded cats.
That just makes me sad I can't imagine not having all the trees that we do. I'll stop complaining about not having decent hanging trees in my yard, because at least there are trees galore here in our country.
You are lucky that they can't take ferries
I read this week that a bear was spotted in Switzerland (outside a zoo). The pet is known as W13. They are coming from the balkans and repopulating the alps. Next stop :France.
So bear bags will be soon a must have here . This adds to Wolves & Lynx that were reintroduced some years ago.
Thank you for all the bear bag info, the link was very interesting and amusing in places.
I do realise that bears are unlikely to go anywhere near people, but I have an irrational fear of sleeping anywhere near where they could be and being eaten alive. There are few things that I fear but being woken up in the middle of the night is one of them!
I'll take a photograph of my area at some point so you can see how baron it is of trees. Being mainly farmland around here, it's just flat and almost featureless with a few small wooded areas near to the sporadically placed houses.
There are some slightly larger wooded areas around where I shoot so I shall ask the farmer that I shoot for if he minds me spending a few nights there during the summer.
If you don't fancy stealthing it to begin with, there are UK campsites that have pitches with trees and are cool with hammocks. A couple I have used (admittedly not in your area) are Blackberry Woods just north of Brighton and Inwood near Basingstoke (and the related Forgewood campsite in Kent.) HTH.
Last edited by Simon; 04-11-2012 at 06:35.
Scotchbonnet is right Noid - Scotland is brilliant for hanging.
Check out O2's Priority Moments, sometimes National Express do a one way fare of £10 from London to Glasgow.
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