Any time you go camping, there are many challenges that come your way. Once you have handled everything else and settled on your campsite, you remain with one single problem. Bears can be a serious problem when camping.
If you go camping in an area with Bears, then you have to make sure that you have all the tips on how to keep them away from your campsite. Bears are not something to joke around since they can be dangerous.
Make sure that you understand several methods to keep them away to make sure you are safe. In case one way does not work, you can easily use another one.
14 Ways to Keep Bears Away from Your Campsite
#1. Choose Your Campsite Wisely
Selecting the best place for your camping is the first method you should think of and the easiest. All you have to do is understand bear behaviors and make sure you have your campsite away from bears.
Certain areas have bears while there are those that do not attract bears at all. Choosing your campsite wisely will save you the trouble. Bears like food and as a result, they are likely to stay in an area with berry patches or a lake.
Make sure that you are of camping does not have any signs of the bear around. Some of the signs that you should look for include bear droppings. Definitely, that means that the area is visited by bears often.
Look for tracks. As bears move they leave tracks that can easily be seen. In case there are any animal carcasses then you should keep off. It means that there are dangerous animals in the area most likely a bear.
In case the trees around have any claw marks then it shows there is a presence of bears.
#2. Keep Your Dog Away
Dogs and bears do not work together. In case you have a dog, you better leave it at home if you do not want a lot of trouble with bears. Whenever dogs sense anything, they try to take care of the situation.
It means whenever you have a dog at your campsite, and it smells anything, it will start barking hence provoking any bear around, and you surely do not want that to happen.
#3. Do Not Approach a Bear
There are people who are too curious about things and forget about bear safety. And that is where you will mess everything. Never approach a bear under any circumstances. Whether you want to take pictures or to have a close look, it is not worthy.
Bears can be seriously aggressive, especially when they have cubs. Approaching a bear is annoying, which will make it get aggressive. Getting aggressive means attacking you and will even chase you.
#4. Proper Storage of Food
Bears are so much into food, and if you want to be safe, then you must store your food appropriately. Most of the bear attacks happen when bears approach campsites looking for food. A bear can smell good food from a far distance. As a result, poor storage can easily attract bears.
There are many ways of storing food that can easily prevent bear attacks on your campsite.
Bear Hang
This is a method in which you create a bear hang for storing your food. All you have to do is store your food hanged in an area that will be difficult for any bear to reach.
The first thing to do is to identify a tree away from your place of sleeping and make sure it is not used. Then ensure that the tree is more than 15 feet high and you can get a branch that high. Storing your food at such a place ensures no bear can reach. And since your sleeping place is away, you remain safe.
Use of Bear Tubes or Kegs
Bear kegs are another method of keeping bears away from your campsite. Since the smell of food attracts bears, these are materials you can buy and are designed to prevent bears from identifying the food.
The tubes and kegs are available in different sizes and work very well. If you are going camping you can consider using such methods and work so well.
Get Odor-Proof Bags and Unscented Trash Bags
The whole idea when it comes to proper food storage is to make sure that you prevent bears from knowing about your food. When you have decided to pack your food in plastic bags, then make sure that they are the type of bags that do not allow any smell to pass through.
Same case to trash bags. Trash bags can attract bears when they smell the remaining food. Ensure that you get unscented trash bags as well.
#5. Use of “Bear-Muda Triangle” Method
The bear-mud triangle method is one of the most effective strategies you can use to keep off bear from your campsite. It is a very simple method.
In this strategy, you have to make sure that your sleeping area, dining or cooking area, and food storage area are far apart from each other as much as possible.
All you have to do is arrange everything in a triangular manner. Ensure that you space out the points by up to 100 yards from each other.
Your tent area should be at of the three triangle points, storage point on the next, and the dining or cooking area on the other location.
#6. Maintain a Clean Campsite
Maintaining a clean campsite is a very important thing if you surely want to keep bear away from your campsite. By cleaning you can make sure that there is nothing that may attract a bear that should be in your sleeping area or tent. The best way to do this is to make sure that all the food is stored away from the tent.
Always make sure that you do not eat in the sleeping area. Ensure that there is nothing like toothpaste, snacks, or utensils in your tent. Once you have the cooking and food storage area away from your sleeping tent, ensure that it is at least 100yards away.
#7. Use of Bear Fence
A bear fence is also used as an appropriate way of keeping bear away from your campsite. A bear fence is a simple, physical, lightweight, and portable type of electric fence that is used to guard around your campsite to keep of bears.
In this case, all you have to do is buy the portable fence and use it during your camping. It is lightweight, which makes it easy to carry. If you do regular camping, then this will act as an excellent method for you.
The fence is good enough as it delivers up to 6,000volts of electric power any time a bear touches it.
#8. Good Selection of Food
It may not sound like a very nice method, but it is worthy of working with. Bears are good at smelling food hence coming to your campsite. As a result, if you can get food with less smell, then you will keep off the bear from your campsite to a certain percentage.
The more delicious food is, the better the smell produced, and that makes it easy for the bear to notice. Getting food with less smell will save you a lot of trouble.
#9. Changing Clothes After Cooking
When you are camping, and there is the risk of bears, there are so many precautions you have to take if you want to be okay and keep all bears away. Any food scent means risking a lot can cost you your life.
Whenever you are cooking, always make sure that you change your clothes immediately. Clothes can easily carry the food smell and for a long time. Going to a tent with such clothes can easily attract a bear.
Ensure you change your clothes, and you do not go with them back to the sleeping tent and to carry your used clothes you should always consider a smell proof backpack.
#10. Ensure That You Wash All Utensils After Eating
Cleaning is still a vital thing to remember when you are camping, and you do not want any bear attacks. Priority should be on anything that may carry any smell that can easily attract a bear.
As a result, once you have finished eating, do not waste any time. Ensure that you clean all the utensils immediately after eating. This is a method that prevents any smell from being carried by the wind to attract animals.
Do not think of postponing or keeping the dirty utensils and wash them later. It will definitely attract some bears. Ensure that you also use high-quality soap or detergent that will automatically get rid of all the food smells.
#11. Good Disposal of Waste Food
Thinking of burying waste food or just throwing it away in the bushes? Do not dare. Handling of waste food, food wrappings, and other things is essential if you still want to keep bears as far away from your campsite as possible.
Bears can easily smell food even when buried, which can easily attract them back to your campsite. At the same time, when you through food away, you make the same mistake where bears can smell and track the source of the food back to your campsite.
As a result, always make sure that you have some bear-proof containers that will help you dispose of your food appropriately. Bear resistant cans are useful as they can deal with the waste up to the end of your camping.
#12. Have Bear Spray with You
Bear spray is also a good idea when going camping in an area with bears. Always make sure that you carry bear spray and have it in your tent. You never know what might happen throughout the night.
In some cases, you may have done everything or forgot to do something, and you find bears paying you a visit. In this case, you need a quick and effective method to get rid of the bears.
Bear spray works well as it scares bears away so fast. Bear spray works very well as it is a quick emergency method you can use in case you are attacked bears at your campsite. It is also easy to carry and use.
#13. Carry an Air/Bear Horn
Air horns are another way of keeping bears away. In cases where you have bears around your campsite, you can easily use an air horn to keep them apart. Air horns are very effective and simple to use at the same time.
All you have to do is have your air horn at the right time. An Air horn is designed like a horn only that uses compressed air to produce a loud noise. The loud noise is always disturbing to a bear which scares them away.
There are many types of bear horns. However, for camping purposes, it is better to get lightweight, portable air horns as they are easy to handle. There are small air horns powered by compressed air on cans and work very well.
#14. Making Some Noise is Worthy
Making your presence known to bears is a way of scaring them away from your campsite. Bears are afraid of by noise and especially when you make noise in a manner showing you are not scared of them.
When you are camping as a group, ensure that bears know of your presence. You can make all sort of noise such as clapping, singing, or drumming if possible. Making noise by singing can easily prevent bears from approaching your campsite during the night.
The Bottom Line
Not taking enough caution about bears when camping is a huge mistake. Bears are dangerous, and as a result, they can even cause death. Make sure that you understand your area of camping very well before you go there.
Understanding an area appropriately enables you to know whether there are any bears there or not. In addition, it allows you to know if there are bears which do they like visiting and how the population is. Then ensure that you follow all the tips listed above.