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Bear protection

V

Vdubchaos

Lifer
We will be doing a lot of Camping and Hiking this year and I'm wondering what people are using for Black Bear protection?

We will be camping in Upstate NY (Palisades and possibly Catskill mountains) as well as Northwest CT.

We always teach our kids and try to do the following:
- Not leave any food on the ground
- Put away all coolers/food and Grill into the van at night
- Throw garbage away

HOWEVER, I'm looking for extra protection "just in case". We already have 2 pepper sprays but I was thinking about buying a Bear Repellant as well as an Air Horn.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Are these even worth getting?

Thoughts? Recommendations?

TIA
 
Remington870.jpg

if legal
 
Krazy4Real said:
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He said bear protection, not thing to put under the basement windows when you go on vacation.
(my parents were jacked while on vacation. broke in through basement windows)

Bears are just as evil as Colbert says and they laugh at little bullets. You need a big bullet to take em down.

RSseven_092105F.jpg


Btw keep that bear mace in your car. Guns are good for animals but mace is great for humans. Bear mace can take down 5 attackers easily and you won't have police doing a man hunt to find who did it.
 
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rsutoratosu said:
arent bear traps illegal now ?
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I sure hope so. The last thing we need is people putting bear traps in national parks and forgetting to pick them up. Your kid wanders off and gets cut in half by one.
That's what makes them great for home protection. Just remember to pick them up when you get back from vacation. That would suck to have your kid get cut in half by one. The police might have a few questions for you.

Maybe put fox traps under the windows? It wont kill the intruder but it will sure ruin his day and leave blood evidence behind. I saw CSI so I know they do DNA testing for mundane crimes.
 
Honestly, just make noise and make sure you don't get between a mother and cubs. Black bears for the most part have no interest in attacking humans. The last death by a black bear in the wild in the northeast was over a decade ago (and even then it was an infant). You're far, far more likely to die in a car accident driving up there than from a bear attack.

If you're backpacking in Montana, it's worth having bear spray and taking some precautions. In the notheast, just keep your food in the car and you're fine.
 
crashtestdummy said:
Honestly, just make noise and make sure you don't get between a mother and cubs. Black bears for the most part have no interest in attacking humans. The last death by a black bear in the wild in the northeast was over a decade ago (and even then it was an infant). You're far, far more likely to die in a car accident driving up there than from a bear attack.

If you're backpacking in Montana, it's worth having bear spray and taking some precautions. In the notheast, just keep your food in the car and you're fine.
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Yep, this is my general feeling as well. HOWEVER, I do need something to easy my wife's paranoia.

I don't think a human mace is enough (we will both have those, mostly in case there is lose dogs etc).

I was thinking at the very least an Air horn....but I guess Bear Mace wouldn't hurt?

My biggest concern is Catskills, black bear population has skyrocketed in recent years and Bears are coming into people's yards/being less fearful of humans.
 
Spray will just make you taste spicy. Bear will give 0 fux and shove that spray up your ass. You need a rifle in a .4xx caliber like a .45-70 or .458 or at least a handgun in .44, .460, or .500.

Lightweight Marlin 1895 .45-70 scout gun is probably the perfect light weight bear protection rifle.

12ga with magnum slugs is also "adequate" if nothing else is available.

If you said no guns, I ignored you on purpose.
 
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exdeath said:
Spray will just make you taste spicy. Bear will give 0 fux and shove that spray up your ass. You need a rifle in a .4xx caliber like a .45-70 or .458 or at least a handgun in .44, .460, or .500.

Lightweight Marlin 1895 .45-70 scout gun is probably the perfect light weight bear protection rifle.

12ga with magnum slugs is also "adequate" if nothing else is available.

If you said no guns, I ignored you on purpose.
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You can't carry in NY state. In CT you can, but you need a permit. VDub doesn't have one, so he can't carry in CT either. Reading fail.

Just don't leave food out when you aren't eating it. If it really came to it, couldn't you just seek shelter in the car you came in?
 
z1ggy said:
Just don't leave food out when you aren't eating it. If it really came to it, couldn't you just seek shelter in the car you came in?
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Yes but not on trail.

Also, I store my Charcoal grill/coolers in car so I like to keep it good distance away from the tents in case Bears can still detect the smell.

It wouldn't hurt having something in the tent either, nothing worse than being woken up in the middle of the night by a bear.....heck few years ago a skunk was climbing our tent and it scare the CRAP out of us hehe

We will be in pretty remote areas.
 
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Vdubchaos said:
Yes but not on trail.

Also, I store my Charcoal grill/coolers in car so I like to keep it good distance away from the tents in case Bears can still detect the smell.

It wouldn't hurt having something in the tent either, nothing worse than being woken up in the middle of the night by a bear.....heck few years ago a skunk was climbing our tent and it scare the CRAP out of us hehe
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This is a really bad idea. A bear will tear your car apart if he thinks there is food inside it. They also generally recognize a cooler as a source of food.
 
I've hiked and camped a lot in northern Minnesota where there is a large bear population and never run into any issues. But, if you are worried, I would just get bear spray and like others have said, keep your food locked up and your camp clean. Don't wash dishes in camp and don't throw leftover food in the fire.
 
JulesMaximus said:
This is a really bad idea. A bear will tear your car apart if he thinks there is food inside it. They also generally recognize a cooler as a source of food.
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Ohh yea? And leaving it out in the open is a better idea?

What choices do I have? 😎

I don't care if the bear rips up my car.....
 
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