Bear safety on river elk hunt.

[dougjoebob]

Hey guys as stated in my other post going on a river hunt here next week and wondering what your Thoughts are on Bear safety while camping in Bush from a raft. Bring him way more food than I would on a typical hike in Hunt, and way better food. One of the perks of being able to move a lot of weight easily in the raft.

The guys that I’m going with don’t have a lot of experience Hunting but I’ve done many multi day rafting expeditions. When I asked him if they had block and tackle for hoisting coolers into trees while camping they said they usually just leave coolers with ratchet strapped closed inside the raft.

This seems like a disaster waiting to happen to me, but I’m curious if anyone else has any thoughts about it. One of the Bears just climb into the raft shred it and leave us stuck in the bush so they can come back and feast on her tired and weary bones at a later date?


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[Hooverfb]

That sounds like a terrible idea. I'd use bear canisters, or ratcheted coolers but hidden somewhere else besides the raft lol.

 

[nsparks]

Pull coolers and dry boxes with food and set it up away from sleeping area in a pile and set up electric bear fence. Add string or wire with bells/ empty beer cans to give you warning.

Make sure your coolers and boxes are igbc- certified or lockable as well. They'll probably go for your trash before coolers so make sure you have secure storage for that. Keep a clean camp, burn what you can, wash and wipe down all surfaces in the kitchen. On the extreme end you could pull over and make dinner then float down to camp a ways.

But yes, lots of people float rivers all over the west all season, leaving coolers and boxes in the boat and don't have problems. All depends on the specifics of where you're going. My full multi day cooler is several hundred pounds.... no way in hell would I be planning on hoisting that up in a suitable tree (that may not exist).

 

[dougjoebob]

Pull coolers and dry boxes with food and set it up away from sleeping area in a pile and set up electric bear fence. Add string or wire with bells/ empty beer cans to give you warning.

Make sure your coolers and boxes are igbc- certified or lockable as well. They'll probably go for your trash before coolers so make sure you have secure storage for that. Keep a clean camp, burn what you can, wash and wipe down all surfaces in the kitchen. On the extreme end you could pull over and make dinner then float down to camp a ways.

But yes, lots of people float rivers all over the west all season, leaving coolers and boxes in the boat and don't have problems. All depends on the specifics of where you're going. My full multi day cooler is several hundred pounds.... no way in hell would I be planning on hoisting that up in a suitable tree (that may not exist).

Ya makes sense. I don’t think we will cook then float as we are mostly using river to get deep into woods not so much hunting right on it. Will have three camp locations over the 7 days I suspect.


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[GotDraw?]

@dougjoebob -

Bears ask questions with their mouths and claws... The fact that we all know that rafts are inedible makes no difference to a bear smelling something new-- and interesting.

"...hmm, this is interesting, can I eat it?" Chomp
"...rubber smells good, what's inside this raft tube...?" CLAW, CHOMP, CHOMP
How many folks have had a bear chomp their foam archery targets? It happens.

You just need to ask yourself and your buddies if you are planning a hunt for what happens 99% of time or 1% of the time.

How funny and expensive will it be if your raft is ruined, it's pouring rain at 35 degrees? How the hell will you actually get out of wherever the hell you end up? How much yelling and finger pointing will go on between everyone if a trip is expensively and simply ruined for lack of risk planning.

How many thousands of dollars will it cost to get a new raft to you, change return flights for the entire group, etc?...

Like an extra quarter in the parking meter, I favor "cheap insurance". At least pull the coolers out of the raft at night. Consider putting a bear fence around your coolers and trash stash, then you don't have to haul them up trees. PITA. Keep trash in kitchen trash bags inside cheap, waterproof 70L Chinese roll top lightweight waterproof bags.

Good luck.

JL

 

[MTSasquatch]

Hey guys as stated in my other post going on a river hunt here next week and wondering what your Thoughts are on Bear safety while camping in Bush from a raft. Bring him way more food than I would on a typical hike in Hunt, and way better food. One of the perks of being able to move a lot of weight easily in the raft.

The guys that I’m going with don’t have a lot of experience Hunting but I’ve done many multi day rafting expeditions. When I asked him if they had block and tackle for hoisting coolers into trees while camping they said they usually just leave coolers with ratchet strapped closed inside the raft.

This seems like a disaster waiting to happen to me, but I’m curious if anyone else has any thoughts about it. One of the Bears just climb into the raft shred it and leave us stuck in the bush so they can come back and feast on her tired and weary bones at a later date?


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I’ve used bear fences on rafting trips in bear country. Pull the food and attractants out of the raft (I store them in combined coolers/boxes) and away from camp then set the fence up around that.
If you decide to just use bear resistant coolers or containers make sure and cable lock them to a tree or something so hey don’t get drug off into the woods. Bring extra batteries for the fence.

 

[Wapiti1]

Go with soft side coolers. They are really easy to hang compared to hard side. Absolutely hang any food and trash. Or go with bear barrels and lock them to trees.

There is zero reason not to other than being lazy. Protect the rafts.

Jeremy

 

[tdot]

I can only speak to the areas I hunt and live, but around here the Bear's are in the alpine or atleast are generally off the rivers for the bulk of the Summer. As a result Summer river users don't have the same number of interactions with Bears as the fall river users do. Once they come down to start actively feeding close to the rivers, the number of interactions increase.

End result is that Summer users can have a very skewed experience vs. what they could encounter later season.

 

[dougjoebob]

I can only speak to the areas I hunt and live, but around here the Bear's are in the alpine or atleast are generally off the rivers for the bulk of the Summer. As a result Summer river users don't have the same number of interactions with Bears as the fall river users do. Once they come down to start actively feeding close to the rivers, the number of interactions increase.

End result is that Summer users can have a very skewed experience vs. what they could encounter later season.

Thanks for that tdot. I know that we would never just leave coolers anywhere in hunting season. In the past. I’m gonna push away from that idea. For sure.


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[Wapiti1]

Encounters can depend on the summer traffic and if there are regular camp sites. You'll get local bears at those sites just like there is always a campground bear or two.

Jeremy

 

[dougjoebob]

Had a great hunt guys, no elk or bears but appreciate all the responses. Got very cold last couple days of "float" we ended up having to break through the ice for a bit. temps dropped to -15 celsius. had a great time and ended up settling up a electric fence for kitchen and food area. again thanks everyone!