Ask A Bear: Scare a Marauding Bear

Cooking utensils in your sleeping site...good one.
Last thing I want is to walk through the wilderness listening to horns, don't do that.
Just wear the bells and string them up around the camp on a trip wire at night so you aren't surprised awake. If it is still to scary, vacation in the city...take your air horn.

If your food is stored away properly (bear canister cans, bear poles, etc.) I see no reason to exit your tent in black bear country since once the bear finds nothing of noteworthy interest relative to food, he or she will move on away from the camp site.

I agree fully with the commenter who wrote earlier on the use of freon air horns to scare black and brown bears. I use these air horns, but I use them "sparingly," such as a quick blast when approaching a creek with loud rushing waters or if I am in thickets of tall alders and feel a sense of presence that a bear is shadowing me. These air horns are extremely loud, with the sound traveling up to one mile away. So, one can see quickly why the horns should only be used sparingly, and why one never hears a ranger recommend the use of an air horn as a bear avoidance device. It would be terrible if hikers in the back country needlessly "blasts" these devices. They are, though, more effective then bear spray.

If a black or grizzly bear were to come at your camp at nite could you use bear pepper spray as well? Or is it better to bang a pot that should be 100 feet away from your tent?

Storing your pots and pans in your tent? What sort of idiot are you? You can't possibly make them clean enough in the wilderness.

Get a clue folks, get a bear canister and put all of your smellable in them. There is no other way. Until we all do this, there will continue to be bear problems.

green crayons

When I worked in Prince William Sound, AK in the 80's, USFS personnel carried Freon Air horn as early warning devices on the salmon streams. A blast every 15 minutes would just about guarantee you wouldnt encounter a brown bear (grizzly). If you didn't use them, it was a certainty you would see bears, usually at very close range.
In a NP, you can count on waking everyone in camp, and probably summon a ranger (maybe a good thing.)
In a national forest the rangers will be around in a few days (to check things out.).

For years I carried my car keys on a metal ring which was then draped over the handle of a Sierra Club cup. Constant metal scraping and when necessary a really annoying clanging when I shook the entire arrangement like a castanet. Kept it within reach inside or outside of the tent every night,I never had a problem with any critter staying around too long after a good strong shake.

Regarding pots and pans in the tent; if you wash them sufficiently, you can take them into your tent.

They sell bear poppers in Montana,,,not to be confused with bear pops (or moms). Wonder if they work?

Would hanging a wind chime at night help discourage any visitors?

Or what about some kind of air horn?

what are bear poles and can you rig an alarm system with lines attached to bear bells??

Of course what I thought was a stump was correctly identified by my 4-year old son as a bear. That stump did amble off. He got $20 for spotting a mother & cub together in Glacier.
Distinguishing between black & griz at night could be a problem.

Yea, but shouldn't my pots and pans be stored well away from my tent?

fire crackers start fires! and are way illegal

fire crackers start fires! and are way illegal

Firecrackers and firearms may chase away the bear but also awaken and seriously disturb other campers for miles around. Some of ''my Scouts'' hang all 'smellables' in odor-proof bags, high and away from all curious, foraging critters. Bear canisters work but are a nuisance to carry except they do make suitable camp-stools in the interim. Cook and sleep in separate areas, too.

Made me laugh - Most of the bears I see at a distance turn into stumps.

Yea, but shouldn't my pots and pans be stored well away from my tent?

I've wondered if a small firecracker would work?