It has come to my attention that where I am going to be there will exist bears, wolves and mountain lions in the location I’m setting up in two years.
I’ll be honest that I like cooking meat rather then eating it raw and most likely I will have to store my food somewhere to last me a couple of months.
How will I be able to do that without having the attraction of surrounding predatory species in my camp?
In all likelihood, they will already know your camp is there, so you just need to be careful, know how to react when you spot them, learn from your encounters, keep your food secured at night where they cant smell it and away from where you sleep, etc.
Having a firearm for self defense isn’t primitive but is a good idea. Assuming you are talking about brown bear, that probably means a shotgun. If they are just black bear then a good rifle would suffice. Might as well have one for any dangerous humans that come around anyway.
Here is a website with bear-proof food storage containers listed, but most of these are geared towards short-term stays in the wilderness. I bet you could scavenge some sort of larger container that would do the job.
http://www.sierrawildbear.gov/foodstorage/approvedcontainers.htm
I have only hiked and camped in areas with bear and puma, and haven’t lived there so somebody else can probably give you better advice.
[quote=“scavenger, post:2, topic:357”]In all likelihood, they will already know your camp is there, so you just need to be careful, know how to react when you spot them, learn from your encounters, keep your food secured at night where they cant smell it and away from where you sleep, etc.
Having a firearm for self defense isn’t primitive but is a good idea. Assuming you are talking about brown bear, that probably means a shotgun. If they are just black bear then a good rifle would suffice. Might as well have one for any dangerous humans that come around anyway.
Here is a website with bear-proof food storage containers listed, but most of these are geared towards short-term stays in the wilderness. I bet you could scavenge some sort of larger container that would do the job.
http://www.sierrawildbear.gov/foodstorage/approvedcontainers.htm
I have only hiked and camped in areas with bear and puma, and haven’t lived there so somebody else can probably give you better advice.[/quote]
Where I am going there is a combination of black bears and grizzlies.
( I am worried about grizzlies more than anything.)
In all likelihood, they will already know your camp is there, so you just need to be careful, know how to react when you spot them, learn from your encounters, keep your food secured at night where they cant smell it and away from where you sleep, etc.Having a firearm for self defense isn’t primitive but is a good idea. Assuming you are talking about brown bear, that probably means a shotgun. If they are just black bear then a good rifle would suffice. Might as well have one for any dangerous humans that come around anyway.
I will most likely have a pistol, machete and rifle. 
Here is a website with bear-proof food storage containers listed, but most of these are geared towards short-term stays in the wilderness. I bet you could scavenge some sort of larger container that would do the job. http://www.sierrawildbear.gov/foodstorage/approvedcontainers.htm
Thanks for the website. 
I have only hiked and camped in areas with bear and puma, and haven't lived there so somebody else can probably give you better advice.
One thing is for sure, I will definately need to familarize myself with all the animals there including the big predators.
[quote=“Plains”]Make sure you have a large-caliber automatic rifle with several rounds. Anything else might just worsen your situation. A shotgun would work too, but with a rifle, even if it’s not a primary hunting weapon, you would be able to get some large animal if you were starving. Shotguns will also make you deaf. A 12-gauge at least causes instant hearing loss. I believe the damage from the sound of a few rifle rounds would be only a temporary thing.
The pistol is a good idea–again something large caliber, or at the least a 9mm if you can shoot well. I mean, you can’t expect to be carrying larger weapons around every waking moment.
Maybe you should just make friends with your new bear neighbors when you move in. Maybe they like postcards like the Japanese ;D[/quote]
Maybe you should just make friends with your new bear neighbors when you move in. Maybe they like postcards like the Japanese ;D
Do you think if I gave a bear some picnic baskets that it will become friends with me? 
b[/b]
Make sure you have a large-caliber automatic rifle with several rounds. Anything else might just worsen your situation. A shotgun would work too, but with a rifle, even if it's not a primary hunting weapon, you would be able to get some large animal if you were starving. Shotguns will also make you deaf. A 12-gauge at least causes instant hearing loss. I believe the damage from the sound of a few rifle rounds would be only a temporary thing.The pistol is a good idea–again something large caliber, or at the least a 9mm if you can shoot well. I mean, you can’t expect to be carrying larger weapons around every waking moment.
I am definately going to have some firearms with me when I go out to do this.
I plan on firing a couple of shots into the ground if one comes too close to me as a friendly gesture of telling it to get away from me.