[at-l] Propane's attraction for bears.

[stephensadams@hotmail.com (Steve Adams)]

I deleted the senders address, and paraphrased the message but someone
provided close to the following:

Bears love the organic carbon smell of propane or other bottled gases.  A
wilderness guide uses them to bait bear, opening the canister slightly, and
hanging it high.  Bear detect the gas and come from miles around.

I would be interested if this information is the result of a scientific
study; one comparing the relative attraction of carbon based odors with
other odors.  It seems, if this is logically deduced based upon anecdotal
data, bears may have come to associate the odor of cooking fuels with food.
It doesn't seem unlikely for someone who cooks with bottled gas to also
dispose of their garbage (a term translated by bears as "food") as compost.

Steve

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