Re: [pct-l] bear boxes

["R.J. Baynum" <rjbaynum@nidlink.com>]

I have seen the little bears, I am not scared of them..Californians are
soft!

reynolds@ilan.com wrote:
> 
> Re: All the NPS/FS personnel I've met (admittedly not many <g>) have
> seemed scrupulous about keeping food from bears.
> 
> The above statement is true.
> 
> My point is that anyone who cared to look ten (10) years ago
> could see that bear bagging was not working very well and bear boxs and bear
> canisters
> were the only way to prevent bears getting food from the average backpacker.
> However, the NPS
> and USFS [officially] clung to the idea that bear bagging worked. [The average
> NPS "worker"
> knew better]
> 
> We either have a problem NOW [according to the sierrawilderness post] or we SOON
>  will have of bears
> attacking campers for the camper's food.  The next step is bears predating
> [killing and eating] humans for
> food.
> 
> If you looked at what the NPS recommended 10 years ago--"Making noise and
> throwing rocks to scare bears
> away from a food hang"--you will see that the Center Basin incident [camper hurt
>  defending a bear hang] was
> only a matter of time. Absent a gun bears have no reason to be scared of humans.
> 
> As for "24 hour guard", how does anyone "guard" his food from bears? A bear is
> strong enough to take it
> away anytime he wants to. The "24 hour guard" is simply a "bluff". In Center
> basin, a bear called a camper's bluff
> . . . with predictable results --as "improperly stored food", ie the other
> incident, implies.
> 
> We can:
> 1-Close the Sierra to humans
> 2-Kill all Black Bears in the Sierra
> 3-Scatter zillions of bear boxs in typical camping places
> 4-Require bear canisters and teach the public how to pack them
> 5-Do a combination of 3 and 4.
> 
> We cannot:
> Trust to bear bagging and stealth camping. Even if a few could successfully
> protect food with these methods the
> average camper can't and the bears will simply get more agressive until someone
> is killed.
> 
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