The bear facts

Gators and Panthers and Bears, Oh My!

It happened in broad daylight no less!

I was visiting with some friends and upon my arrival back at the campgrounds, I discovered my tent poles were destroyed and my food was missing. Three coolers and a milk box were gone.

The park police were nearby investigating a problem at another campsite. I told them and the immediate assumption was bears. I would normally agree with them, but there was no evidence of food being opened. Mostly all of it was canned and the other stuff was in sealed containers. How could a bear take four items leaving everything else, like an air mattress, intact?

The police took my report and then left for another part of the park. I went to the picnic table and found a note from the ranger. A bear did indeed go after the tent. But the ranger had the missing items. I never, ever, leave food in the tent overnight. I always pack it in the car. But this was in broad daylight and I didn’t even think about the bears as daylight raiders. In the morning, I got my things back unscathed. The bear was chased away. The ranger told me bears were “opportunists.”

I’ve lived among gators and panthers in Florida and Bears in the Middle Atlantic region. I’ve actually camped in this area since I was seven years old. And nothing ever happened like this. I’m not frightened of the bear. I’m frightened of my stupidity. I think that maybe it’s time to stop camping.

Afterword -- Bears are not dumb. I left two water containers at the site the next day. One was a clear plastic gallon bottle of water. The other was a two quart container with the red and white markings of a cooler. When I returned to camp that night, the red container had been knocked to the ground and opened up. the clear container was ignored. The bear also checked out a white plastic grocery bag which had some newspaper flyers in it that was under the tarp covering my wood. I was using that to ignite my campfires.