[pct-l] Bear deterrence thoughts (long)

[rellinwood@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Robert Ellinwood)]

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> spraying ammonia all around the outside of the store to keep bears away

Sounds interesting.

> the seemingly lost art of peeing around your tent to deter bears.

Lost art?  I do it around the tent routinely.  Old timers with many more
hiking miles than I have still do it, only I have heard a couple of them say
that only male urine is effective.  How they know that for sure, who knows?
Some of these things just get handed down from earlier generations. However,
as with a lot of folk remedies, I figure that if there's even a grain of
truth to it...why not try it?

Moth balls?  Any of you try them around your tent to "mask" food (or other)
odors inside?  Again, I know a few experienced folks who routinely do this
when in serious bear country... and while I used to think that meant Grizzly
country only, from the archives I've come to think Kennedy Meadows to Sonora
Pass might qualify. I first learned of this trick from an article I've saved
from the 1970's that cited Dick Hatfield, a ranger then in the Gallatin NF,
saying that he stumbled onto a bear-mothball relationship accidentally one
summer.  Outside the trailer where he lived, the trash can was routinely
ravaged by bears.  One morning he noticed it was undisturbed and noted that
he had dumped some mothballs on top of the garbage the night before.  So, he
set up his own little experiment and would go several days w/o mothballs -
bears messed up garbage - and then do a "mothball" day - garbage undisturbed
by bears. He said he kept this up for some time with consistent results.

Now, when I ask anyone in the FS about this, I get a disbelieving "Never
heard of it" and "Don't try it."  OK...  I tried very hard to reach Dick
Hatfield through the FS and the retired ranger contacts, but no luck at all.
Perhaps he was a seasonal employee and not fully on their rolls? All I have
is the statement in that article. It was stated that he used, specifically,
Paradichlorobenzene mothballs, one of three (I believe} possible ingredients
in mothballs.  I called the company that makes mothballs and the technician
told me that that ingredient would be the strongest, smell-wise. It's harder
to find mothballs with this ingredient. The gas station at Macks Inn (of all
places) had them.

Problems:  They weight a bit and you have to be careful about fumes and
contamination of food.

I'm not in the slightest interested in debating this or responding to flames
or trolls. I have no proof that this works.  As one old timer (that most of
you know) said, after using them for years and then stopping, "Well, I was
never bothered by moths!"  Who knows?

Happy to respond off-list to reasonable queries.  Just thought I'd throw
this out to the wolves, not having heard anyone mention it.

Bob

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