[pct-l] to sleep with or not to sleep with...

[dude@xxxxxxxxxxx (dude)]

--
> Sleeping with your food says something like. "If a bear shows up
> [unlikely] I would rather risk maiming a child than losing my
> food"

IMHO, that statement is a little dramatized.  Encounters with wild
animals are part of being outdoors.  Before there were National Parks
or National Forests with all the rules and regulations, there was the
law of nature: survival of the fittest.  For thousands of years, man
has been able to defend himself against all sorts of wild animals
such as brown bears, brizly bears, wolves, mountain lions, jaguars,
snakes, badgers, wolverines, etc, etc, etc.  In fact, man has been
able to hunt and kill any animal on Earth with such extreme
efficiency that many of them are now endangered or extinct.  Humans
even killed huge ferocious wild beasts with stone-age technology,
long before the advent of modern lethal weapons.  For example,
Eskimos and Inuits have been successfully killing whales for
centuries with nothing more than spears and row-boats.

The ONLY reason that bears in North America now pose any threat to
people in wilderness areas is because they have become accustomed to
getting their food from people, either by stupid tourists who feed
them, or stupid people who do not adequately protect their food.  If
people weren't so afraid of bears and simply abandon their food and
campsite at the mere sight of a small brown bear, then there would be
NO pronblem at all and we would not be having this discussion.
Therefore, the problem is NOT people who sleep with their food or use
other illegal or "questionable", yet effective, tactics to keep their
food away from bears.   The problem is people who do not know what
they are doing and venture out into the wilderness and allow bears to
take their food.

The bear is willing to die for his food because without it, he will
die.  Therefore the bear equally assumes that other life forms are
also willing to die for their food, including humans.  I guarantee
you that if you encounter a bear in the wild that is attempting to
take your food, if you appear as though you are willing to fight to
the death for that food, the bear will leave instantly.  Why??
Because its the law of nature.  It is easier for the bear to go catch
a fish or something taht to fight to the death for your food. Its
that simple.  The only exception to this is a bear who has become
accustomed to people (because others fed it) and willing to attck, in
which case that bear might attack you and your son reagardless of
wether or not I sleep with my food.

Bottom line is that camping in the wilderness with wild animals is
not like going to the Zoo.  In the United States we have this
rediculous Idea that everything should be 100% safe and if it is not,
then it is someone else's fault (and usually we sue them).  This is
just bu115h!t.  The wilderness is WILD.  Treat it that way.  Realize
that WILD animals live in the WILDerness and you could be attacked!
Blaming a wild animal attack on someone that sleeps with their food
and is willing to defend it is not placing the blame in the right
place.  Its not my fault that inexperienced people (and the forrest
service and park service) created a situation in which bears have
become aggressive toward people.  Don't blame me for using tactics
that preserve my food and save pack-space and weight.  I may be
attacked in my tent, this is true, but it wont be because I slept
with my food; it will be because of the habits that 1000's of people
who went before me allowed the bear to become unafraid of people.

In fact, sleeping with and defending my food probably does more to
restore the natural order of the wilderness and restore man's
rightful place at the top of the food chain than bear boxes, or
cannisters, or any of that junk.  If you want to beat the bear, you
have to think like a bear.  Man claimed the top spot in evolution by
being super-aggressive, not passive, and that is how we will stay
there.

~dude


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