[pct-l]smelling bears

[dude at fastmail.ca (dude)]

i think that the "visual confirmation" is only really used by 
habituated bears in areas where they come into contact with lots of 
humans.  I was told by a ranger in Yosemite that habituated bears had 
learned to recognize the shape of ice chests, packs, pic-nik baskets, 
etc. He said that once a bear is successful in finding a mother-load 
of food in a few coolers, they start to rely less and less on their 
smell. Pretty soon, the bears don't need to rely on their smell any 
more and they just start trolling cars in the parking lot looking for 
things in the shape of ice chests and packs.  The ranger told me that 
he had heard of several instances of bears breaking in to cars 
containing empty ice chests just to see what was inside them.

The only reason that they don't use their small as much in the NP's 
is because WE taught them that they didnt need to.  

peace,
dude




> Steve Courtway wrote:
> 
>> <snip> the women who run with the squirrels are 3, and I don't
>> think they want to enforce a code of silence when camping.
>> Again, bears can HEAR and SMELL further than they can SEE.
>> <snip>
>> 
> we had a conversation at work today, revolving around this topic. 
> I have read that bears have much better sniffers than dogs, and
> dogs are famous for their ability to nose out narcotics and such,
> even when the odors are disguised by coffee, gasoline and all
> that.  This would suggest to me then, that every car in the
> Yosemite parking lot would be a candidate for destruction...in
> that every car is going to contain a substantial amount of
> residual food odor from the last fast food joint, the groceries
> that just traveled 400 miles in the trunk...
> 
> But, only cars with visible enticements seem to be torn open.  In
> fact, visitors are repetitively told to hide, cover up, and remove
> everything from the car, in the way of candy wrappers, ice chests,
> and pick-a-nick baskets.  What appears to be a bear's need for
> visual support of an encouraging odor might might be a part of the
> explanation of why stealth camping has been so successful, so far.
>  A stuff sack, full of stanky food, and a-danglin' from a tree
> branch provides both scent and sight signals to the bear, and the
> animal will work for hours to be able to make off with it.  But a
> stuffed sleeping bag, full of stanky hiker, on top of a food bag
> would not offer the visual clue to the bear that would support his
> olfactory suspicions.
> 
> Of course, the first time a bi-polar bruin chose to chomp, and "to
> hell with visual confirmation", a whole new bear problem would
> emerge.
> 
> my thoughts,
> 
> Eckert
> 
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