[pct-l] Re: bears

[kborski at yahoo.com (Karen Borski)]

This bit of advice was posted in a larger context, but
it should not be followed under ANY circumstances:

"So, give them your food if you must."

Do NOT EVER give a bear your food.  There is no reason
for you to give your food to a bear.  They may take
it, because your food was not properly stored.  But do
not get scared and throw food at a bear, as this is
not going to help the situation.  

It could not only hurt you, but it WILL harm the bear
in the long-term.  

If a bear DOES get your food, do not ever try to take
it back.

I'm not going to go into a detailed bear discussion
again, but I would like to point out that if you are
interested in bear behavior and what to do if you
should meet one in the woods, PLEASE do yourself and
the bears a favor and read a bit from EXPERTS who can
tell you the facts and give real advice.  As many
miles of hiking as are represented here on the list, I
really would not recommend taking seriously any advice
on how to behave around a bear unless you know the
credentials of those providing the advice.  We all
have our opinions and stories.  I have read EVERY bear
book ever written and met many wild bears on the
AT/PCT/CDT, but I still recommend that people find out
the facts from the source.  These are highly
intelligent, emotional and complicated animals, and
their behavior is not simple.  

I recommend these in this order:

Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance.  Stephen
Herrero  (great book, tons of advice and real stories,
geared towards bear-human interaction, both black and
brown bears discussed)

Walking with Bears.  Terry DeBruyn. (black bear
behavior, man who followed wild bear family for years
in MN woods)

Mark of the Grizzly.  Scott McMillion.  (brown bear
behavior, journalistic style that's easy to read,
lessons learned for those in Grizzly country)

Among the Bears.  Benjamin Kilham.  (black bear
behavior, man who raised orphan cubs to adulthood in
woods of NH)

By the way, I can now say:

"I am hiking the PCT THIS year!"

YES!

Nocona

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Find out what made the Top Yahoo! Searches of 2003
http://search.yahoo.com/top2003