Bears wanna steal my cool knife!

[Mayor]

Hello folks! I've been a reader of the forum for quite some time but just now registered so i can ask you all some things ive been wondering about.

Ive used a piece of tar'ed string as a knife lanyard and while i think it smells pretty good, im concerned the bears will think so too and pay me a visit when im least expecting it.

We dont have bears where im from in the southern regions of Sweden but, the reason of my concern is Im going on vacation to the northern parts of Sweden, and since there are a few bears up there, it just got me thinking. I've heard bears can be attracted by petrolum products, and i know that the hogs and deer around here likes to rub against tar'ed trees..

coming to think of it...will the hogs try to rub on me while im asleep if i spend the night where theres usually alot of them?

anyways, how interested will bears (and other animals) be in my knife lanyard do you recon?

i can think of more pleasant ways to be awoken than by a big boar/bear bumping me



and please do tell about your incidents with animals walking into your campsite/shelter !
(and animals stalking you so they can steal your cool stuff)

(i once was stalked by a villainous gang of horses trying to snatch my sammich but thats about the worst crime ever commited to me by animals.)

/the Newbie

 

[calibanzwei]

Greatest. First. Post. Ever!
Welcome to BCUK.
As to your question, I've no idea - closest I've ever come to bears was in Croatia and they were a black dot on the horizon!

 

[Toddy]

Welcome to the forum Hope you enjoy the conversations but I would ask you to remember that this site is considered family friendly and some conversational topics are best kept to around the campfire company.

No idea about bears, hopefully someone else will be along who does

cheers,
Toddy

 

[Mastino]

Great post & welcome.

I wouldn't worry so much. Considering that:

- I use tar based shoe wax;
- tar based fat for my leather stuff (sheets, pouches, belts);
- sometimes use the tar based midge repellent;
- all of the above make me smell like a processed pine tree;

I've never been attacked by a bear in the past five years, not in the south of sweden, the middle or the north. By the way, I think bear attacks in Sweden a rare anyway (Swedish members confirm?).

I would worry more about food & other nice stuff (eg toothpaste) around camp.

 

[big_swede]

very very very rare. In fact, almost all of the 'attacked' persons have been hunters with rifles capable of taking down a bear. Strange, huh? There is a logical explanation, their loose dogs get terrified and returns to their owner, and the bear follows, bam, you have an incident. Wether you believe this in all of the cases is up to you, but I find it more likely that some of the registered cases are nothing short of pouching.

Nobody has to be afraid of bear attacks in Scandinavia. Hogs and moose during the rut are more likely to attack, or the moose cow with calf. All of these animals will avoid you if possible and there are extremely few confirmed cases of larger mammals attacking human beings in Scandinavia.

Funny story though, a friend was bitten by a seal (!!!) during a freediving session close to a colony. He had to take a rabies shot. According to the personnel at the hospital, it had happened before (!!!). I personally have been attacked by some vicious critters myself, at all times it was more or less my own fault. The beasts include geese, bulls (do NOT take a short cut over a field with bulls in it), arctic terns, seagulls (happened to come to close to a nest), domestic dogs and humans.

I see loose domestic dogs as the biggest problem, a lot of people have very little control over their dogs, but still insist they should be allowed to roam free just because they're in the bush. It's not so funny being on the business end of a 30 kilo insecure mastiff with some 17 year old chav trying to get it to return to his side. I unfortunately have hade quite a lot of bad experiences with dogs, especially the 'fighting' breeds, pitbulls, amstaffs and so on. Usually their owners are young underclass guys or girls with little or no experience in dog handling or training. Yes, that is a very broad generalisation and quite prejudiced, but hey, that's what I've experienced here. /rant over.

 

[Air Pirate]

When camping and hiking our dog is allowed to roam free off of her leash. On a trail she stays just ahead of us and if she gets too far out she doubles back to make sure she knows where we are. If we call her she comes running right up to us. If you were to encounter her on the trail the most you would get from her is a vicious tail wag whip to your shin. She is not a fighting breed but a pound puppy mutt.

 

[moab]

welcome to the site
Bears are not your biggest problem - it's the Big Foot you've got to worry about

 

[hiho]

hello and welcome

 

[DavidJT]

Welcome to the site!
I'll second BigSwede... dogs are much more of a worry. If anything, I think a bear would be more interested in your food. Many older wooden houses and huts in Northern Sweden and Norway are painted with litres of tar (i.e. Creosote or "Base"), and it doesn't seem to attract the wildlife.
Anyway, my understanding is that European bears are extremely wary of humans, unlike some in America where they have become used to taking human food from rubbish bins etc.
So just enjoy your trip!
P.S.I was once stalked by three lionesses in Kenya...but that's another story!

 

[Bravo4]

My first big backpacking trip as a teenager was to Glacier National Park in Montana, US. Grizzly bears are something to consider in Glacier NP. I was new to bear country, traveling solo and was doing alot of considering. Got dropped off by the train right about sunset and so had to set up first night's bivouac in the dark. At first light I discovered I had slept about 10meters away from what looked like a recently deceased and partially eaten sheep, probably not the best spot to spend the night. An unarmed, heavily loaded backpacker is not exactly at the top of the food chain.

I had bells on my boots and sang out loud to give bears the heads up, but would have felt more comfortable with a hiking partner, an overburdened-overwieght hiking partner. I had a number of bits(canteen cover, nylon webbing, clothing, glove) that was munched on during the course of a night by what the ranger assured me where marmots, salt-starved marmots. Some of these things had been right next to my face so the critters were sure checking me out at close range while I slept. No actual griz sightings on that trip for me but a photographer for Field and Stream magazine got eaten by one not far from where I was, they found his body while I was in the backcountry.

If your knife does get snatched by a bear and you survive, think of the awesome bear story you will have. If your knife gets snatched by a bear and you do not make it, think of the great bear story WE will have .

 

[charadeur]

I don't know about Swedish bears but around here it depends a lot on the area. In Michigan the black bears will just run away from you even with a pack full of food. Out west the brown bears will eat you for lunch and the bear spray just gives you a nice peppery flavor.

Ok my quick bear story. Several of us were setting around a buds basement drinking some tasty adult beverages one night when someone suggested we go up north bear hunting with our bows. It sure sounded like a great idea at the time. Well sure enough about a month later we are in a car headed to the Michigan UP. We had lined up a guide and paid some big bucks for a cabin. The next morning the guide is waking us up at 4:00am to eat and get on the trail. As we are walking to the tree stand that was to be mine in the pitch black starless morning the guide points out some bear tracks that are nearly as big as my head (or at least they seemed that way in the dark.) So I climb up in the tree stand and the guide says "I'll be back around lunch time, good luck." Now he disappears in the bush. So here I am at the top of a tree in the dark with a pointed stick for protection. At this point I'm starting to think I did not think this completely though. Anyway I am kind of grateful the only bear I saw was 80 pounds and ran away quickly when he saw me. And that my friends was my only bear hunt.

 

[Wayne]

I have spent a fair amount of time tracking in Northern Sweden and Finland. I have yet to see a bear.

I think you would be very fortunate to encounter one. In bear country in Canada I cook away from the tent and keep food and toothpaste in Blue waterproof barrels.

I do not bother with bear bagging as the trees where I go are generally not very tall and the bears in problem areas are pretty good at getting food out of trees.

Good hygiene is key.