This year will be my seventh trip to BWCA, yet to have a bear encounter... Any bear stories out there?

Insula,

You got nothing to worry about! This year the forest is going to be jam pack filled with Handguns and Ninjas! We figured the woods was too peaceful, so we COOPERATIVELY (Right Maddog?)reached a solution, I think. Just wear black pajamas, keep your head low, and consult Hillary for sniper fire tactics if you feel you need them.

Honestly: I have never seen or heard from a bear in the BW in ten years. That is prolly cuz I don't open the tent door and look at noises, don't eat fish, hang my food, and usually try to stay off the well beaten path. Sorry I could not oblige with a story.

bumabu.... what r u drinking today. if it's tap water I suggest u change the filter.
skonie

I started work at 7P last night and get off in 10 minutes bro. I have been blowing this place up all night, I love it! Although some are prolly relieved I am going to bed! See you again at 22:30 when I get back to work.

My son is nervous about bears and always meticulous about proper protocol to keep them out. We were fishing last June on Iron and paddled back to camp in the evening, the one in the SE corner that faces north. We were 25 yrds from shore when I realized that a beautiful big fat boar was sniffing the fire pit. We watched as he strolled over and stood under the food bag and looked up. I jumped out w my paddle and grabbed a clean pot on the shore. Banging the two together made him look at me and then slowly stroll away. He came back at night and then every time we left camp. One time he bit into a bottle of sunscreen but otherwise didn't get anything to eat. That didn't stop him from checking us out regularly. I posted this msg last yr and another member reported seeing him there too. We did just about everything right but that didn't affect his behavior and I actually enjoyed his presence, not threatening at all. He didn't seem too scared of us either. That being said, I would have thoroughly enjoyed tagging him in season.

Let's see - almost 40 + years in the woods for me. I have seen 2 bears in the BW - one in a creek at the Red Rock / Sag portage - and it ran away after we saw it. One ran across the Gunflint trail on the way home that year - 2006. And one in Shawano County , Wi in late fall while i was looking for deer. And that's it. Izzy

Saw the same bear (I s'pose) at same camp a day or two after Catfish left and we arrived. We were a bit offshore, blew a whistle and made lots of noise. He slowly went back the latrine path stopping once as if to say,"Ya, Yeah,Ya, I'm going." Never saw him again, or his sign as it rained,rained,rained.

We saw a cub crossing Nina Moose R at the mouth of Lake Agnes last spring. No mama around that we could see.

Two years ago, in the Gunflint area, we were eating lunch and a bear came into our site... we made noise but it did not deter him from entering into our space. We grabbed our food bag and jumped in the canoe and paddled from shore ( yes, I know bears can swim) and watched him stand and sniff around our site. He actually pounced on my tent and ran off in the woods... we moved across the lake.

I think it had to do with us burying our fish remains poorly behind our site the night before. That being said, I won't even clean fish at camp anymore. Once it was all said and done it was a cool experience but I was definitely scared at the time.

I know it is rare to see them or have them enter your camp… so I have heard at least.

Seen this guy near Hegman Lake.

The year of the UPS strike we saw several, but only four since then. Only one was in our camp, he sniffed the tent where my wife left a pack of cherry rolaids in the tent pouch, but left very quickly when my dog barked.

No bears in camp in 24 years and 56 canoe trips. Only have seen 5 bears in all that time, away from camp.

1 in-camp bear experience. Our group was camped on Baskatong and we were finishing up our dinner of hot dogs. Ou food pack was sitting about 5 feet behind the sitting/fire area. A bear wandered right up and grabbed our food pack (which probably weighed 80 lbs) and ran off into the woods. Nothing we could do but listen and watch him devour the contents of our pack. He would not leave and we didn't feel like trying to separate him from the food. So we paddled back to the entry point, drove to Tofte to stay the night.

The bear ended up eating pretty much everything in our pack (5 days worth of food for 6 guys) except the dried pasta.

Next day we reloaded on food and returned for our gear, packed up camp and moved to Kawasachong. A few days later while on that site the rangers stopped by and asked us if we had been bothered by the bear on that site. There was fresh bear scat 20 feet back from camp. Never saw the bear, but there was once that probably paid us a visit during the night.

I guess that trip was the exception for Bears, because in 25+ trips that is the only time we have had one in camp.

My wife and I got to see one swimming across Long Island Lake last August. My impression was that it was working the shoreline, heading towards our camp when it got wind of our dogs. The bear started swimming across the lake about 100 yards from us. We didn't see it until it was swimming so everything I've said is just conjecture.

Driving into Ely this morning we saw a nice boar standing on the side of Rt 1 about 10 miles out of town. He turned and trotted back into the woods. We got a full side view- nice black spring pelt. I have seen bears on my last two trips up here and three years ago we stopped to look at a dead juvenile on the side of 53 just north of Eau Claire WI.

Only seen one bear in Minnesota ever, on the Sawbill Trail last June. Seen more in the UP of Michigan. It's the hippos that worry me more than the bears.

Have seen several in Voyageurs Nat'l Park (and a few in my backyard, and one on my deck!) but none in the BW. Keep a clean camp and hope that those before you did the same.

Several years ago, moose plums and myself watched a bear rip apart a campsite on Crooked on an island between Saturday and Sunday bays.We even canoed up to the island and video taped the bear eating there gorp just down the path from their campsite.We went ashore and checked out the camp to access the damage. These guys (who were off fishing)had half eaten breakfast still on the griddle and they had their food in a cooler under a tarp on the ground in their camp. We went back to our campsite on an island about 1/4 mile away and watched the bear make a couple more raids on their camp before they came back from fishing.

We also had a bear check out where were cleaning fish about 100 yards from our camp on Agnes one year.

In my 140 days or so paddling here I've never seen one. While I take it most people store food properly in camp I always figured since there is plenty of people food laying around at portages in packs and I never hear about them dragging packs off or shredding them that bears are not much of a problem here.

Had one try to make off with our food pack last year on the portage between Snowbank and Disappointment. Took 3 of us yelling and throwing rocks to get it to back off - reluctantly at that. Also saw one on an island in the western end of Knife Lake a few years back. 2 bears in about 80 total days up there - not bad.

I just returned from a week long trip in the Malberg / Kawishiwi River area and we had a bear walk thru camp twice. The first time was in the middle of the day; we noticed the tracks when we got back to camp for lunch. The second time was in the middle of the night. One of the food barrels got moved about 30 feet and it uncoiled my two anchor ropes that were on the ground next to my canoe. Also moved a few small things around both times, but nothing major.

Bear story