Just curious what the deal is with regard to food storage while flying into most of these FS strips, in Idaho and Montana in particular, ya know, Grizz country. I'm headed out there this summer(first time flying in) for a month or so, and will be camping out as much as I can stand it. I suppose JC gets enough traffic that the bears are somewhat "educated" and stay clear, at least most of the time. However, some of these strips are pretty remote looking, and Bears being Bears, they'll surely get a "wiff" and come in for a closer look. Are there "bear boxes" for food storage at some?, most? ,none? of these Forrest Service strips. Or, do we just hang it up in a tree, away from camp, preferably downwind!

Thanks

Skip Harwood

I don't know if I would call it "Grizz Country"... Black bears yes but not many grizzlies at all unless you're really near Glacier like at Schaffer Meadows or somewhere else in the Bob Marshall Wilderness area then you might be able to call it "Grizz Country". In the Selway or Frank Church wilderness (which covers a ton of the FS strips) your more likely to have problems with wolves than grizzlies. However, the black bears can be troublesome if you don't take care of your foodstuffs.

I spend a month or more in these parts every year and have never spotted a grizz.... Many black bears but no grizzlies to speak of. The forest service claims there are no grizzlies in the Selway but apparently a guy hunting black bear two years ago shot one claiming he thought it was a black bear.

Having said this, I always feel better if my food is not where I am sleeping...black bears can do some damage too. A kid in Spanish Fork Canyon (UT) was pulled from his tent last year and killed by a black bear. You can either buy a bear box or hang your food in a tree on a limb that won't support a bear. Either way, you will want to store it at least 100 yrds from camp and avoid cooking right were you are sleeping... not a good practice if you want to keep critters out of camp.

This might go without saying, but while your at it, you might want to store it away from your airplane too. Probably not a big risk in the lower 48, but I've seen pictures of fabric airplanes damaged by curious critters. I don't think ceconite and plexiglas are enough to stop a bear from getting to that package of bacon you left sitting on the front seat.

I believe in the old saying "You don't have to outrun the bear, you just have to outrun your friend." That's why all my friends are fat and slow. Ugly, too. That's in case we meet a fox!

Darin

I hadn't even thought about wolves, cool.

Clearly Black bears are more of a problem in the lower 48 but the problem with the FS or FW "company line" is all too often they have a politically motivated agenda. There are Jobs to keep, grant money and fiefdoms at stake to protect, expanding range and taking them off the endangerd lists "kills" that.

15-20 year ago we were bowhunting Elk in the late rut in Western Wyoming, SE of Yellowstone and the basin we were in was absolutley lousy with Grizzlies. Even had them come in to bugle and cow calls. Maybe the Idaho habitat is poor for Grizzlies in general, I don't know, just hope to find out.

So the answer to my question is, your on your own, NO bear boxes supplied onsite, bring your own.

Thanks for the heads up

SH

Hello Backcountry Pilots,
You don't have to worry about these North Idaho bears anymore. Glad to help out.

James

Hey James,


I shot this guy in '92 in Northern Alberta with a Longbow and Arrows that I made . 20" Pope &Young.

BTW: There wasn't supposed to be any Grizzly in our area up there. Turns out, that wasn't exactly true either.

WSH, now that is a black bear! You have way bigger stones than I have shooting that with a longbow and homemade arrows. Was it a stalk or did you bait and shoot from a stand?

There are tons of wolves in the Selway now. We hear them all the time at the cabin. My brother's father in law owns a giant cattle ranch 60 miles south of Salmon and just recently was issued a "shoot on site" permit due to confirmed wolf kills of cattle... He has shot 1 that I know of and his permit is good for 60 days.

Wyoming, particularly around Yellowstone, is grizzly heaven. As you said, they will come into elk calls all the time...that is why you are carying that .44 Mag on you hip.

James, we have raccoons up here in the northeast bigger than that bear .

Skip, now THAT is a black Bear

Tim

Darin

I didn't phrase it very well but the Longbow was "homemade" and I just fletched and "assembled" the arrows. Started making and shooting wooden arrows later on down the road.

Anyway, shot him over "bait". We tried some spot and stalk but the bush was just to thick. We had one chance stalking a smaller Cinnamon phase, found him eating grass around a bog. Basically just stumbled on him but it was impossible to make a move and he ended just feeding away and off into the bush before we could get the wind in our favor. That's bowhunting 99% of the time, real close, just can't close the deal.

Later

SH

Tim,

Hey I got your video. I didn't recognize that "fat bastage" at first trying to get in the car. Then it hit me, "Oh that's me, at the Tennessee fly-in!"

Thanks, very thoughtful of you!

Skip

My dad and I were elk hunting about three or four years ago in the Middle Fork of the Payette River drainage, just a few miles north of Garden Valley, when we jumped a bear that I'm about 90% sure it was a grizz. Didn't get a good enough look to be positive it was, but it sure looked like it had a big ol' hump on his front shoulders. Got to talking with another hunter we ran into a little while later, and he said he saw some in there 25 years ago while archery hunting. He's hunted with a rifle ever since. So there is a few out there.

Since we're putting up hunting pics, there's a few of these running around JC, hard to see without dogs though

Student BCP,
There are more than a few of those big cats running around that area...they are all over! My brother trees them with his dogs all the time in the hills around Hamilton, MT.

There are bear boxes to place food in at Meadow Creek, Schafer Meadows, and I'm not sure about Spotted Bear... Spotted Bear has more of an urban feel as the road runs right by it. Just saw elk on the runway there last week. Still a great place to camp though.

Doth

doth wrote:There are bear boxes to place food in at Meadow Creek, Schafer Meadows, and I'm not sure about Spotted Bear... Spotted Bear has more of an urban feel as the road runs right by it. Just saw elk on the runway there last week. Still a great place to camp though.

Thanks for the information.

WSH wrote:Doth

doth wrote:There are bear boxes to place food in at Meadow Creek, Schafer Meadows, and I'm not sure about Spotted Bear... Spotted Bear has more of an urban feel as the road runs right by it. Just saw elk on the runway there last week. Still a great place to camp though.

Thanks for the information.

Doth is right, there are permanent bear boxes at Schafer and Meadow Creek and Spotted Bear. And its smart to use them. Any of those three strips and Benchmark too are in prime grizzly country.