Wild bear is determined to get campers' food stashed in tree

Wild black bears are beautiful animals. Very shy and reclusive, they are not often seen by humans. They have a keen sense of smell that usually tells them when people are near. This allows them to avoid contact with people in most cases.

But that keen sense of smell is what will also tell them where the food is. Their eyesight is quite poor, especially in daylight, so they rely on their noses to find their meals. This is why campers are wisely advised to keep their food stored in bear proof containers, or better yet, hung high in a tree where the bears cannot reach it. Encounters with bears are fascinating and exciting, but they are also unpredictable, even dangerous. Allowing them access to human food will only teach them to seek out encounters with humans. This can have disastrous consequences for both people, and for the bears.

These campers were suspicious that they had a large bear in the area. They left their camp site daily to explore the woods and trails. They cleaned up their camp, scrubbed all cooking utensils and disposed of wash water far from their camp. They avoided leaving anything edible or fragrant at the camp, and they hung their food in a closed container, suspended from a branch high above the ground. Despite such careful precautions, they found fresh bear tracks throughout their camp site each time they returned.

In an effort to see what was happening at their camp when they left, the couple stationed a trail camera below their food stash. Watching the footage later, they saw this large black bear trying to find a way to get at it. He was quite determined, but he was also too large to climb the tree, and far to large to go out on the small branch. After a few sniffs and grumbles, and a couple of stretches to get closer, he decided the food was out of reach and he wandered off.