Re: [Philmont]: Bears

Without the bear precautions that Philmont has instituted, I think
there would be dangerous encounters with bears. I made two trips to
Philmont in the 1970's and bear encounters were routine. Procedures
were quite different then - excess food was buried and bear bags were
hung on the best available limb. Bears wandered through all of the
campsites at night, looking for scraps, digging-up buried trail food
and climbing trees to snatch the bear bags. If someone had food in
their tent (which happened more frequently than today), a bear might
just stick his head in the tent and nose around (there were no zippers
or floors on those old canvas tents). I don't know how many of the
stories of bear maulings were true, but the rangers told us several.

Thanks to the strict bear procedures that Philmont has adopted, bears
are infrequently seen and rarely cause problems. Problem bears are
easier to identify and are removed or destroyed. In 2002, our Troop
had a trip planned to Philmont - there were drought conditions and
forest fires. While watching the national news with my son, we saw a
report of a 90-year-old woman in Raton, NM that had been killed by a
bear in her home when she tried to chase it out with a broom. My son
was a little concerned and asked me if Raton was close to Philmont. I
explained that Philmont's bear precautions were better than Raton's (I
hoped it was true). Prior to our arrival at Philmont (we were there
during week 1), a bear tore-out a wall in the Phillips Junction
commissary to get to the food - it was his last meal and the staff
installed electric fences around the comissaries. As Brian Martin
wrote, our only bear encounter was enjoyable.

Take the bear procedures seriously, for the good everyone.

Dan Preston
Troop 319
Louisville, KY
On Jun 1, 2005, at 12:38 AM, Rick Tyler wrote:

> I grew up backpacking in the Sierra Nevada, where bears are numerous
> and talented. I've had backpacking partners had to chase bears
> through Little Yosemite Valley to retrieve a pack (the bear was
> carrying the whole thing), and had bears scratch my car's paint and
> rip the bottom out of a completely empty pack. In 40-ish years of
> travel in the Sierras I've had backcountry bear problems twice.
>
> So, the question is, how many bear sightings does the typical crew
> usually have? If someone accidentally gets a spot of toothpaste on
> their Bibler tent, do they really have to ritually dispose of it? I
> know I'm getting facetious, but how much of this bear advice is good
> advice that is rarely required, and how much is it sober precautions
> for a real risk? I'm mostly interested in stories from folks that
> have been there. I already understand the argument, "It's a good
> practice and it certainly doesn't hurt anything."
>
> We teach bear-awareness here in Washington, but I have to confess that
> the local wildlife are a bunch of wimps compared to the chipmunks,
> raccoons, squirrels, jays, and bears of the Sierra Nevada. I have
> routinely done all sorts of really silly things with food here in
> Washington, and have never had an animal problem. We teach
> food-discipline, but it just doesn't seem to matter here.
>
> So, is Northern New Mexico really like the high Sierra, or are we just
> being properly cautious?
>
> Yours in Scouting,
>
> Rick Tyler
> Assistant Scoutmaster
> Troop 575, Chief Seattle Council
>
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-------------------------------------------------------
As you gather around this virtual campfire with fellow
Scouts and Scouters, do your best to be trustworthy,
loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient,
cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.
-------------------------------------------------------

 
Received on Wed Jun 1 18:42:07 2005