T&T: Bears and cruising

[Faure, Marin]

 > ...I could never figure out the rational behind the pepper spray idea
because I figure that for it to just maybe have some minute effect you
would have to be within 3 or 4 feet of the animal and I just can't see
getting that close to ward the bear off.

Another theory that makes sense at first is if you're camping in bear
country, surround your campsite with mothballs.  The mothballs are
supposed to be unpleasant to bears--- after all cats and dogs don't like
them--- and they will discourage a bear from entering the campsite.  I
thought this made sense until I was told by a First Nations fellow who
was employed by Fisheries Canada that he had heard about this and tried
it at one of his remote camps.  When he returned to the camp after a
day's work at the lake outflow he found that a bear had ripped up his
camp pretty good.  In the process, it had eaten (he assumed) all the
mothballs since they were all gone.  So we never bothered with that one
on our subsequent floatplane trips.

______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington