Black Bear Encounter on Knife Lake

A mother black bear and her three cubs came into our campsite in the Boundary Waters on Sept 14, 2011 and proceeded to get to our foodpack which was hung 10-12 feet high and 6-8 feet from the tree.

[@BruceMoose]

Very well documented. Just out of curiosity, did you think about trying to scare her away, to hopefully discourage her (and her quick-learning cubs) from being a "problem bear?"

[@Bpetehome]

Black bears are very timid. If you yell at them and throw stuff they generally run away. They are scared of people. Keep a canoe ready to jump into just in case these bears are the exception!

[@3_up_moon]

This bear has clearly done this before and gotten food.

[@abcabcabcabc-lr7ey]

i know that a bear can smell food under water (even with a current). i have seen them do it on bear documentaries. they came out of hibernation and the sow fumbled around along the shoreline until it sniffed out a dead fish that was more than a few feet under the surface and she just stuck her head way down there and came up with it in its mouth. a good reminder to never think you can keep a snack or two in the tent. i am guilty but eventually you wont get away with it.

[@laudanum669]

We were camping on Knife lake in the BWCA. Woke up one morning and there was a bear swinging in circles from our food ruck sack.

[@abcabcabcabc-lr7ey]

a bear has an incredible olfactory sense. if you handled food at all and then sealed it the bear can still smell the residual food on the outside of the barrel. i am not a hunter anymore but as a kid i hunted with my dad who had a reputation for being the best hunter around. deer and bear both have this ability. consider that dogs are trained to find human bodies ON THE BOTTOM of a body of water. they do it successfully using their olfactory sense. you can only hope to keep it in a place that a clever bear can not get to it. pretty incredible though.

[@crowkiller88]

This must have been the same black bear and cubs that came to our camp in mid August. Luckily we scared them off before they did any mischief and we moved the next day. We heard from other campers in the area that these bears had been coming into camps up and down the sites on Knife Lake. One note on the video is that it would have been kind of funny to see it get sling-shotted some how by the rope!

[@twotonecadillac7953]

Thank you sharing this. Everyone should experience a week in the boundary waters here and there.

[@AndrewJamesRiemer]

This just reinforced my theory--that the barrels keep the smells sealed in. If they can't smell the food, they ignore the barrel. On my last trip, I used a bike cable lock to secure my barrel to a tree--just to be sure no bears would haul it away during the night. I think I will forego hanging from now on.

[@StormLaker]

Great idea. I am researching ideas for my next BWCA trip. I"m flying solo, and I really don't feel like going toe to toe with Yogi over my food bag. Happened before, and I swore I'd pack a .44 mag with me after that! Had one sneak up on me at the latrine....not fun.

[@lukepevensie]

these bears are smart

[@redcedarcanoe]

This bear had been raiding campsites in this area of the Boundary Waters for months and had learned from previous experience how to pull a hanging foodpack out of the trees. That was obvious when she arrived at our campsite, stopped under the barrel and evaluated both ends of the rope before deciding which one to attack first. The top of the barrel seals very tight and everything in it was vacuum sealed so the smell was less of an issue than the prior success of a habituated bear.

[@StormLaker]

I had this same issue over on the moose lake route in 95'. That bear was well educated, and was able to bring down a bag held at three anchor points. We had it set up like yours, but then applied tension from a rope attached to another tree. Basically if the bear cut one of the anchors, the bag wouldn't come down far enough for it to grab (in theory). Our other mistake was that our bag was an old army duffel bag. Yogi made pretty quick work of it, and made off with the goods while we slept one night. If I had known at the time a container like this existed, I would have invested in one. Where did you get this setup at? You are right- the container makes all the difference!

[@trevors5216]

Got to LOVE the little cub near the end trying to HELP mom with the harness.....using it's little paw, just like mom.😇 I Love bears..!!

[@absolu222]

Thanks for sharing your experience

[@Jackiedajackass]

they hang their food up in trees so the bears won't get it. Thats funny.

[@bluecollar58]

Scary smart animals.

[@scottw1732]

The Knife Lake bears have a long tradition going back at least 20 years. They will associate any pack hanging in a tree with food and go after it. I have witnessed a bear chewing through the branch until it snapped and dropped the food pack to the ground. And if you have an encounter like this it doesn't mean that you are doing anything wrong. If a bear is successful once it will continue to hit that spot every day for well over a month before it gives up and moves on.

[@warmon6]

Man, been on that lake twice in '05 and '07 and didn't see any wild animals. Great footage though!

[@Quagmire88]

Was that bear jar not air-tight? How did the bear know to go after it? I just ask because they normally do this when they smell food.

[@ToMgRoEbE]

What would you have done if it were successful in stealing your food?

[@trevors5216]

That was incredibly Enjoyable to watch..lol. No disrespect to your Food......but I was kind of ROOTING for the momma bear. Cheers and thanks for sharing.

[@kellylestig4941]

I enjoyed watching this video I found myself rooting for the Bears thanks for sharing

[@redcedarcanoe]

This was in our campsite.

[@resistnine]

how close was this to your camp?

[@redcedarcanoe]

We were within a days travel of our vehicle so we could have gotten out if they had gotten all of our food.

[@tasharyar]

So ingenious: shame they didnt get any food for all that work