Quote:
Originally Posted by jhmoore
Mark, were the break-ins in Yosemite? The Yosemite bears are “bad bears”—though less so than several decades ago. You have to be really careful with them and smells (or even some shapes) in your vehicle. That said, I’d worry less with them for my personal safety than Wyoming/Montana bears—even black bears. But behavior is different regionally. You can sleep in your car with food around Jackson Hole—even in heavy grizzly areas—and they won’t bother you. Do that in Yosemite and you might have an interesting night!
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Yes, the Yosemite bears have decades of learning that humans = good food. The Yosemite Valley area habitat can support about 40 bears. The last time I heard there are about 400 bears there. Even though each camper is required to watch a bear smart video and get drilled about food handling, there are still loads of car break-ins and camp raids each year. The park gets so many visitors that even a tiny percentage of idiots still means lots of bear encounters. It is a lot better than decades ago. As in many parks there used to be open pit garbage dumps and some were lit at night so tourists could watch the bears eat. When those were closed and trash was trucked out of the park, the bears went searching for other human food. That’s when car and camp problems skyrocketed. So there are lots of bear problems where there are lots of people like in the valley and Tuolumne Meadows. They are very persistent. If they smell or see food they will keep coming around until they get it or daylight happens. All night long no matter how many times you chase them off. And they teach their techniques to their cubs. The rangers tell a story of catching a bear breaking into a car and eating the food left inside. They blasted it with pepper spray and with it’s eyes swelled shut and tearing it puked then went back into the car to continue eating.
The bears I’ve encountered in the high elevation backcountry are another matter, they’re still afraid of humans and will run when they see or hear you.