Beware of Bears While Camping

If you are planning on camping and hiking in either the Uinta or Boulder mountains this year, you may have some company.

I don't know if it is the drought that is bringing them out or if there are just getting to be more bears, but if you don't take care of your camp properly you will be ringing the dinner bell for some unwanted guests — guests with bad manners.

First, if you store your food in your tent or if you like a midnight snack of candy, pop, doughnuts, or cookies, you will be inviting a bear or a family of bears right into your tent. And believe me, if they smell those sweets it won't matter if you have the tent flap closed or not.

Never store your food in your tent when you are in bear country. It is the dumbest thing you could possibly do!

Keep your food in your car: (with the doors and windows closed) or hoist it up into a tree (between 10 and 15 feet).

Don't clean fish in or near your camp and don't leave the fish entrails lying around — unless you want to see a bear up close and personal.

Don't leave your ice chest sitting out where a bear can get to it. As you can see from the pictures, bears have no problem getting into and eating anything you have in the chest.

Bears will drink your milk, soda pop or beer (yes, they can open the cans), they will rip your cooler apart and will tear your tent down if they think they will get an easy meal out of it.

Take the bears seriously and keep your food out of their reach. If you do that one simple thing you won't have any bear problems on your high country camping trips this year.