[28 / 3 / ?]
Had a strange experience with some bears out in the adirondacks this past weekend. Wondering if anyone has a good explanation.
Gf and I did an overnight in the pharaoh lake wilderness in the eastern dacks. We set up camp near the lake in a designated primitive tent site and followed all the rules for bear country: cooked more than 100ft from tent, hung all food, pots, and toiletries in a bear hang, finished cooking before dark, etc. We were in the tent by 21:30 and were silent by 22:00. About twenty minutes later, I heard a bear grunt that seemed to be about 30ft away. We remained silent; in all honesty I was petrified. I've had bears come through camp before but they've always been silent. A few minutes later I heard another grunt, this time from the other side of the tent and only about 10 ft away. The bears continued to grunt every 10 minutes or so for the next hour.
Eventually I heard movement right next to the tent and heard what sounded like a bear exhaling. It would occasionally brush up next to the tent, sometimes running its paw or face along the rain fly. My gf and I didn't dare make a sound. This went on ALL NIGHT until the sun came up.
I decided not to alert the bears to our presence because it seemed like very strange behavior and I wasn't sure if there were cubs near by. My plan was to remain silent unless the bears started trying to come into the tent, in which case I would start clapping and making noise. If they didn't stop, I only had my mora to defend myself; we were probably gonna get ate.
What the hell happened? We didn't have any food. Shouldn't they have left after not finding anything? Their time could have been better spent looking for food elsewhere but they chose to fuck with us all night instead.
Gf and I did an overnight in the pharaoh lake wilderness in the eastern dacks. We set up camp near the lake in a designated primitive tent site and followed all the rules for bear country: cooked more than 100ft from tent, hung all food, pots, and toiletries in a bear hang, finished cooking before dark, etc. We were in the tent by 21:30 and were silent by 22:00. About twenty minutes later, I heard a bear grunt that seemed to be about 30ft away. We remained silent; in all honesty I was petrified. I've had bears come through camp before but they've always been silent. A few minutes later I heard another grunt, this time from the other side of the tent and only about 10 ft away. The bears continued to grunt every 10 minutes or so for the next hour.
Eventually I heard movement right next to the tent and heard what sounded like a bear exhaling. It would occasionally brush up next to the tent, sometimes running its paw or face along the rain fly. My gf and I didn't dare make a sound. This went on ALL NIGHT until the sun came up.
I decided not to alert the bears to our presence because it seemed like very strange behavior and I wasn't sure if there were cubs near by. My plan was to remain silent unless the bears started trying to come into the tent, in which case I would start clapping and making noise. If they didn't stop, I only had my mora to defend myself; we were probably gonna get ate.
What the hell happened? We didn't have any food. Shouldn't they have left after not finding anything? Their time could have been better spent looking for food elsewhere but they chose to fuck with us all night instead.
