First, thanks to all the members here on HF for the knowledge and willingness to share it.
Living in Illinois affords me the pleasure of not having to deal with bears. Hence my hesitations.......
At the end of May I will be going on a remote fly-in fishing trip to Northern Ontario Canada. We drive up to Red Lake and then take a float plane another 100 miles north to a cabin on the side of a lake. We will be there for 5 days. It is the closest thing to heaven on earth I have ever experienced. This will be my 7th time up there.
Grabbing two trees next to the lake for a hang makes me want to go even more this year.....but this is bear country. There are actually claw marks on the back side of the cabin we stay in where a bear was trying to gain access.
I have read all the proper things to do, and not to do when you are camping in bear country, but let me give you a peak into the "normal" Practices up there.
All food scraps are burned in the wood fire stove daily. Sending cooked food smells lofting into the air. Fish are cleaned right out side the cabin daily on a large plywood table. The guts are brought to a small island 150-200 yards away by boat and dumped in a pile for the eagles to eat. (awesome to see a half dozen or more eagles come in for dinner). We have seen fresh bear scat on that little island. I am not sure what the group before us does with there fish scraps. Could be in a pile somewhere in the back of the cabin.
We have this entire lake and probably the surronding 50 mile to ourselves. We have started to rent a Sat phone for emergencies, (no cell service that far up)as we are only checked on MABEY once a week, weather permitting. If something were to happen (bear attack) it could definitely turn life threatening due to the remoteness of it all. We do take mile long portages down trails shared by these same Bears and Moose alike and don't think twice about doing that. We do make constant noise as to alert all the creatures in the area of our invasion. But the idea of just hanging there like a giant human taco for some hungry bear gives me pause.
All advice and comments welcome!!
Right now I am leaning toward giving it a shot. Barring comments from the collective knowledge here at HF, at least for one night. I am not sure getting further from the cabin would be an answer or not.......
Thanks
Carl
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