Recommendation? Does Snoring attract or scare bears?!

Low_rez

Low_rez

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I go camping every once and a while with friends but I have plans for a few short trips going solo ahead. As I get older, I find myself snoring sometimes if I am sleeping in a bad position. I am a hammock camper and am sleeping more soundly now. However, does anyone have any idea if snoring attracts bears or scares them away?
 
Curious noises should attract bears, I assume you mean black bears . This time of year yearlings on their own are curious . A dog might be a good warning system.
If pestered by a bear Don't Run !! Use a loud whistle like my 'Storm' and swing you arms around !
 
Probably attract, but curious, not hungry, so you should be fine.... should... get a smatchet
 
I've got bear spray but generally in my area of California, black bears are prevalent.
I'm more likely to see mountain lions on a hiking trip than bears around here.
 
I had a bear tell me that they look at snoring like a pop up timer on a turkey.
When they hear the snoring it means "Ready to eat".
 
I woke up to my own snoring while backpacking near the Housatonic River on the NY/CT border on the Appalachian Trail. To my surprise, something was snoring on the other side of my tent and it was big and black and a bear. This was on a solo trip and very true. Don't know if they're always attracted to snoring, but it's warm, stinky breath 1 to 2" from me through that tent is something I'll never forget.
 
I read an article a couple years ago that re-examined recorded black bear attacks and argued that many of them were actually due the bears hunting the person for food. Their opinion was that the popular ideas that black bears only attacking if cubs were present or something was wrong with it were incorrect.
 
ColeKiraKnives said:
I woke up to my own snoring while backpacking near the Housatonic River on the NY/CT border on the Appalachian Trail. To my surprise, something was snoring on the other side of my tent and it was big and black and a bear. This was on a solo trip and very true. Don't know if they're always attracted to snoring, but it's warm, stinky breath 1 to 2" from me through that tent is something I'll never forget.
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Are you saying the bear laid down and went to sleep near your tent ?
. . . well don't leave it there ! ! ! !
What happened next ? ? ? ?
What did you do ?
What did you not do ? (like get up and go out for a leak . . . like for ever and ever until it left ?)
details . . . I need input . . . I'm hanging on a cliff here
. . . please

PS: the best I can do is say I once woke up to gnawing at my mosquito netting . . .
it was a skunk gnawing at my sprouts throughout the screen . . . at my feet. I think it just moseyed off when I woke up. Yah I know food in the tent bad. This was a highly populated area just outside a small mountain town. I was there to visit friends and was on a bicycle trip so just off the road.
 
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Alan G. said:
I read an article a couple years ago that re-examined recorded black bear attacks and argued that many of them were actually due the bears hunting the person for food. Their opinion was that the popular ideas that black bears only attacking if cubs were present or something was wrong with it were incorrect.
Click to expand...
I'm presuming the implication of the article was the bears were attracted to the people because they associated their presence with whatever food they were carrying (Snickers, pb&j, Gatorade powder, etc.). More and more people encroaching wild habitat and its fauna, and a lot of them have sloppy practices like throwing food wrappers down as they travel and never even considering a bear bag. Black bears have many more easy meals than trying to take down a 6 ft adult male - like a hiker's lunch or wild berry bushes, for instance.

Wowbagger said:
Are you saying the bear laid down and went to sleep near your tent ?
. . . well don't leave it there ! ! ! !
What happened next ? ? ? ?
What did you do ?
What did you not do ? (like get up and go out for a leak . . . like for ever and ever until it left ?)
details . . . I need input . . . I'm hanging on a cliff here
. . . please

PS: the best I can do is say I once woke up to gnawing at my mosquito netting . . .
it was a skunk gnawing at my sprouts throughout the screen . . . at my feet. I think it just moseyed off when I woke up. Yah I know food in the tent bad. This was a highly populated area just outside a small mountain town. I was there to visit friends and was on a bicycle trip so just off the road.
Click to expand...
R U OK?
 
Wowbagger said:
Are you saying the bear laid down and went to sleep near your tent ?
. . . well don't leave it there ! ! ! !
What happened next ? ? ? ?
What did you do ?
What did you not do ? (like get up and go out for a leak . . . like for ever and ever until it left ?)
details . . . I need input . . . I'm hanging on a cliff here
. . . please

PS: the best I can do is say I once woke up to gnawing at my mosquito netting . . .
it was a skunk gnawing at my sprouts throughout the screen . . . at my feet. I think it just moseyed off when I woke up. Yah I know food in the tent bad. This was a highly populated area just outside a small mountain town. I was there to visit friends and was on a bicycle trip so just off the road.
Click to expand...
The bear's breathing against my face sounded just like a person snoring. I set up camp near a lake just off the AT and caught about 20 fat perch and ate a few for dinner. That night a bear came to visit. I had with me a Beretta 21a .22lr with me, that and a folding camp shovel. After I woke up, the bear lingered around camp for a while, it never bothered me. At daybreak, my campsite was lightly trashed and my hiking boots had been chewed on. Took me a while to find the second one. The bear was attracted to camp by me. In all honesty, this was about 1995 and that area of NY/CT didn't really have as many bear in the area as they do today. I was a bit careless.
 
my hiking boots had been chewed on. Took me a while to find the second one.

Glad you weren't chewed on and no one had to look for your pieces.

Maybe it's like the locals (before us white dudes) said "the bear is our brother".
here ya go
hahahaha
I have had two black bears in my driveway. That I know of. Oh yah . . . and one directly across the street dismantling the vertical slat fence. Sounded like someone slamming hunks of three quarter plywood down on the driveway right out side our window as hard as they could.
anyway
One time one was trying to knock the lid off our trash can which was out at the curb for pick up the night before. The Chef said what's that noise ? Sounds like the trash can being messed with. I said a bear is trying to get in it. She said don't let him get into it there is broken glass in there.
I said "? ? ? ? ? ?aaaaaaauuuuhhhhhh?"
Then I did the obvious thing . . . right . . . I opened the window and said to the bear That's not for bears there is broken glass in there.
and I swear to Bob . . . it looked up at me in the window, looked at me as if to say right mate, thanks for telling me and it got down off the trash can and slowly wandered off.
just like that.
Smart bear.
 
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I don't dislike black bears. But, if they want to eat me, I will have my bear medicine (.45 Long Colt) ready in hand.
 
This is [June ] mating season for bears .The little ones can hold in your hand are born 6 months later .There is a medical term for that .The 1.5 year olds are pushed out of the den and the mother mates again. The young bears , on their own can be like teenagers ,very curious ,get into trouble .Bears spend most of their time looking for food. They have tremendous sense of smell , better than any dog. Bears are also VERY strong .One did a good job here on a metal dumpster ,tearing welds etc !!
Just in the news is a black bear that ate someone's pet donkey in CT. Me ? I've never had a problem with bears . I just say hello , they walk away .
 
mete said:
This is [June ] mating season for bears .The little ones can hold in your hand are born 6 months later .There is a medical term for that .The 1.5 year olds are pushed out of the den and the mother mates again. The young bears , on their own can be like teenagers ,very curious ,get into trouble .Bears spend most of their time looking for food. They have tremendous sense of smell , better than any dog. Bears are also VERY strong .One did a good job here on a metal dumpster ,tearing welds etc !!
Just in the news is a black bear that ate someone's pet donkey in CT. Me ? I've never had a problem with bears . I just say hello , they walk away .
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The donkey that was eaten is about 15 miles from me. The bear had come around the night before and spooked the 3 miniature donkeys. Came back the next night and got one. Killed it and ate a hind quarter. There's been a whole lot of bear activity lately around here. The state legislature just shot down a hunting season right before this incident. The ones I've encountered really don't seem to have any fear of me or my dog. There was one in my old neighborhood that specialized in mugging the extra fridge that a lot of people have in their garages. He would just tear the door off the hinges if he couldn't figure out how to open it. They had to put him down. Over 350 lbs!--KV
 
I moved to NC from NJ and NJ is loaded with bears. I've been 6' from a 598lb bear that was getting at apples on the other side of my truck. NJ Fish & Game captured and relocated this nuisance bear 2 days later. There were always bears in my yard or quit a hunting club because it was overrun with bears (before NJ bear season was reinstated). I've also hunted bear in Quebeq and the bears up there know you're there and don't care. From my observations, bears are like big dumb dogs that eat and shit all day. There was a Rutgers student killed by a bear in NJ not far from me. It chewed on him for a while before being shot and killed. Not a good way to go.
 
Good question but in all seriousness get checked out for Sleep Apnea, its a silent killer (just like many critters in the wild) and you don't have to be overweight to have it. Stoppages of breathing is the critical factor but snoring is also very common with sufferers of the condition.
 
I don't know about snoring. But one of my wife's garlic farts may actually prove to be fatal for an average sized black bear.
 
kvaughn said:
The donkey that was eaten is about 15 miles from me. The bear had come around the night before and spooked the 3 miniature donkeys. Came back the next night and got one. Killed it and ate a hind quarter. There's been a whole lot of bear activity lately around here. The state legislature just shot down a hunting season right before this incident. The ones I've encountered really don't seem to have any fear of me or my dog. There was one in my old neighborhood that specialized in mugging the extra fridge that a lot of people have in their garages. He would just tear the door off the hinges if he couldn't figure out how to open it. They had to put him down. Over 350 lbs!--KV
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Update-The bear came back for a second helping of donkey. The caretaker took him down with a couple 12 ga. slugs. Weighed 557 lbs!!
 
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