BWCA Bear on SA Knife? Boundary Waters Trip Planning Forum
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06/12/2018 06:15PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
On May 24, we pulled into the site 1432 in SA Knife. We were stopping for a lunch break so hadn't planned to camp there. We noticed someone had apparently had some bear problems there and tried to warn future campers. I attached 3 photos... kinda hard to read, but 2 say 'bear'written in the sand, the 3rd just to give it a bit of context.
Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of this... and would you have ignored the warnings and stayed there?


 
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UncleBuck
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06/12/2018 07:41PM  
Here is the note we found on the fire grate on the island site on SAK (site 1430 I think) last August 23rd:



06/12/2018 08:19PM  
Personally, I would have moved on, Gary. I can't remember this many threads at one time about problem bears - it must have been a hard winter/spring for them . . . ?
onepaddleshort
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06/12/2018 08:59PM  
We watched this one swim across to the island just north of that site a few years ago. Seems like a common area for bear encounters.

06/12/2018 09:08PM  
Yeh, that's been a big bear area for a while, a lot longer than I've been involved in this stuff.
06/12/2018 10:06PM  
ghamer: "On May 24, we pulled into the site 1432 in SA Knife. We were stopping for a lunch break so hadn't planned to camp there. We noticed someone had apparently had some bear problems there and tried to warn future campers. I attached 3 photos... kinda hard to read, but 2 say 'bear'written in the sand, the 3rd just to give it a bit of context.
Does anyone have any first hand knowledge of this... and would you have ignored the warnings and stayed there?


"


Nice of them to do that for other people. From everything I have seen posted here SAK is considered problem bear territory. Some folks have no issue, others have their pack taken. I imagine it is hit or miss depending on time of year and whether or not there have been sloppy capers around before you got there. I would advise caution and a bit of research to see where they may or may not be. I am all for Yogi hanging around as long as he is not doing it in my site. No offense if you're reading this Cliff, you can hang out at my site anytime. :)
06/13/2018 07:28AM  
Wife and I were fixing to pull up on 1432 a few years ago. Another group paddled toward us to warn they'd been "run off" the site by a bear a few minutes prior. I wasn't too worried. Wife was having none of it!

I'd blame habituation long before any real conditions faced by the bear population.
06/13/2018 07:50AM  
I have a picture of that campsite from 9/2008.



Our tent was set up there about 5 minutes before this picture was taken. He came for breakfast. Never had any issue over night except my wife had a dream we found a black dog there....

Hex
06/13/2018 08:51AM  
Interesting stories and great bear pics Hexnymph and Onepaddleshort! In 40 trips, I have yet to capture a bear on film or memory card.
This year we stayed 2 nights on site 1434, which is about a mile north of the sandy beach site where we saw the messages. Past years we also stayed at sites 1431 and 1433... no sign of bears at any of them, just lucky I guess :-)
campcrafter
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06/15/2018 10:22AM  
First thought on reading title was OP was going to ask if Swiss Army Knife (SAK) was good against bears! :^)

My only bear encounter was on Knife but on west end, not on South Arm.


PatrickE
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06/15/2018 09:28PM  
As I sit at Motel Ely reading this, I am slightly concerned as this area in question is exactly where we are headed tomorrow with plans to base camp. I’ll try to give you guys feedback in a week and see if we had any issues...
analyzer
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06/16/2018 12:31AM  
mr.barley
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06/16/2018 06:12PM  
Stopped to wait out a rain storm on campsite 1437 last year and saw a big bear coil in the middle of the campsite.
06/18/2018 01:06PM  
Bear came into our camp back in 2012 at site 2138. This appears to be a common area for bear encounters so clean up and be aware if you're in that area. On the flip side we've spent multiple nights at site 2040 and never had an issue on that part of the lake.
06/18/2018 08:19PM  
mr.barley: "Stopped to wait out a rain storm on campsite 1437 last year and saw a big bear coil in the middle of the campsite."


What’s a bear coil? Are you talking about scat?
mr.barley
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06/18/2018 08:39PM  
Goldenbadger: "
mr.barley: "Stopped to wait out a rain storm on campsite 1437 last year and saw a big bear coil in the middle of the campsite."



What’s a bear coil? Are you talking about scat?"
Yes, feces.
06/18/2018 08:43PM  
mr.barley: "
Goldenbadger: "
mr.barley: "Stopped to wait out a rain storm on campsite 1437 last year and saw a big bear coil in the middle of the campsite."




What’s a bear coil? Are you talking about scat?"
Yes, feces."


I’ve never heard it called that. I learned something new today!
PatrickE
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06/24/2018 07:04AM  
Well the bear issue did not disappoint. We just came off from the SAK a few days ago after base camping there for a week. First sighting was on Tuesday when I was doing some early morning fishing near sight 1434. Medium sized bear came down to shore to check me out as I was about 10 yards off shore....not aggressive at all, but certainly not shy. We stared at each other for a good 10 minutes then he moved on and lost interest.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. We spotted him again this time 20-30 yards from camp as we cooked up some mac and cheese for dinner. He stayed on the perimeter of camp and with lots of noise compliments of the pots/pans, moved on after 10 minutes. The following morning we ran into a group that was on site 1430. They said around midnight they awoke to a bear coming through the site. It sounded as if they hadn't taken much in the way of precautions and he got into their food packs and trash. The guy I talked to said they tried everything to scare the bear off but he wasn't budging from his new find. The camper also mentioned one of his fellow campers had food in his daypack in one of the tents. It wasn't long before the bear started to get interested in that as well and they just left open all the doors to each tent and retreated to the fire. He said their entire group spent the night sleeping by the fire and would awake every hour or so to the bear coming back to go through the packs once again. Thankfully it didn't sound as if it ruined their trip and he said despite packing up and moving to a different site, they had enough food to make it through the rest of their trip. Exciting adventure nonetheless, but I'd chose our experience over theirs.
 
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