I'm sure many of you have had encounters with black bears during your trips, but out of my 15+ trips to the BW I have never seen one.

I typically launch out of the Grand Marais area which may be the reason why I have never seen any. I have heard that bears are typically more centrally located in the BWCA and near major traveling routes (Kawishiwi River & Basswood Lake).

Have any of you had bear encounters in the Grand Marais area???

Yes...lots of bears along the GUnflint near GM.

Yes, there are bears in the Grand Marais (Gunflint/Sawbill) area. Two of the three bears I've seen in the BW were in that area. I've never had one in camp that I know of though, but I may have slept through it.

No personal encounters but they had to close camping on Caribou and Little Caribou (off Clearwater, not Poplar) in 2013 because a bear was very habituated to people/campsites and was acting aggressively!

Before our first trip, I spent the winter and spring trying to convince my tripping parter the same thing: "Bears are rare up there. Guys who've been going for 35 years say they've never seen one!" He was convinced that his kids would be dragged off and eaten in the woods by one.

So imagine my surprise, when, just out of Grand Marais up the Gunflint, not one but two young bears run across the road right in front of us not 5 minutes apart. I nearly choked myself laughing.

Two encounters on the gunflint side....first one crossed the road in front of me on the way to our entry point off the GF Trail (2007)....second encounter was on the Granite River in 2016, encountered a bear swimming across the river in front of us.

Mike

Last week I was north of Quetico. I saw two bear, and four moose. That’s more than I’ve seen in the BWCA in 20 years.

Had a chocolate bear in camp on Burnt lake.

Killed a black one on Disappointment lake that had been raiding campers all that summer.
Talked with a group of women coming out at the landing.

They said that it had bothered them for a couple of days and that night It grabbed. One of the guides by the foot and tried too the drag her into the bush.

The rest of the group chased it off her.

She told me what happen and I saw the teeth marks on her foot.

This was on the road into Tuscarora....right by the Cross Bay entry parking lot

Never had a bear encounter. Never want to.

We hang our food quite far from camp, but that's ZERO guarantees.

I've definitely heard of bears in the Grand Marais area.

Best of luck.

The USA population of bears is most dense in the BWCA. These bears are the most blood thirsty known to exist. To encourage folks paying to camp there, the USFS has suppressed many reports of folks being killed and eaten by bears. Truth be told, bears killing people in the park is rampant. Stay home. If you value your life, DO NOT visit the Boundary Waters.

Andy if it was a park I might agree with you but it is not a park just part of the national forest system.

cowdoc: "This was on the road into Tuscarora....right by the Cross Bay entry parking lot "

Yeah, I saw that one too in Sept. 2015. There was a mom and cub feeding by the road when I was walking back from Round Lake.

Yup....it was Sept 2015, and she had a cub with her.

cowdoc: "This was on the road into Tuscarora....right by the Cross Bay entry parking lot "

We saw one on that road years ago too.

My brother saw a small black bear last weekend while on a short bike ride near the judge c.r. magney campground.

AndySG: "The USA population of bears is most dense in the BWCA. These bears are the most blood thirsty known to exist. To encourage folks paying to camp there, the USFS has suppressed many reports of folks being killed and eaten by bears. Truth be told, bears killing people in the park is rampant. Stay home. If you value your life, DO NOT visit the Boundary Waters."

Ha! Nice try, Andy.

mjmkjun: "

AndySG: "The USA population of bears is most dense in the BWCA. These bears are the most blood thirsty known to exist. To encourage folks paying to camp there, the USFS has suppressed many reports of folks being killed and eaten by bears. Truth be told, bears killing people in the park is rampant. Stay home. If you value your life, DO NOT visit the Boundary Waters."

Ha! Nice try, Andy. "

Andy tells the truth. There are stories coming out now of bears baiting canoeists in the BWWCA. You find yourself on a portage and there, just a little ways in the woods, is a card table with tasty S'mores. "FREE," the sign says, but everything comes with a cost, which you discover as you reach for the treat and bears rappel out of trees. No, they don't eat you, but they do take your de facto pic-a-nic baskets, leaving you with S'mores and nothing more.

missmolly: "

mjmkjun: "

AndySG: "The USA population of bears is most dense in the BWCA. These bears are the most blood thirsty known to exist. To encourage folks paying to camp there, the USFS has suppressed many reports of folks being killed and eaten by bears. Truth be told, bears killing people in the park is rampant. Stay home. If you value your life, DO NOT visit the Boundary Waters."

Ha! Nice try, Andy. "

Andy tells the truth. There are stories coming out now of bears baiting canoeists in the BWWCA. You find yourself on a portage and there, just a little ways in the woods, is a card table with tasty S'mores. "FREE," the sign says, but everything comes with a cost, which you discover as you reach for the treat and bears rappel out of trees. No, they don't eat you, but they do take your de facto pic-a-nic baskets, leaving you with S'mores and nothing more. "

What is the best bait for a canoeist a lot depends how long they have been in the
woods.

The longer the time period in the woods the easier they are to bait.

I have found if one wants to end a trip sooner then planed start talking about steaks , pizza and how good they would taste.

So pizza might be a better bait then S'mores

One should also know that they are perfecting their calling techniques.

One should be very wary of calls of FREE BEER FREE BEER or if you are a fisherperson FREE LEECHES FREE LEECHES echoing across the lakes.

I would recommend you approach such calling very carefully.

On the first day of a planned two week back packing trip up the Superior Hiking Trail and the Border Route Trail, my buddy and I were just north of Grand Marais not more then 2 hiking hours into the trip when down the path coming toward us was this pudge of a bear. My friend sees him first, turns to whisper to me, "bear", and we both look back up at it. The bear, who is probably about 40 feet in front of us, keeps shuffling our way. After a second or two, it looks up and from the expression on his face, I could almost hear him say "sh*t! Humans!" before he turned tail and jetted out of there. That was a pretty neat encounter.

treehorn: "No personal encounters but they had to close camping on Caribou and Little Caribou (off Clearwater, not Poplar) in 2013 because a bear was very habituated to people/campsites and was acting aggressively!"

We did a family (wives and kids) Basecamp trip on Pine lake that year. Was expecting lots of people and trouble finding a campsite.

We were amazed that we saw no canoes or people till the 3rd day. We basically had the lake to ourselves.

We later learned about the closures in Caribou and Little Caribou due to the problem bear. We heard the shots when the rangers dispatched the problem bear.

Bears are everywhere. I live in western WI, and my neighbor had pictures of 17 different bears in the neighborhood a few years back. Just this spring, the lady next door saw 6 bears in a group. A large one, two medium size, and three cubs. We have had our bird feeder taken down twice this year.

There are lots of bears.

AndySG: "The USA population of bears is most dense in the BWCA. These bears are the most blood thirsty known to exist. To encourage folks paying to camp there, the USFS has suppressed many reports of folks being killed and eaten by bears. Truth be told, bears killing people in the park is rampant. Stay home. If you value your life, DO NOT visit the Boundary Waters."

ROFLMAO! Hey, Andy! Miss you and your sense of humor!

cowdoc: "Yup....it was Sept 2015, and she had a cub with her.
"

My wife and I saw them there in August that same year.

20+ trips in the bwca plus many daytrips and I have yet to see one in the bwca.

I've seen them crossing the Gunflint Trail 3 times, raiding a dumpster in the East Bearskin Campground once, crossing the Sawbill Trail once, and crossing HWY 1 near Ely once.

I regularly have bears check out my yard north of Two Harbors, MN. Saw one two days ago. Beautiful critters. The only time I've ever had a problem was when I've fed the birds too late into the spring.

I've seen a couple in Quetico over the years--once while I was picking blueberries and eating breakfast on an overlook above Darky Lake, a bear showed up to do the same.

Saw another one swim across Silence Lake.

I've seen MANY bears in the BWCA where they seem to be a bit more homed in on campsites where they might find food scraps. I think a lot of bears go campsite to campsite after dark on the heavier-used lakes to look for opportunities. Most campers are probably unaware.

arctic: " Most campers are probably unaware."

I have thought about brining a game cam just to see what wanders thru after dark but never have.

We were up in Mid June this year, went out through Rockwood outfitters (31 miles up the Gunflint Trail) and on the Wednesday we were on Gaskin Lake they had a bear come through the Lodge area. They said it sniffed around the bunkhouse and shower house before heading on up the trail. We saw two moose while we were on Harseshoe lake that week as well.

Back in 2013 we had a bear in camp on Red Rock Lake. It was my first trip to the BW. We we got back to Voyageur Canoe Outfitters we told them about the bear. Some other customers overheard and they were really bummed. They had been coming to the BW for over 20+ years and had never seen a bear. VCO also had a problem bear two years ago. It broke into there kitchen.

Mike

Have seen many bears in the area, even in GM the town, use to come down and eat the birdseed out of the feeders when mu Grandparents lived on the lake. There use to be a dump outside of GM, we would go and watch the bears feed, no shortage.

I've seen at least one bear along the Gunflint every time I've been up there for the last four years. About 3 years ago, I was packing my canoe at the Seagull Lake landing when a couple of canoes were approaching. They started waving at me so I waved back. Then they started pointing......I turned around and there was a cinnamon color bear crossing the driveway about 25 feet behind me.

riverrunner: "

missmolly: "

mjmkjun: "

AndySG: "The USA population of bears is most dense in the BWCA. These bears are the most blood thirsty known to exist. To encourage folks paying to camp there, the USFS has suppressed many reports of folks being killed and eaten by bears. Truth be told, bears killing people in the park is rampant. Stay home. If you value your life, DO NOT visit the Boundary Waters."

Ha! Nice try, Andy. "

Andy tells the truth. There are stories coming out now of bears baiting canoeists in the BWWCA. You find yourself on a portage and there, just a little ways in the woods, is a card table with tasty S'mores. "FREE," the sign says, but everything comes with a cost, which you discover as you reach for the treat and bears rappel out of trees. No, they don't eat you, but they do take your de facto pic-a-nic baskets, leaving you with S'mores and nothing more. "

What is the best bait for a canoeist a lot depends how long they have been in the
woods.

The longer the time period in the woods the easier they are to bait.


I have found if one wants to end a trip sooner then planed start talking about steaks , pizza and how good they would taste.


So pizza might be a better bait then S'mores

One should also know that they are perfecting their calling techniques.

One should be very wary of calls of FREE BEER FREE BEER or if you are a fisherperson FREE LEECHES FREE LEECHES echoing across the lakes.

I would recommend you approach such calling very carefully."

Riverrunner, so many times I've ridden my bike over to your home and called, "Mrs. Runner! May River come out to play?"

And you never came out to play.

But here, you finally did and you're a cool, funny kid!

Yes, steak and pizza would do the trick.

JATFOMike: "Two encounters on the gunflint side....first one crossed the road in front of me on the way to our entry point off the GF Trail (2007)....second encounter was on the Granite River in 2016, encountered a bear swimming across the river in front of us.


Mike"

I saw my first BWCA bear last year in the Devil's Elbow. It was across the bay from our campsite and seemed to be fat and content over there so we weren't concerned, much.

4 years ago a black bear raided my camp on Caribou Lake just south of the Clearwater Lake EP.

Last year I saw a black bear cross the Gunflint Trail just south of Gunflint Outfitters.

treehorn: "No personal encounters but they had to close camping on Caribou and Little Caribou (off Clearwater, not Poplar) in 2013 because a bear was very habituated to people/campsites and was acting aggressively!"

We took advantage of that to day trip into those lakes -- not many chances to have them to yourself.

The story as it was told to me was that the bear raided the rangers' boat -- they left lunch in it when they left it on Clearwater to scout for the bear. A paddler who portaged into Caribou passed the boat and later caught up with the rangers and asked about their "big dog." It was still in the boat when they got back, as were their guns.



My only actual sighting was a bear swimming across the narrows on Malberg.

I have never seen a bear while canoeing but almost always in transit. On one trip to Wabakimi there were bears by the road every couple of miles or so it seemed. That was when I found out that bears love dandelions. I like seeing bears in the distance.