Got up early and headed west. Our taxi was scheduled to pick us up at Prairie Portage at 4pm but we did not want to run into the midday wind so we skipped morning fishing and headed out. Have to say I was ready to leave as the anxiety from the bear encounter had mostly subsided and we had time to have rational discussions over what took place and why, but it was time to go home. We had talked about stopping back at the bear encounter site on the way out to collect any gear that might be left behind if we could find it. We arrived at the site and it was occupied but I could not get my fellow paddler to go ashore so I could talk to them about the bears so they would be aware, or to look for my gear. I hated to leave my stuff behind and especially to leave the litter. I had written off my gear at this point but hated to leave my stuff so that others might stumble upon and think some slobs had trashed the wilderness. I did not know if I would be able to find the stuff but figured the bears would likely not have drug it far into the trees.

We made it to Prairie Portage around 11am, 5 hours ahead of our pickup time and mulled over whether we should just paddle out or wait. The weather seemed to stay calm so we decided to paddle it out and luckily the wind did not come up at all. At Prairie Portage we came upon a family who must have only stayed one night and had had enough. They said they were due to be picked up on Sunday and would appreciate it when we paddled out if we would call their outfitter to send a taxi to meet them at the portage. They were an odd bunch.

Recap I think what bothered us the most about the bears was that they came out into the open at the campsite knowing we were there and not caring. We had not cooked food so the scent from our lunch should not have been overwhelming. The donuts were in their bag, in double ziplocks, and zipped up inside my daypack so it seems doubtful to me that their scent was overpowering. I suppose if a bear was close enough they could smell them but they would have to be in the area anyway. One of the other things that bothers me quite a bit is what we could have done different to avoid the encounter. I know we had food unsecured but again we were not cooking and what would have kept the bears from coming into our campsite at night after we had cooked? Or while we were doing dishes? So, I have a tough time thinking what we could have done differently – obviously pack the donuts away in the hanging pack but again we were in the campsite a mere few yards away making plenty of noise talking and carrying on. I think we mostly were at the wrong campsite at the wrong time. The bears were likely already near the campsite prior to us arriving and since this is a heavily traveled area, they were habituated towards humans and were not afraid of them at all. I regret the part I likely played in keeping them habituated in that we inadvertently fed them – rewarding bad bear behavior. Thinking back, even the next day after our encounter, we knew it was a chance meeting and was extremely unlikely that we would have another run in with bears on the trip. But the underlying paranoia stayed with us the rest of the trip about if a bear might come into camp during the night or stroll right in during a meal. If the first bears had been even the slightly bit scared of us or if we had been able to chase them off I think we would have been more confident. But the fact that they were not scared of us at all made us more scared of them than would otherwise be normal. They were never aggressive towards us but at what point would that mother bear decide to protect her offspring had we not left?

We will both go back to the BWCA, perhaps just not the two of us alone. We will probably make the next few trips with a larger party simply because of strength in numbers. I am glad I made it back to the BWCA after 15 years and hope to resume annual trips each year.

I emailed and left a phone message with the Forest Service station responsible for that area with information on the human habituated bears but never heard a work in response. Am a little peeved at the lack of follow up but hopefully they got the message and put out a notice for the area. Also told our outfitter so they could give folks a heads up.

If anyone reading this stays at the campsite 2 miles east of Isle of Pines, on the east end of a south shore peninsula (I think the island/peninsula has two sites on it) and they come across my gear please drop me an email at: pintailed@hotmail.com I don’t really expect to get any of it back but am curious to know how things played out with the bears, where things ended up, etc. and I would like to know if someone found it and hopefully packed it out so little if anything was left behind. The pack was one I got when I presented at the Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference in Grand Rapids, Michigan and has the conference title/logo on it so it is pretty identifiable. Contents included: Two fishing reels (one brand new) Book – something about Churchill Digital Camera Journal Sunblock, bug spray Toiletries 2 flashlights Pair of leather gloves Batteries Owner’s manual for a Garmin GPSMAP 60 CSX