Got back from a trip to Kodiak, and we definitely agree with what others are saying about bears. Luckily for us, our bear fence worked-- No pics, just a story. ( It was early morning and kinda dark, so we didn't get any pictures of the fence remains; I wish I had.)
We flew in during a lull in the windstorms, and spent almost the whole next day in the tent in howling winds and rain. Late in the day, we got out and walked around, going up onto a small ridge to check things out. (We had not been to this location before.) About a quarter mile away, we saw a young bear walking in a stream. We watched it for awhile; that stream ran across south of our camp about a quarter mile, and drained off to the SW. We went back to camp. We didn't have any meat, but we did put our food out in the meat fence. No sign of the bear that evening.
So we got up the next morning; it had been raining some and breezy during the night, so we hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary. My husband went out to check on things when it was barely light, and I hear him say, "We had a visitor last night." Went over to look. All the fence wire and every single stake was pulled up out of the ground, and sort of strung out in a south-easterly direction, and a trail through the swamp grass in that direction. The fence charger was still ticking.
Nothing inside the fence was touched. We had a bear barrel of food and a dry bag with some snacks in it. We figured this was most likely that young bear we had seen. That meat fence was in a really wet spot, and besides, it had been raining solid for a day and a half, so that bear was well-grounded and probably got a nice shock. It was a brand new fence charger, a Speedrite 90, using 4 D cells.
We got deer, not anywhere close to our limit, but did not have any break-ins to the meat for the rest of the week. During the day before we were to fly out, we were back up on the ridge, and saw 4 bears down in that same stream. Late that afternoon, one big bear (definitely not the same one we had seen there several days ago) was still messing around down there, and headed to where the stream passed closest to our camp. We figured our deer meat was a goner.
Looked out a couple times that night, and the fence stakes were still upright and reflecting the flashlight. Got up the next morning, and everything was still there.
Yippee!! Packed up and got flown out, and very happy to have our meat!
I have been told that bears out in the wild on Kodiak are not interested in people food, because they are so focused on salmon. Several people have told me that, including a person from the wildlife refuge on Kodiak, and someone who does bear tours. I don't know if the lack of salmon made a difference this time or not, but we sure heard lots of stories of bear encounters, and it definitely sounds like the bear have been taking more people's deer. We feel pretty lucky.
We flew in during a lull in the windstorms, and spent almost the whole next day in the tent in howling winds and rain. Late in the day, we got out and walked around, going up onto a small ridge to check things out. (We had not been to this location before.) About a quarter mile away, we saw a young bear walking in a stream. We watched it for awhile; that stream ran across south of our camp about a quarter mile, and drained off to the SW. We went back to camp. We didn't have any meat, but we did put our food out in the meat fence. No sign of the bear that evening.
So we got up the next morning; it had been raining some and breezy during the night, so we hadn't heard anything out of the ordinary. My husband went out to check on things when it was barely light, and I hear him say, "We had a visitor last night." Went over to look. All the fence wire and every single stake was pulled up out of the ground, and sort of strung out in a south-easterly direction, and a trail through the swamp grass in that direction. The fence charger was still ticking.
Nothing inside the fence was touched. We had a bear barrel of food and a dry bag with some snacks in it. We figured this was most likely that young bear we had seen. That meat fence was in a really wet spot, and besides, it had been raining solid for a day and a half, so that bear was well-grounded and probably got a nice shock. It was a brand new fence charger, a Speedrite 90, using 4 D cells.
We got deer, not anywhere close to our limit, but did not have any break-ins to the meat for the rest of the week. During the day before we were to fly out, we were back up on the ridge, and saw 4 bears down in that same stream. Late that afternoon, one big bear (definitely not the same one we had seen there several days ago) was still messing around down there, and headed to where the stream passed closest to our camp. We figured our deer meat was a goner.
Looked out a couple times that night, and the fence stakes were still upright and reflecting the flashlight. Got up the next morning, and everything was still there.
Yippee!! Packed up and got flown out, and very happy to have our meat!I have been told that bears out in the wild on Kodiak are not interested in people food, because they are so focused on salmon. Several people have told me that, including a person from the wildlife refuge on Kodiak, and someone who does bear tours. I don't know if the lack of salmon made a difference this time or not, but we sure heard lots of stories of bear encounters, and it definitely sounds like the bear have been taking more people's deer. We feel pretty lucky.
