Although bears are not a common nuisance for people wandering around in the forest, there can always be unexpected incidents.
It should be a common practice to safeguard yourself against all the potential hazards of the wildlife in the woods.
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Are Bears Attracted to Light?
Bears are not necessarily attracted to light such as flashbulbs or your bonfire. What they are really attracted to is food or prey they can feed on. Therefore, if you are cooking in your camp and the bear catches the smell of your food, it’s highly likely a bear is going to pay you a visit.
How to Stay Away From Bears When Out in The Forest
1. Keep your Food Away From The Bear
If bears are part of the natural habitat of a country, then bear-proof containers are probably standard there.
Bear-proof containers primarily keep the smell of the food contained in the containers and do not let the bears smell the food you are carrying with you.
Since food is the most common reason that a bear might follow you or approach your tent, it is extremely important to take steps in order to keep these bears away from yourself and your food.
2. Keep a Clean Camp
It is possible that while you are out for a long hike for the entire day, a bear visits your camp after detecting the smell of food and ruins your entire campsite.
This is very common when people leave their food items or snacks unattended.
To prevent your campsite from getting destroyed, make sure that you are not leaving any items that a bear might seem interested in or attracted to.
If possible, use bear-proof containers to keep all your food so that the animal does not even detect the smell in the first place.
If you do not have bear-proof containers, there is no need to worry.
You can also put your food in a regular plastic bag and hang the bag on a branch of the tree, so it’s difficult for the bear to reach it.
Make sure that this branch is away from your camp, as the bear may enter your campsite aggressively in search of food.
3. Don’t Cook Food With Profound Smells
While staying in a hut, you want to do everything you can to ensure that the chances of a bear approaching your cabin are minimal.
Therefore, the last thing you want to cook at a campsite is food that brings in unique and delicious smells.
Choose items that have very little to no smell so that the bear can stay away from your hut without ruining your camping experience.
One of the foods you should abstain from cooking on a campsite is bacon. Bacon is found to have a very distinct smell, and it often attracts bears.
Moreover, cook your food somewhere farther away from your campsite.
This is to ensure that even if a bear approaches you to your cooking station built temporarily in the forest, they do not get close to your campsite.
4. Keep Your Cabin Safe
If you have a small cabin in the woods where you live, you will be more vulnerable to being attacked by bears.
To prevent any unfortunate incident, make sure that you have parked your vehicle a safe distance from your cabin.
Also, keep the garbage box away from your cabin so that if the bears find any edible items in it, they don’t clutter your surroundings, at the least.
5. Be Careful When Field Dressing
If you are in the forest because you are a hunter, you are at a higher risk of being attacked by a bear, especially a grizzly bear.
Because they have an incredibly good sense of smell, they can detect the smell of blood from a great distance.
While field dressing a game, be it small or big, make sure that you have enough people to protect you from these bears.
Once you have gutted the animal, don’t drag it around the place.
By doing this, you will be spreading the smell of your hunted animal, thereby increasing the chances of a bear detecting its smell.
Always keep the edible meat away from the entrails of the gutted animal so that even if the bears get hold of the animal once you have left, they only eat parts of the animal that are of no use to you.
Frequently Asked Questions about Bears Getting Attracted to Lights
How can I scare bears away if I am wandering alone in the forest?
You can make loud noises, bang something, perhaps a pot against the tree, so that the bear feels that something huge and strong is around, thereby keeping them away from you.
Is it true that bears are attracted to human urine?
Through extensive research and experiments, it has been discovered that bears really are attracted to human urine. Bears have an exceptional sense of smell. Once bears recognize the smell of the human urine, they’re going to know that humans are around, and they might visit you in search of food.
What attracts bears to the campsite?
The most important thing for bears is to feed themselves. They will do anything to get something to eat, and therefore, they might visit you at your campsite in order to get food.
