Originally Posted by
andrewclaus
...
I've heard credible first-hand reports of some very aggressive bears. One was a guy on the PCT, coyote camping with his head on his food bag, and a bear took it out from under his head as he slept. Another, also on the PCT, had her bear container open right beside her, and a bear reached in from behind her to grab something out of it.
This reminded me of a kayak trip I had on the Apostle Islands. I was in a campsite, organizing some food in the steel bear locker, and I noticed a bear maybe 100 to 150 feet away that was foraging in the brush, and then I noticed a bear cub was near it. I hurried up and locked the food locker, kept watching the bears. The large bear stood up, looked like it was taking a good sniff of the air, and then both bears started to forage further and further from the campsite until out of sight. Several hours later, I saw one of the park service rangers and I congratulated him on how well trained their bears were and described what I saw. He asked if the bear had a tag on each ear, I said yes. He said he knew which one it was, they had moved that bear a few times already. Apparently that bear was learning that if it gets too close to camp that it will get tranquilized and relocated, which it apparently did not like.