Bear & Cougar Issues
This is my first post; no I’m not a troll or some lib posing as a hunter. I’m a miner. My name is David and I go by RotGrub. Still not convinced, go to youtube and do a search for RotGrub Mining Clan. It should bring you to my channel. The current video got me banned from my Canadian mining forums… those boys got it tough up there; but that’s another story.
I need bear and cougar knowledge; it seems they are attracted to us. My wife and I mine in CA from Columbia to Coulterville at elevations between 1700-3000 ft and wherever we set base camp the bears find us within a few days. They come just before dawn and trash our camp.
The cougars seem to hunt us while we’re mining. We work dry creeks and have had cougars come up the creek beds snooping around. In the past my lab Tug provided early warning and distractions but we had to let him go last season after 13 years of loyal service and we are just now ready to get another pup.
We do our best in camp with the food; locking up all the food, garbage, kitchen towels, tooth paste dirty clothing etc… in the truck. I have a M1101 military trailer that stores the mining gear and ice chest. We do pack in 125 gal of water and it is stored in open tanks. We sleep in tents and that’s a bit stressful…
We are well armed, but I rather be educated on issues that would prevent me from being in a bad position. USFS knows who and where we are so explaining a dead bear or cougar (out of season, no tags, already a stressed relation with USFS etc…) is not high on my list; but still below living.
So what can I do to better understand the behavior of these beasts and is there anything we can do to detour them from entering our camp.
Last edited by RotGrub; 08-19-2015 at 11:37 AM.