Fortunately, bear activity seems to be minimal in the area, or so I've concluded because of the lack of conversations about them on this forum. But, I was just wondering if DNR or the Rangers/Wardens have reports or other info available about bear activity/sightings that can be reviewed and read on some site somewhere??? I don't even see anything in the local papers unless its a story with bad results! Just curious . . . I've never seen a bear in the area in the years I've been going there.

The best place to call from my experience is the Rainy lake VNP office (main headquarters). They will have any problem bear reports there. We've had 3 bear encounters in the 10 years we've been going there, with only one being bad.

One went down my driveway about 15 minutes ago! Think it was the same culprit that gets the dog up at 3 a.m!

We have had quite a few sightings around the Kab community as of late but no reports from the island campers. The weather has not been "camping" weather either so numbers are down there too.

LIS

Three years ago on Kab our group watched a bear tear up a campsite over by Cemetary. Tents, coolers, etc. No one around, and shouting from the boat made no differance to the bear. Last year, we observed a young one that has a definate "trap line" - follows the shore and swims to islands going from campsite to campsite looking for opportunity - this was near Camelback. So, it is definately bear country, and all those boy scout lessons about protecting your camp apply.

Some guys at our resort saw one last night on their way back from dinner.

Keep your food/coolers in the bear lockers when you are not using them and hang your garbage and you probably won't have any issues.

-duckster

As I just mentioned in a different thread, we found the bears becoming more and more pervasive over the years in the established campsites; basically trolling for that trashy group of campers willing to lose their belongings over some misplaced food or wrappers. We converted to completely transient camping; i.e., bear-proof lockers in our boats, along with jungle hammocks for swinging between any clump of trees. With a hammock, we can setup right on top of the canvas and call it a day on a bare rock in the middle of the lake. Since doing this, we have NEVER encountered bears again. Now we only see them in other campsites while we're fishing. It ain't for everyone, but our party of 10 has made a go of it quite nicely this way for many years.

We have stayed on Nam for 3-5 days the last two years with no bear problems. The sites we chose were on smaller islands...maybe that helped. 7 hours to go and we are on the way back up!