Bear surprises camper in High Uintas

Bear surprises camper in High Uintas


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HIGH UINTAS — A bear damaged a tent and surprised a sleeping camper overnight.

About 4:40 a.m. Saturday, Morey Day was woken up by something sharp against his arm. He felt a large snout, which he smacked, and yelled, "Get out of here!" at. The animal walked around the area for a few minutes before leaving.

As the morning broke, Day, the senior district executive with the Great Salt Lake Council of the Boy Scouts of America, said he noticed daylight coming through several small holes in his tent, as well as some stretching in a corner. He guesses that the bear put its teeth through the tent, as well as its claws, below.

Officials with the Bureau of Land Management found bear tracks at the East Fork of the Bear Boy Scout Reservation in the ground around the tent Saturday morning.

Day said that in his nine years camping in the area, this was the first encounter he has had with a bear. Brad Hunt, a wildlife manager with the BLM, said that although bears do roam the area, these kinds of encounters are very rare.

"Usually bears are more afraid of us than we are of them, and will try, in most instances, to avoid people," Hunt said. "There's a number of reasons why they could have been in the area that's frequented by people: curiosity or it could have been cleanliness in the camp."

Bear Safety Principles
  • Keep a clean camp
    • Clean up your garbage and food by putting them in a container or in a vehicle.
    • If you're not near a vehicle, hang food in a tree, away from camp, high enough that a bear can't reach
    • Don't sleep with food in your tent
    • Wipe down picnic tables
    • Burn food off stoves or grills
  • Always sleep inside your tent
  • Never approach or feed a bear
  • Report bear sightings to your campground host
    Find more bear safety tips HERE

He emphasized following bear safety principles when camping in bear country.

"Just keep a clean camp. That will go a long way in preventing problematic encounters or encounters like this in the future," Hunt said.

Hunt said the campers had left the area, and in the meantime, the BLM was setting out snares for the bear in an effort to determine further what happened. He was unaware of any special recommendations from the BLM following the incident.

Day said his sons are coming up to the camp in a couple of weeks, and felt comfortable having them do so. He said the bear seemed to be the size of a young bear that was probably just curious.

"It really doesn't change a thing with me," he said.

Contributing: Marc Giauque and Ben Wood

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Celeste Tholen Rosenlof

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