Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB

Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/)

- Staying Healthy on the Road (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/staying-healthy-on-the-road/)

- - Swedish Bears (https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/staying-healthy-on-the-road/swedish-bears-70845)

Hi Guy's

I'm doing a lot of camping around Norway, Sweden and finland.

I have read and generally understand that Bears live around these areas. . .

Are they a problem for free campers? if so how is the best way to stay alive? ha

Tommy

heheh
I immediately thought of these
https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/i...OEJqwAy4jvoifA

Look i dont know if it is true about bears in that area.. but the basic rules are:
hang all food (or anything that smells like food) off a rope off in a tree about 5-10m away from your tent and at least 4m off the ground (the higher the better) and not too close to the trunk. Most bear will try to open your tent if you have any of the above Swedish bears..
. If you come across a bear do not run, look down.. try to look small and back away slowly and calmly... you are not normally on the menu, you are normally considered a threat and a competitor for food (e.g. fellow predator) if you look submissive and leave they will "not bother" to come after you..
do not make eye contact (this is considered aggressive)
and #1 rule never get in between a mum and her cub.

but remember a wild animal is just that.. sometimes they have not read the rules and will do something unexpected. you are in their world respect it and them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tommy Whitfield (Post 426244)

Don't worry we have them but they are shy and if you are able to see one you are very lucky guy.
I have had bears as a neighbors already years and less than 50 meters away of my house but never able to seen them. We have a dog that smell them and sometimes want to go after them but bears have avoided meeting us.
:thumbup1:

a little humour to start the day smiling! it is good for morale!

Swedish bears can usually very welcoming...

are said to be very friendly

Don't be fooled however

with offers of free tyres...

photos of you and your bike...

Because the chances are

...that if you see this.... you'll probably save a lot on fuel and traveling expenses!!:wink3:

When I was in Sweden last I was told that a pair of Australian Drop Bears had escaped from a private zoo and had then set about re producing in large numbers and had even been seen in Norway. The simple rules for Drop Bears is never put your tent under a tree and always look up and check any tree that you maybe standing under for a Drop Bear colony.

"Hello and welcome to my digestive system!"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bertrand (Post 426436)

Swedish bears can usually very welcoming...

There are 4 kind of predator in Sweden (if you dont Count humans)

http://www.rovdjur.se/bilder/Bjorn_I...Pettersson.jpg
-Bears, brownbear. Somewhere around 2500-3000 individuals. They weigh around 100-350 kg and are concentrated in northern Sweden. They are quite shy and avoids humans.
In the period from 1978-2008 there were 27 cases where bears attacking humans, 22 of them where hunters that were attacked during a hunt. In almost all of the cases there were a dog involved. Aka. the bear attacked the dog. In most of the cases there were also cubs involved.
So the chance of you encountering a bear in Sweden are quite slim. I've never seen one and I hiked around quite a lot.

http://www.rovdjur.se/bilder/Varg_li...Pettersson.jpg
-Wolves. You see one, you are really lucky. I heard wolves once during my trecks. 200 individuals and they are spread around the northern parts of the country. Last known case of a wild wolf killing a human in Sweden was in the year 1815. So no worries there.

http://www.rovdjur.se/bilder/Jarv_li...Pettersson.jpg
-Wolverines. Same thing here, you see one then you are really lucky. 650 individual and mostly concentrated in the deepest northern areas.
No danger to humans, since you are not going to see one.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Lynx_lynx2.jpg
-Lynx. You will see about 50 wolverines before you see a lynx. aka. you wont see it..
Dangerous to humans..No

The biggest thing to worry about when freecamping are the god d*mn mosquitoes. Are they dangerous? No, they are irritating....and everywhere...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ting_human.jpg

Like P3i_Swe told we have the same things in Fnland.

But some times shit hits the Fan :innocent:

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...87251424_n.jpg

Quote:

Originally Posted by P3i_Swe (Post 426741)

-Wolverines. Same thing here, you see one then you are really lucky. 650 individual and mostly concentrated in the deepest northern areas.
No danger to humans, since you are not going to see one.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Lynx_lynx2.jpg
-Lynx. You will see about 50 wolverines before you see a lynx. aka. you wont see it..
Dangerous to humans..No

In Alaska where they have same animals it is other way round - lots more Lynx than Wolverines. I even got to see a Lynx.

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig.iedema (Post 427282)

I even got to see a Lynx.

You lucky bastard :thumbup1:
Closest I got was in a zoo

What most people don't realize is that Sweden is quite a big country, compared to other European country's.

Sweden 449 964 km²
Germany 357 050 km²
Finland 338 145 km²
UK 244 820 km²

So the odds of encountering dangerous wildlife is quite small.
But still, better safe then sorry. So be careful.

Taken from this site: Rovdjurscentret De 5 Stora - Bear/dangerous

Quote:

Is the bear dangerous?

The bear, utterly seldom, goes near a human being. Most of the meetings between a bear and a human , never come about really and are not noticed by the human since the bear goes out of the way long time before we can see him.

Still, the bear can be the most dangerous, or perhaps the least not dangerous of the big predators (Human beings then excluded). Mostly, the bear is a peaceful animal. Real attacks from bears at different places in Europe have been documented by one of the following 5 situations:

• When a dog has irritated a bear and then returned to its owner.
• When someone has come too close to the bears location of hibernation.
• When a bear has been wounded or threatened.
• When a person has come too close to a female with cubs.
• When someone has come too close to a bears prey.

The Rovdjurscenter has collected evidence from all of the occasions where a bear has attacked a human being during the period 1995 - 2007. In total, 18 persons were attacked, of which 16 were wounded and 2 were killed (2004 and 2007). The evidence comes from interviews with the wounded victims.

PARTICULARLY THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE seems to have a decisive influence on the "rate of dangerousness" of the bear. Apart from the above cited special situations, the bear can rather be considered not to be dangerous for human beings in all age groups. Moreover, in similar situations, the bear signals loud and clearly with "demonstrations of power" that he does not want the human to come closer but rather that the human being backs away.

Hunters have sometimes, when sneaking through the forest, by mistake, come too close to a bear with a prey or a female with young cubs. In reflex, the bear then often starts a pretense of an attack. This is merely a demonstration of power.

People that talk, shout, whistle or make noises with their berry buckets seldom are lucky to see a wild bear in the forests.

It is believed, that, during the period 1750 - 1962 in total 27 persons have been killed by bears in the Nordic countries. In most cases, the bear had been shot and wounded prior to the incident. Also, many of these people did not die by the wounds inflicted by the bear, but rather by the infections that arose in the wounds. Today, most of them could have survived after treatment with antibiotics. In autumn 2004, a hunter was killed, outside of Jokkmokk in the province of Norrbotten by a female bear. The hunter had wounded the bear, most probably after that his dog had chased the bear out of its place of hibernation. Prior to that, since 1902 when a hunter in Jämtland was attacked by a shot wounded bear, no killings by bears were reported. In Finland, in summer 1998 a jogging person was killed by a bear with a one year old cub, that he had surprised in the forest.

In many zoo's people can go in into the corrals, where lynxes, wolverines and wolves live. This is even possible in corrals with large wolf families. But in corrals with bears even the keepers hesitate to go in...

Trying to run away from a bear is not a good idea. The bear can run very fast on short distances.
The fastest human sprinter in the world would finish 30 meters short of a bear, when running a 100 m distance.

Finally, let's put the danger coming from meeting a bear in relation to other situations in the daily life in the forests. The number of people that, during hunts, get killed by accidental shots has amounted to an average of 2 - 3 persons a year during the recent 10 years. Moreover, it is far more dangerous to drive a car to the area of hunting, than the hunting itself. Roe deer cause one to two accidents a day in the small province of Sörmland only. Per annum, the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Sweden, amounts to approx. 540.

WHEN MAKING YOURSELF NOTICEABLE in due time, by talking, shouting, singing or making some kind of mechanical noise, you will most probably never see a bear in the forests. And neither will you see any other big predator.

Should you meet a bear in the forest

1. Stay put and enjoy a moment the favour, reserved to very few people, of having such luck to see a wild bear free going around.
2. Then, let him notice that you are there. Talk to him as you would do to a bigger dog, but in a normal and friendly tone of voice, cough a little and clear your throat. If the bear does not seem to hear you, clap your hands.
3. Then return backwards quietly, without turning around. Don't go closer!
4. Don't run. The bear can run much faster! Don't climb a tree. The bear can climb too and much faster and effective. Should the bear keep following you, drop some of your possessions on the ground, one after another. E.g. clothing. Then, the bear often stops to smell and examine.
5. Should you be so unlucky as to get attacked, experts mean that you should lie down in the foetal position, with your face towards the ground and protect your neck with your hands, having your arms sideways along your head.

A WEAPON DOES NOT PROVIDE SAFETY, rather a mistaken feeling of security. History proves, that in a stressful situation, where a bear starts to attack it becomes utterly difficult to place a deadly direct hit! Better to start firing a shot in the air above the bear; it may well have a frightening effect and make the bear to leave. Wounded bears are extremely dangerous! A tragic case that occurred in 2004 in Jokkmokk is a clear example of that.

CUBS ARE VERY SELDOM ABANDONED BY THEIR MOTHER. Should you see cubs, or a newly killed prey, leave the place in a calm and quiet pace and return the way you came from.

Try to understand the bear's behaviour. When a bear rises upon its hind legs it may be that he wants to check upon what he smells. He may not have seen or heard you. When arising upon the hind legs there is no question of threatening behaviour. On the contrary, when the bear perceives that he has a human being in front of him, he usually turns around and starts galloping away. But a bear that snorts or barks, without leaving the site can be an irritated bear; she may have cubs or a newly conquered prey close by. The bear then wants the human to leave the place, and it may well be a good idea to follow that advice.

Many people in the USA and Canada carry "bear spray" with them, when walking in the forests. It contains a type of (strong) tear gas and has been said to be very effective. In Sweden however, the possession of such a spray is forbidden.

It seems bears and wildlife in general is far more common in North America. I have seen 10 bears in the last 4-5 weeks a number on main highways.

Sent from my GT-I9305T using Tapatalk 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by craig.iedema (Post 427318)

It seems bears and wildlife in general is far more common in North America. I have seen 10 bears in the last 4-5 weeks a number on main highways.

I get the same impression. Over there the bears even seem to fall out of the trees
http://i.imgur.com/HfUzn6w.jpg

Never seen a bear or any other predator while on the road in Sweden. Mooses on the other hand. They stand and wait behind a bush besides the road and when you are close enough they jump out in front of you.
Mooses are not friendly