Bears ande other interested parties


 
D

Dudley Rose

TVWBB Fan
We will be spending some time in the foothills of the Berkshires in western Massachusetts. It's wooded and quite rural, and there are bears and other critters that I expect would like BBQ. Do I have anything to worry about for overnight cooking where the WSM may be unattended while I sleep?

Thanks,
Dudley Rose
 
Not if the cooker is cookin' you won't. Bears lead with their noses and won't like the heat nor the smoke.

Where in the Berkshires? I had a farm in Hancock and worked in Monterey years ago. There's a few properties there I'm semi-looking at now.
 
Caution, WAY OFF TOPIC

Monterey, MA???? My folks sent me to summer camp in Monterey - Mom will spend the summer in Lee and we will visit here in early August. BEAUTIFUL Country
 
It is.

I worked for the Avalon School, a residential facilty for ED/DD and abused boys on Rte 23 just east of the Great Barrington line. When my farm situation fell apart (long story) I moved to a house off Tyringham Rd just north of Monterey center. I'm looking (kind of) at properties in my old stomping ground of Lee, Lenox and Williamstown, and in Worthington (located between Pittsfield and Northampton and not an area I know well).
 
In my experience neither smoke nor heat will discourage bears. I've seen large grizzlies rooting around in dumps in towns in rural Alaska with smokey, smouldering garbage.

Griff
 
I think Griff brings up a good point. Some animals will do things most would not do. I would bet the grizzlies are becoming accustom to the smoky, smoldering garbage. If the bears where you camp are accustom to seeing and dealing with grills for a source of food, I bet they’d go after a WSM. Generally, most animals stay away from a WSM. I don’t recall anyone on this board saying their WSM got knocked over during the night by a wild animal (or the family dog). It just doesn’t seem to happen.
 
I will defer to Griff on grizzlies-absolutely. My comment was really regarding black bears, the kind in the Berkshires. I have not known them to tolerate heat nor smoke (it's what we used to keep them away from things) in Mass nor in Fla however it's been a while since I've had to deal with one in Fla (they do not like the dogs) and a long while, of course, since I had the farm in Mass. Then, it was quite possible to easily scare them, and a fire or smudge pot was all one needed to keep them away from the gardens or the barns. Whether that is still the case I don't know--but I should have made that clear.
 
I'm in northern N.J. and we have lots of bears. I've watched 'em mosey through my property and sniff toward the WSM but never advance on it. These are black bears not grizzlies which I understand are far more aggressive. Hope this helps..............
 
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