Stay Bear Wise: Tips from CPW on safe camping and hiking
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Colorado Parks and Wildlife is reminding people how to remain Bear Wise as bears search for food to prepare for winter.
PREVIOUS REPORTING: CPW highlights bear safety during Fat Bear Week 2025
CPW officers Tyler Floersheim and Drew Vrbenec joined KRDO 13 in the studio to share their expert advice on how to stay safe from bears while camping.
What's the first thing to know about keeping your campsites safe?
"We've got a robust bear population in Colorado. So if you're out camping, you're in their habitat. If you're out hiking, you're in their habitat...you wanna keep a clean campsite, so making sure you bag your trash, your food, double-bagging it, keeping it in either a bear container or a locked vehicle. As we've all seen, bears know how to get into cars sometimes, so make sure you lock your cars up because a bear gets in there, it can, it can cause a lot of damage," said Floersheim.
When it comes to storing your trash in a tree at a campsite, CPW recommends 10 feet as the rule of thumb, but as high as possible is best due to bears' ability to climb.
Floersheim also recommends cooking and keeping trash away from your campsite because he says he likes to call bears "a stomach with a nose."
And what about our dogs? What's the best way to keep them safe?
"Make sure you keep them leashed up. If a bear. For whatever reason, gets angry at a dog and your dog's off leash, it'll run back to you and potentially bring the bear in tow. So keep your pup on leash. Same thing if you're out camping with them, keep their food locked up in the vehicle when they're not eating it and just make sure it's not spilled on the ground around a campsite," says Floersheim.
If you're not camping but still walking along hiking trails, what should you do when you encounter a bear?
"Yes, so you never want to approach a bear. There's no reason to turn and run. What you do want to do is get big and get loud... holler at the bear. We're going to clap our hands. We're going to utilize our rattle cans... the air horns as well...If the bear doesn't move on, you can actually throw that rattle can, and that'll likely get it to move on. If for some reason the bear decides to approach you, that's when you're going to want to utilize that bear spray," says Vrbenec.
Watch the video above for the whole conversation with CPW
For more information on how to remain bear-wise, click here.
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