Vandalism & Theft while at Anchor

psneeld said:

If you have one of those universal looking "white hoses"...sharpie your name or boats name on it so you have a decent argument to get it back...

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My replacement was a white hose, but now I store it aboard. Safer there, and it's available for use at a "foreign" marina.

timjet said:

I've been trying to get a 38 special since Sandy Hook, but can't find one.

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Try looking for a small-frame (five-shot) revolver in 357 Magnum. They shoot 38 Special (and 38+) as well. They are generally of higher quality since they are designed to control the high pressures of the 357.

I don't have any idea why you would want a pistol on your boat. A rifle will reach much further if you actually need to shoot it, and everything on or over the water is a long ways away. A good shotgun with slugs and buckshot is also good, and you won't have the issues with them you will with a pistol. Especially in Canada. I would hate to return to my boat at anchor with a pistol and meet a guy with a rifle or shotgun. My opinion...

I am out in the woods when I anchor, so I really have no idea when you all consider anchoring out. Because almost everyone carries a firearm in the woods, it a very polite society. I would hate to anchor where my greatest concern was people...

Yikes. When passing through Canadian waters on your way to and from Alaska, are there any rules you have to follow?

I make noise in the bush and carry pepper spray, so feel no need for a gun.

No handguns. Period. Shotguns and rifles are ok depending on the purpose for having it along. Bear protection when you go to the beach is a good reason, even to Customs. That noise thing is a mixed blessing. Some people are out there who would really LIKE to see the bears, and if you want to scare them away, there is an inherent conflict of interests. Don't scare them away so no one gets to see them. Don't ruin someone else's dream trip into nature. If you LIKE to see bears, and take their pictures, a gun for protection is a good idea.

Luckily, crowds are non-existent and we aren't stepping on each others toes around here

I saw a documentary where a camera crew was 'befriended' by an adolescent spirit bear. Apparently, the young bear found out that the bigger bears protecting their prime fishing spots would stop chasing it if it hung out near the camera crew. In time, it would even let the crew follow it into the bush and film it while it slept. What struck me was how the young bear would wake up and stare into the bush in the direction of a branch snapping.

I now pick up a nice dry branch and whack tree trunks or rocks as I hike along, figuring that is exactly the kind of sound they are listening for anyway, and it gives them lots of time to mosey out of my way. Been working so far, and it's waaaaaaaay better than those stupid, annoying brass tinkly bear bells!

While we take a short barrel, full length magazine pump shotgun with us when we fly into the back country or boat into more remote areas we follow the advice given to us by a Fish and Game fellow in SE Alaska many years ago. And that is to carry one of those compressed gas boat horns that you can buy in marine stores and beep it off now and then if you're in bear territory. The sound carries for a mile or more, is very unnatural out in the wilderness, and spooks bears away better than anything else.

He told us that during salmon spawns when they'd be hiking the streams to get average fish counts they were constantly encountering bears who were as interested in the fish as they were. Some of the encounters were quite dangerous. Somebody thought of trying a gas boat horn and it worked. The sound carried over the rush of water in the streams and warned the bears something strange was coming and gave them a chance to move out of the area on their own instead of having to react to the appearance of a human.

So they issued horns to all the members of the fish count teams with instructions to beep them off periodically as they moved upstream. They did this and the bear encounters dropped to near zero. When we met this fellow and were given this tip he and the fish count teams had been using the horns for years with almost total success.

We still carry the gun when we're in an area that seems like good bear country but we use the horn and it has always done the trick for us. We had to use the gun once before we learned about the horn idea; the horn is far, far preferable.

AKDoug said:

If you LIKE to see bears, and take their pictures, a gun for protection is a good idea.

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On this trip, my wife and I slogged through mud that was about 8 inches deep and pulled at our boots with every step. The hike was about 3/4 of a mile from the estuary where we left the 12' Lund. We had secured it to a tree with about 300 feet of line to allow it to float with an outgoing tide.

The temperature was 80 degrees and we crouched in the sedge grass while huge flies attacked us incessantly.

About an hour later, A sow and her 3 cubs could be seen on our side of the river, working their way toward us. The guide (carrying a shotgun with slugs) instructed us to remain very still. My wife was the videographer & I shot the stills.

Pretty cool, Walt. Three cubs!

We're at the other end of the extreme and choose to avoid seasonal bear habitat. On our six month sea kayak trip on BC's coast, we saw only one bear.

Good shots Walt!
I grew up in the interior of BC and bear encounters were frequent. When I returned to Nelson BC for a few years with my Aussie wife, she was a little concerned regarding bears. I reassured her that they are nothing to worry about. Several hours after we arrived we had 3 grizzlies in our back yard (a sow and 2 yearling cubs). It turned out the former tenants of the house cleaned out their fridge and left it in a bin outside in the hot sun. A grizzly will smell this from miles away.
Just don't do anything stupid like this and they tend to keep their distance. I've never felt the need for a gun or a noisemaker to scare off bears; just be aware of your surroundings and don't carry fish or other food with you.
It's the cougars I worried about. You rarely see them, but they see you.

MurrayM said:

We're at the other end of the extreme and choose to avoid seasonal bear habitat.

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Well, you're smart! I won't soon repeat that trip although I'm going back to Angoon,AK in late July, fishing.

Don't let anyone tell you that bears won't hurt you if you just treat them with respect. Like humans, there are some mentally disturbed bears out there that don't need an excuse to attack and all the people yelling "GO BEAR" and blowing horns are not going to stop them. Also, a head shot is the only place to really stop them in their tracks as it interrupts all their motor responses. They can still run a long way with a chest shot (heart) before bleeding out and collapsing.

I'll bet that a good number of you have seen the video of a SoCal crazy man by the name of Timothy Treadwell. Treadwell saw himself as the savior of the Alaska grizzly bear. I've posted a photo of him when he met up with a bear that did not want to be saved.

Googling Timothy Treadwell is a good education on the Alaskan Brown Bear & Grizzly. (Same species but lives in the interior.)

https://www.google.com/search?q=tim...YGMzkigLqv4H4Dg&ved=0CDQQsAQ&biw=1067&bih=522

Don't carry food? to a grizzly you are food.

We have left our boats at anchor for days at a time, and in the U.S. have had no problems. In our marina, gated and with security cameras, we have been broken into twice. However, in caribbean waters, there are a few reports of vandalism and theft at anchor. We lock our hatches and passageways, but have never seen any evidence of people boarding when we are away.

We were attacked overnighting at the lock just beyond Lake Oneida on the Erie Canal going west. Some locals decided to climb on board and help themselves to whatever was in our coolers and lying about the flybridge. It wasn't fun. I first thought my wife was up walking around - she thought I was up walking around - reality hit us both at the same time. I flipped the spreader lights on and grabbed the diving knife and a nightstick and went outside to do battle. My wife got a frying pan and gave my 11 year old daughter a sauce pan and they guarded the door. Once I yelled the hoodlums jumped ship and ran into the nearby woods. I heard a car race out of the park. Nights were never quite the same after that.

I took a page from Joshua Slocum and booby trapped the boat most nights out after that. I tied trip lines all over using extra dock lines and some flag halyards. If we were at a lock, I used a kedge anchor off the side to pull us out away from the dock. If I had tacks I would have used them too. We made a plan and that helped calm everyone down. We had no further problems that summer.

Well one problem. Docked at the pavilion on Dow's Lake, we were boarded by a raccoon. He never knew what hit 'em.

In Quebec on the Chambly system, a GB 42 we were docked with had two very expensive folding bicycles stolen right off their aft deck one night. We were not attacked. So I guess that is another way to defend yourself - travel with more expensive boats with more glittering prizes.

SeaHorse II said:

Don't let anyone tell you that bears won't hurt you if you just treat them with respect. Like humans, there are some mentally disturbed bears out there that don't need an excuse to attack and all the people yelling "GO BEAR" and blowing horns are not going to stop them. Also, a head shot is the only place to really stop them in their tracks as it interrupts all their motor responses. They can still run a long way with a chest shot (heart) before bleeding out and collapsing.

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When I was in the USAF in Alaska a friend of mine hired a guide to take him on a bear hunt on Kodiak Island. He bought a 460 Weatherby a year prior and shot hundreds of rounds through it until he felt competent with the gun. He and a third friend flew to Kodiak, with the friend along to run the video camera.

They did a sneak on a grizzly and got to within about 75 yards of it when the guide told him to take the first shot. He did, striking the bear right in the heart. The bear flopped down then got right back up. Another shot to the heart put him down but he again got right back up. The bear didn't know where they were yet but he was looking for them.

Third, fourth and fifth shots were fired before the bear finally stayed down. After they skinned the bear they found that all shots were right into the heart area and that the heart and surrounding organs were destroyed.

I don't know how many times we watched that movie, but every time we watched it we found things we hadn't seen prior. It sure showed how tough those big ol Kodiak bears are to kill.

With regard to stopping a charging bear we were taught by the AK fish and game people to aim not at the head because the massive bone slanting back in the top of their skull can deflect the round. Instead aim at their chest and keep firing until the gun is empty. The objective is not to hit te heart. The objective is to break down the muscles in their chest that help operate their forelegs. The objective is not to kill the bear but to stop it.

This is why the only truly effective weapon to stop a charging bear at short range is a 12 gauge shotgun loaded alternately with slugs and buckshot. This is why we carry a shotgun with a full-length magazine. Capacity is seven shells..

A charging bear is so hopped up on adrenaline that a hit that would normally kill it may not even phase it for the moment. And if the bear can reach you, even if it's dying, it can take you apart. That's why stopping it before it can reach you is critical and at short range only the shotgun has enough shock to do it.

I've had to do this once myself (this before we learned about the horns) and have been present when a companion had to do it. The method we were taught works. Both times the bear collapsed onto its chest before it got to us. They did not die immediately but they were rendered relatively immobile even though they kept kicking themselves toward us with their hind legs.

Not a pleasant experience and one we hope never to have to repeat. That's why we were so taken with the horn idea. Far better to warn them off long before you get near them.

I find I just to need outrun the slowest person I'm with

GFC said:

When I was in the USAF in Alaska a friend of mine hired a guide to take him on a bear hunt on Kodiak Island. He bought a 460 Weatherby a year prior and shot hundreds of rounds through it until he felt competent with the gun.

They did a sneak on a grizzly and got to within about 75 yards of it when the guide told him to take the first shot. He did, striking the bear right in the heart. The bear flopped down then got right back up. Another shot to the heart put him down but he again got right back up. The bear didn't know where they were yet but he was looking for them.

Third, fourth and fifth shots were fired before the bear finally stayed down. After they skinned the bear they found that all shots were right into the heart area and that the heart and surrounding organs were destroyed.

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I've heard and read similar stories about trying to put a bear down with a 300+ Weatherby. Yes, you can kill a bear with a .22 if you're extremely lucky but if you don't want to wind up as bear scat, carry a large caliber rifle! My experience in Alaska has been with a sporterized Enfield 30-06. The guides considered it to be on the small end of recommended calibers (for Brownies) but it was a gun I felt really comfortable with & I could shoot it quite accurately.

Head shot! Knock out the bear's ability to charge. Hell, at close range, with a scope, that's a sizable target!

A slug from a 3" 12-gauge has about 90% of the kinetic energy at the muzzle as a bullet from a 460 Weatherby Magnum elephant/buffalo gun (2400 versus 2600+ foot pounds), but it sheds energy a lot faster (the slug is fatter and shorter than the magnum's bullet). So, the Weatherby would be a better hunting tool as shots would normally be 75, 100 or more yards away. Nevertheless, I would choose the 12-gauge in a defensive role as the range will be shorter although I'd want one with sights rather than just a bead.

I have a switch within easy reach of the aft stateroom bed that when activated sounds a very loud alarm through a siren located on our radar arch. The siren is also connected in parallel to a high water bilge switch.

markpierce said:

Nevertheless, I would choose the 12-gauge in a defensive role as the range will be short although I'd want one with sights rather than just a bead.

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When I was 15 years old, we use to hunt big farm fed White Tails in New York State. (200-210 lbs.) You could only hunt with shot guns and rifle slugs. Bob Martin, who owned the Sinclair gas station, hunted with a scope mounted 20 Ga. and slugs. He was quite proficient at 150 yards and it seemed that every year he got his buck.