Dear Kendall : Soooo ….. if Yogi himself, being smarter than the average bear, was a Maine black bear, he would simply climb higher and top your rake marks, no ? Then you would have to leave. Or get some assistance from Winnie … and I don't mean "the pooh". Now, don't get your shorts in a twist all you tree huggers. I would never advocate actually shooting a bear unless it was endangering a human. Most times, a few into a tree near him gives him a sense of the fact that you are not keen about his proximty.

I have always found that urine on the claw marks and at the base of the claw tree and the same urine near the camp ( works best if you pick a small evergreen so the wind carries it ) will absolutely preclude bear/camp hassles if the bear is scared of humans in the first place. However, you need to "freshen" the tree at the camp at least once a week from the start of frost until the snow stays on the ground.

In the fall of 1998, there were six black bears living within 2km of my camp. The first trip in at the end of September revealed the claw marks of a young boar on my camp door. The lads laughed heartily when they brought up the fact that I had always told them that urine in the claw marks really impressed a black bear, for much the same reason you suggest the use of a ladder and rake. Anyway, there were calls for me to wait until they got the camera, etc, etc, but, after the laughter was done, some of the lads who were not particularly woodswise began to think about the claw marks and the situation wasn't so funny anymore. Of course, a few of them wouldn't go any distance from the camp, which was great with me because I wanted someone close by for when the bear came to the camp to check out the new sounds and smells. He was along the very next morning and got a lesson in being scared of humans. Never came back all fall.