---- John Rodgers <inua@CHARTER.NET> wrote:
>   Legend has it ........
>
> Yakutat, Alaska - down the coast from Prince William Sound in the
> direction of Seattle and nestled on the shores of the Gulf of Alaska and
> backed by  the Wrangell-St. Elias Wilderness - is a choice Steelhead
> fishing region. Fishermen abound, Bears abound, and in season, Steelhead
> as well as Salmon abound. But for a certain kind of fishermen - only the
> very large Yakutat Steelhead - a sea run Rainbow trout  that returns to
> the rivers to spawn - is the fish that counts.
>
> Now bears have been known to take a fisherman's catch, and one doesn't
> argue with a big bear, but this doesn't sit well with the fishing
> guides, much less the fishermen.  So - one enterprising fishing guide,
> sick of having the camp raided and fish taken along with other stuff,
> decided to make a bear dispersant. The next time a bear came rambling in
> through the camp, he reached in a sealed plastic bag, and pulled out a
> can wrapped in bacon strips tied tightly onto the can with string. The
> guide tossed the can, and took off. The can landed near the bear,  the
> bear smelled that bacon, and proceeded to bite down.  The rest is
> history..... With a loud roar that bear snorted pure steam from nose and
> mouth, then took off violently shaking his head, bouncing, and  crashing
> through the brush.  On that first bite, the bear dropped the can, and
> after the excitement a fisherman picked up the can. The label  read -
> "Automotive Starting Ether".
>
> No more bear problem.
>
> Legend has it.........

I've heard that "legend," also.  But a friend in his youth, and when bears were first returning to Big Bend National Park after a long absence from the area, threw a butane cylinder toward a bear in his panic to try to persuade it to go elsewhere, as it ransacked the camp of another camper.  The bear bit the cylinder, fuel squirted, but the bear was not deterred from its task of trashing everything in the camp.

mcneely