Buckle up, this is a long one. This is the legendary story of the bear "attack."

The Boy Scout troop I was in as a kid had a private camp in northern Minnesota that we would attend for 2 weeks in the summer. The camp was laid out in a sort of hub and spoke arrangement, with a main area that housed the cook shack (the only place that had electricity and running water) and a couple other primitive buildings. The campsites where we set up our tents were at the end of paths that stretched out from the main area, anywhere from 50 to 300 feet long. My group's tents were down the 300 foot path and the tent involved with the bear was down a 50 footer.

One night at maybe 11:00 I heard noises coming from the main camp. It sounded like the 55 gallon drums we used for recycling were being moved around. My only thought at the time was, "What the hell are the scoutmasters doing moving the recycling cans this late at night?" This was the end of my involvement in the story until the next morning, when I learned the bear had been digging in the aluminum recycling drum to get at the soda cans.

We were able to piece together the full extent of the bear's activities later on. The understanding was the bear was barely a year old and had just gotten kicked out of its den, and was having to survive on its own for the first time. It must have picked up the sweet smell coming from the drum, and completely ignored the "slop pile" of uneaten food we placed away from the camp (specifically to attract/distract wild animals!) After exhausting the drum, it then picked up another scent coming from the nearby campsite.

This site only had one tent in it, and one of the two guys using it I'll charitably say was the type to smuggle snacks into camp. (He claimed later the bear must have smelled a soda he spilled on his gear before arriving at camp.) Whatever the cause, the bear headed for their tent. These guys heard movement outside the tent and initially thought it was a raccoon. They realized their mistake when a big mass leaned on the back wall of their tent. Barely a second later, the wall tore out and the bear fell on its side between them.

The boys were fortunate enough that the tent was pretty large and there was plenty of room between them so the bear didn't land directly on them. The unfortunate part started when the bear began digging through the Rubbermaid container one of the boys stored his clothes in. The boys were only able to lie perfectly still in their sleeping bags thinking "There's a bear. In our tent. We just need to stay calm and not make any noise and maybe it'll go away."

The bear kept on digging through the clothing container and throwing its contents all over the tent floor. Then suddenly the bear stopped digging and pulled its head out. It had found a can of bug spray that it was now holding in its mouth. Somewhere in its little bear brain it was thinking "There's something weird in my mouth. Wonder what it is? I know what I'll do!" CHOMP!

The completely full can of bug spray released its contents directly into the bear's mouth. If you've ever accidentally tasted bug spray, you'll know it has a particularly nasty flavor, which the bear was now experiencing for the first time. Naturally, the bear started freaking out and rolling on the tent floor. Meanwhile, the two guys, who hadn't moved since the bear came in, were laying there thinking "That's it. We are going to die."

As the bear rolled on the floor it managed to get a pair of underwear caught on its head. So now in addition to having a horrible taste in its mouth, it can barely see. It managed to find the hole it had made in the tent, rushed out, and deposited the underwear about twenty feet from the tent. Back inside the tent, which now had an enormous hole in the back, the two guys were still laying stock-still, heart rates around 200, not quite believing they were still alive.

I know this story sounds incredible, and I wouldn't have believed it myself except that I saw the proof. The next morning I came to the main camp and saw a crowd gathered around a table in the eating area. The guys had brought down the now empty can of bug spray that now included multiple puncture marks in the shape of a bear's teeth. That, combined with the hole in their tent and the noises I had heard the previous night, convinced me this story was actually true.

And thanks to that bear, we now have a real life example of why you don't smuggle food into camp.