My wife and I went for a hike up to Silver Peak in Killarney yesterday and I pointed out to her that the only two blueberries we saw were tiny and diseased. The lack of blueberries is definitley a factor. We ended up having a small bear circle us on the trail back to the kayaks, but he wasn't bold enough to try a go at the beef jerky in my backpack! However, there seemed to be a bumper crop of acorns in that area, and the bears usually turn to them at this time of year so I think they will go back to the bush for the fall. The guy at Killarney Kanoes commented that nuisance bears were simpy shot when he was a kid and bad behaviour was not passed on to the next generation.
I posed a similar question earlier this summer though. There seems to be a higher tolerance to nuisance bears in the campgrounds by park staff. I don't think it's reasonable to expect people to keep ALL food stored during the day when they/we're actually consuming it. The bears have figured out that campers are generally storing their food properly at night but not during the day, which is when I watched a family of bears casually visit every campsite in Grundy when I was there in July.
