American Notes Boy Scouts

At Philmont Scout Ranch, a wide-open, 241-sq.-mi. Boy Scout camp in northern New Mexico, 15,000 scouts each year learn to set up tents and brave the elements. Rain and wind, bugs and varmints -- no problem. But bears?

So far this year, five scouts camping on the ranch have been injured, none fatally, in three bear attacks. Two boys were mauled by a black bear only two weeks ago. In all, six troublesome bears have been hunted down and killed.

New Mexico game and fish department officials believe the bears may be wandering farther afield this year in the wake of a late frost that killed off part of the berry crop they usually feed on. Hunters attribute the problem to overpopulation, the result of a shortened spring hunting season. Whatever the cause, scouts at Philmont are stuffing gunnysacks with food and other odorous goodies and hanging them on trees far from the tents. The name for these odd articles? Bear bags, of course.