BUTTE -- Bruce Hemphill has nothing against a midnight snack, he just doesn't want to become one.

Last weekend, Bruce and his wife, Pat, believed they almost became a snack as a large black bear tried to claw its way into their camper.

"It was probably the most scared I've ever been in my life," Hemphill said.

The Butte couple were camping in the Lowland Campground, 8 miles north of Butte off Interstate 15, when they had a rude awakening about 3 a.m. Sunday. Their entire camper started violently shaking, Hemphill said.

"It felt like an earthquake or something, everything was shaking," he recalled Thursday.

He would have preferred an earthquake. Instead, he encountered a black bear.

The bear had climbed up the hood of his truck on top of his camper. He saw the animal through the roof vent, which he had left open before going to bed.

He quickly tried to reel the vent closed, but the bear whacked the aluminum vent cover with its paw, bending it as easily as tin foil. The bear then clawed through a bug screen in the vent.

Hemphill yelled and hollered, but the animal kept trying to claw its way into his camper.

"It was the first time I ever went camping without my gun. I'll never do that again," Hemphill said.

Acting quickly, Hemphill grabbed an aerosol can of bug spray and a lighter, and improvised a flame thrower. He sprayed fire into the attacking bear's face, which forced the animal to flee.

Hemphill said he saw the bear a little while later unharmed outside his camper going through a nearby trash can. He and his wife spent the rest of the night in the cab of their truck.

The Hemphills notified Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks' officials that morning, who set a bear trap. Hemphill said officials told him a black bear got into an unoccupied camper in that area earlier that week and tore up the interior.

At least two black bear encounters were reported last week in Butte-Silver Bow, where the animals actually wandered into homes.

Melissa Frost, FWP information manager for District 3, said bear encounters this summer don't appear to be any different from previous summers. She said there have been numerous reports of bear/people encounters in the Big Sky area, but that may be simply because more people are moving into the area.

"The more and more people that come into the area, the more bear encounters you're going to have. Remember, we live in Montana," she said.

Hemphill said he believes his bear attacked his camper because it was looking for food. Because of burning restrictions, Hemphill said they didn't have a campfire, so they cooked steaks in the camper that Saturday evening. Hemphill left the vent open when they went to bed that night and, he believes, the bear was attracted by the scent of the steaks.

Hemphill hopes people will learn a lesson from his encounter.

"If people think they are safe in their campers (from bear attacks), they're not," he said.

- Reporter John Grant Emeigh may be reached via e-mail at john.emeigh@lee.net or by telephone, 496-5511.

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