Bear bagging necessary in Ouachita Mountains?

Been hiking The ouachita trail area for almost 4 years now in OK/AR never seen a bear.

Raccoons yes, no bears. I know they are out there because I see scat and here reports of sightings. OK has a bear season and it fills up fast.

i typically bear bag using the PCT method, never had any issues. It’s cheap insurance in my estimation.

I live in AR and there are bears here, but I have spent all of my life hiking, camping, and hunting here, and have only seen a couple, and as soon as they saw me, they took off. They weren’t like bears I’ve seen at National Parks where they see you and just hang around and go about their business. They were also both in the Ozarks in North AR, never seen any in the Ouachitas, even though I’ve spent much more time in the woods in that area. I’ve never hung food in AR either, always just kept it in the tent with me. To touch on what Kevin said, in my opinion, raccoons are a much bigger concern than bears, if you don’t keep your stuff in your tent with you, I’d probably hang it.

When are you doing ERL? A couple friends and I were thinking about doing it next weekend depending on weather and water levels.

I’m planning to go with a group of friends March 31 – April 2.  I did some browsing on the internet and came across a story where a group of hikers sighted a bear in their campsite while on the ERL.  I can’t find it now, but I think I’ll be bear bagging this time around.