Yep GA bears are nailing food bags

[vamelungeon]

What's that gotta do with bears ? lol

Not bear, BARE.

[stranger]

I think that they could figure out that chewing through the cord would be easier than chewing through the branch.

Whoops...yes that's what I meant, chew through the cord : )

[Jack Tarlin]

Speaking (oddly enough) from the perspective of someone who actually lives here, there are indeed very active bears both North and South of Neel Gap. Prudent hikers will use extreme caution and prudence with their food bags when overnighting near here. The REALLY bright and prudent ones will go one step better......they simply won't camp near here, at least not for the time being. Sorry, people, this is not rocket science. Woods life is sorta like town life.....you wanna better chance of not being mugged? Then don't spend your evenings where the muggers are. Wow, what a difficult concept......

[atmilkman]

Hey, Hey Boo Boo! It's that time of year again. Here come all them newbie hikers. Bringing us them backapacky baskets. Hey, hey Boo Boo! Lets go shake some trees.

[Sierra Echo]

There is an idiot who works at Mountain Crossings telling people to sleep with their food. If they get attacked I hope they nail his ass.

[stranger]

Speaking (oddly enough) from the perspective of someone who actually lives here, there are indeed very active bears both North and South of Neel Gap. Prudent hikers will use extreme caution and prudence with their food bags when overnighting near here. The REALLY bright and prudent ones will go one step better......they simply won't camp near here, at least not for the time being. Sorry, people, this is not rocket science. Woods life is sorta like town life.....you wanna better chance of not being mugged? Then don't spend your evenings where the muggers are. Wow, what a difficult concept......

So you have to live in the area to understand this concept? I guess hiking through that area 3 times wouldn't give me the same perspective as someone who works in that area. Fair enough...: )

I agree however...want to avoid bears in this area then don't camp in the area...for now.

The problem with this short-term approach to the bear issue is that what's happening around Blood Mountain will become more and more widespread, eventually becoming all of Georgia (see Yosemite National Park). In the early to mid 90's bears were not an issue outside of the Smokies and Shenandoah, yet now you need to hang your food from Springer to Southwest Virginia...so come 2020 avoiding areas will become more and more difficult, if not impossible.

[ChinMusic]

There is an idiot who works at Mountain Crossings telling people to sleep with their food. If they get attacked I hope they nail his ass.

Sounds like a very sensible man.

[Sierra Echo]

Sounds like a very sensible man.

Not in the least bit.

[stranger]

Sleeping with your food is a proven, time tested method, over many years.

In fact, one could argue it's the only method that has not been 'defeated'.

Along the PCT, many hikers sleep with their food. In Alaska, this is also the chosen method for many people despite a healthy population of Grizzly bears.

[ChinMusic]

Not in the least bit.

Your choice. Handle YOUR food as you wish.

But to call someone an "idiot" for mentioning a VERY successful strategy is simply wrong-headed (notice I didn't say 'idiotic').

[Skidsteer]

There is an idiot who works at Mountain Crossings telling people to sleep with their food. If they get attacked I hope they nail his ass.

The only people who have not had their food stolen in this area are people who sleep with it in their tent or hike through without camping.

PCT method, slinging a rope and tying off to the trunk, and the official GATC bear cables are routinely defeated. Fact.

[ChinMusic]

In Alaska, this is also the chosen method for many people despite a healthy population of Grizzly bears.

I don't have those stones. I use a bear can in Griz country. I would prob use a can in areas where the black bear population has very little contact with humans as well (northern Manitoba for example). For the AT, my food stays right next to me most of the time.

[WingedMonkey]

It doesn't matter if your prefer the PCT hang, or if you like bear cables, or if you wish there were food storage boxes. It doesn't matter if you prefer to sleep with your food. It doesn't matter if you are under the delusion that bear hunting isn't already allowed in most of the National Forests in Georgia.
The Forest service has made a law, something they are allowed to do for management purposes. And the law says to either carry a bear canister in that short section or don't camp there.

The OP was that people are ignoring that law and that bears are stealing the bait once again.

The Forest Service now has two choices (as I see it), crack down and enforce the published rule and piss off a few dozen wannabe thru-hikers until trail gossip spreads the word. Or as they did last year, shut the whole short section down to overnight camping during spring season for the next few years, and enforce that instead.

Time to start writing some tickets.

[ChinMusic]

It doesn't matter if your prefer the PCT hang, or if you like bear cables, or if you wish there were food storage boxes. It doesn't matter if you prefer to sleep with your food. It doesn't matter if you are under the delusion that bear hunting isn't already allowed in most of the National Forests in Georgia.
The Forest service has made a law, something they are allowed to do for management purposes. And the law says to either carry a bear canister in that short section or don't camp there.

The OP was that people are ignoring that law and that bears are stealing the bait once again.

The Forest Service now has two choices (as I see it), crack down and enforce the published rule and piss off a few dozen wannabe thru-hikers until trail gossip spreads the word. Or as they did last year, shut the whole short section down to overnight camping during spring season for the next few years, and enforce that instead.

Time to start writing some tickets.

This thread has (d)evolved WAY beyond the OP.

For that, I agree. Follow the rules....simple enough. My personal solution would be to keep hiking. The real question is what do you do once you cross the boundary of the new rule.

[Sierra Echo]

The only people who have not had their food stolen in this area are people who sleep with it in their tent or hike through without camping.

PCT method, slinging a rope and tying off to the trunk, and the official GATC bear cables are routinely defeated. Fact.

I use the GATC bear cables and I haven't had my food stolen. Fact.

[stranger]

The PCT Method is not 'routinely defeated' ANYWHERE in the east coast.

Even slinging a rope and tying off still works (in some areas) if you know how to do it well and do it on a steep hillside.

PCT method still works in the Adirondacks where bears are easily the most intelligent along the east coast. Bears learned how to get past the Marcy Dam method back in 1994, when we used to hang bags off the dam, bear 1 goes up and cuts the rope, bear 2 on the bottom waiting for the food.

The problem in Georgia is the hikers, not the bears...plain and simple.

[Lone Wolf]

the LONE WOLF method has never been 'defeated' on the AT. hundreds of nites sleeping with food in a tent over 25 years. PCT method this!

[ScottP]

the LONE WOLF method has never been 'defeated' on the AT. hundreds of nites sleeping with food in a tent over 25 years. PCT method this!

I kinda hope a bear tries to eat you...

I've never tried bear stew before.

[BigHodag]

True story from one of the Class of 2012 that had his food taken by a bear. Didn't use PCT method.

http://www.laughingdog.com/2012/03/p...eed-bears.html

The bear(s) didn't much care for quinoa, vulgar wheat, oatmeal, dehydrated veggies, or spices and herbs. Liked Emergen-C Joint Formula:

"...ate all the packages I had in my bag. So I feel good that it's getting its vitamins."

[RichardD]

I am going to add my 5 cents.
First, its not a problem to walk past the 5 mile section and not camp there. If you do camp there obey the rules.
Elsewhere on the AT:. Last year many lost their food to bears in Georgia. Most of the food hangs I saw were close to the ground, close to a tree and in my view completely inadequate. Good branches to hang food from, PCT or otherwise were not commonplace. I was hiking with two other hikers and we strung a line between two trees and supended from it, it was a lot of work but with three of us we had enough cord, on my own I would not have taken the trouble.
Hikers lost food from bear wires but these were wires with only hooks at the food end, a carabiner at the food end which was common later in the hike would correct the problem (the bear shakes the cable and waits for food to fall)
I often slept with my food and never had a problem but I don't believe this should be a reccomendation for anyone else to do likewise. Most bears will not go near a tent with a person inside but there can be outliers, bears that do not follow the norm. You might never encounter one of these but if you do do and the bear came into your tent for food it could well be serious.
I am curious about one thing, many lost food when the bear swiped the cord where it was tied off and one reported the bear swiped the cord from the branch above a PCT hang. I understand bears dont see too well. Did this happen after dark or in daylight. I have to think that the way the tales were told it had to be daylight or perhaps they were tall tales!!
I have seen many bears on my Hikes, AT and elsewhere but have never lost food to one.