View Full Version : hanging food bag from hammock
Do any of you other hammockers hang your food bag from your hammock suspension at night? I usually hang it outside of the hammock where my whoopie sling attaches near my feet. My thinking is that it's basically the same thing as keeping it in my tent (which I know is hotly debated, but practiced by many), and nothing would have to tear through my hammock to get to it. It's high enough off the ground to keep smaller pests away, and I would be able to sit up and shine my light/holler at anything larger to scare it off. A friend that I hike with thinks it's a disaster waiting to happen and swears that I'm the only person who does this, but I've hung my food this way for a long time and have never had a problem. I'm certain others must do the same thing. I'm talking about the southern Appalachians, not grizzly bear country.
in the southern appalachians----i would think its a disaster waiting to happen in certain areas..............such as the smokies............
where the bears are around humans more, it will be a problem.....
in other others, where the bears are not used to seeing humans, it should be fine......
i would also worry about the mice (and other vermin) crawling all over ya to get to the food bag.........
sounds like the worst of both worlds. the sleep with your food in your tent notion, i think, is based on the idea nothing is going to be brave enough to go into your tent with you there. i dont think the same deterrent is true for what you describe.
the hanging your food concept relies on making it impossible for anything to physically get to your foo, you arent accomplishing that either.
eabyrd1506
07-21-2016, 15:31
I didn't know that the wisdom of food bags in tents was debated? We never allowed it in Scouting and thought keeping food outside was commonly accepted as a best practice.
for quite a few years i've done just what you describe, and have done so where ever it is legal to do it on the AT, or where bear boxes or hangers were not available, and have never had a problem. that being said, when I recently started hiking in the Catskills and Adirondacks I learned the PCT hanging method, and I do have to say -- problem or not, I sleep better when my food is hung, even if it is as close as 25 feet away.
AfterParty
07-21-2016, 15:38
I wouldn't do that myself. I'd feel like I have a pork chop tied to my ankle all night long.
sounds like the worst of both worlds. the sleep with your food in your tent notion, i think, is based on the idea nothing is going to be brave enough to go into your tent with you there. i dont think the same deterrent is true for what you describe.
the hanging your food concept relies on making it impossible for anything to physically get to your foo, you arent accomplishing that either.
That was my reaction as well. Neither close enough to appear in possession, nor inaccessible enough to prevent it from being easily taken. Either use it as a pillow or hang it properly.
In definite bear country Southern Appalachia and Smokies, I hang, if no cables or box available. In low risk areas where I am more concerned about Racoons, oppossum, and mice I still try to hang for practice. However, if it is not possible to find a good tree, I have also hung it from the V of the tarp and or hammock suspension. I also put it at my feet away from my head for some reason. So you are not alone.
Fireplug
07-23-2016, 08:34
Let us know how that works out for ya. If you survive.
SouthMark
07-23-2016, 09:05
I used to hang mine from the suspension but now I just sleep with it under my knees.
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WILLIAM HAYES
07-23-2016, 14:15
would not do it I always hang my food bag in a tree away from where I sleep just a good practice
What does a bear call a human in a hammock (with a food bag!)?
A bearrito.
hehe
Sarcasm the elf
07-24-2016, 10:14
I didn't know that the wisdom of food bags in tents was debated? We never allowed it in Scouting and thought keeping food outside was commonly accepted as a best practice.
In the context of scouting you are entirely correct.
Sleeping with your food really means knowing the local area and being aware of any problems with habituated bears, keeping a clean campsite with a minimum of smells, and keeping possession of your food at all times (i.e. never leaving your food unattended and especially never leaving unattended food in a tent.) A great many experienced hikers do this on a regular basis and it is a valid technique under certain circumstances. I would never recommend that a scout or youth group attempt it.
MuddyWaters
07-24-2016, 11:46
I didn't know that the wisdom of food bags in tents was debated? We never allowed it in Scouting and thought keeping food outside was commonly accepted as a best practice.
Yep.
You dont ever want to allow food in a tent at all. Ground in can remain for years until camp in wrong place and time.
But people take more risks for themself, than would with other peoples kids.
Especially in appalachains where bears tend to avoid people.
But. You got new bears every year. Some will do the wrong things.
Hikingjim
07-24-2016, 18:58
Several areas are getting more problem bears, including some bears taking food right out of shelters.
I would not do this or put it in my tent either.
volleypc
07-25-2016, 12:24
When I through hiked I started out hanging my bag but it just seemed like the people that hung were the ones that had issues with bears. More of the experienced hikers did keep their food bag with them so I just started sleeping with my bag under my hammock. Occasionally if I heard a chipmunk or raccoon it would wake me and I could scare it away. There were a few areas where it seems ants would be a problem so I just hung it right next to my hammock a few feet to get it away from the ants. I also kept snack food in my hammock and if I would wake up in the middle of the night I was snack a bit to take in a few extra calories. This was typically cheese and crackers when it was cool enough to keep the cheese and trail mix during the warmer months.
If bear cables are available and it was an area I had seen activity I would use them because if they had the snapon clips (didn't seem like anyone ever had any issues with them). I am going to guess that on my thru hike my food bag was under my hammock 75% - 80% of the time.
Farr Away
07-25-2016, 12:34
In the Smokies, we have had a bear come through our campsite and under the foot end of one of the (occupied) hammocks. Probably has happened more than once, but that time the occupant woke up (& there were footprints the next morning to prove it really was a bear).
-FA
Sleeping with your food really means knowing the local area and being aware of any problems with habituated bears, keeping a clean campsite with a minimum of smells, and keeping possession of your food at all times (i.e. never leaving your food unattended and especially never leaving unattended food in a tent.) A great many experienced hikers do this on a regular basis and it is a valid technique under certain circumstances.
This is basically my practice. A couple of years ago, I was set up about 100 yards above Punchbowl Shelter when a bear took a couple of slow laps around my hammock in the middle of the night. He was about 20 feet away from me, but was polite enough to leave when I requested that he do so. Although I never felt concerned that he would actually try to take my food bag off my hammock, I have to admit that I hung it in a tree the next night. But laziness took over in a couple of days, and back on the suspension it went.
That being said, my next section of the AT will be through SNP to Harper's Ferry, and I'll probably hang it every night through that stretch.
MuddyWaters
07-25-2016, 21:15
In the Smokies, we have had a bear come through our campsite and under the foot end of one of the (occupied) hammocks. Probably has happened more than once, but that time the occupant woke up (& there were footprints the next morning to prove it really was a bear).
-FA
my recollection is a boy in a hammock was . bitten or tasted ...last yr in the smokies. He and his dad hiked out in night afterwards.
Numerous people elsewhere have been mouthed over the years.
What is always lost in these discussions is the impact on the bear(s). You may do just fine and continue to do just fine, but someday, someone will mess up and pretty soon it's the bear that pays the price or in some cases maybe both. Bears are opportunist and looking for easy calories, eventually they will figure out humans = food and that's their death sentence.
Storing food in know bear country in your tent, on your hammock or any other dumb sh** method is lazy and stupid.