View Full Version : Keeping food away from bears
This may sound like a stupid question but are does everyone REALLY keep their bear bag 100 yds. away from their campsite? Isn't 100 yds pretty far?:confused:
sixhusbands
06-06-2007, 07:28
The bears get all the blame for raiding the food ( poor Yogi) but in reality it is the mice and squirrels that do the most damage. Sometimes they are very selective and only take the sweets... sometimes they take it all. Never the less something will get your food if you do not take proper precautions. The 100 yards away is so you will not hear the bear fall when he tries for your bag and so PETA will not get a call.
Lone Wolf
06-06-2007, 07:31
This may sound like a stupid question but are does everyone REALLY keep their bear bag 100 yds. away from their campsite? Isn't 100 yds pretty far?:confused:
i keep my food bag in my tent with me always
In your tent?! I am not that brave.
This may sound like a stupid question but are does everyone REALLY keep their bear bag 100 yds. away from their campsite?
Not me. Matter of fact, the bear boxes I've seen near shelters aren't 100 yards away, either. OTOH, if I was hiking in griz country I'd be a lot more careful.
Lone Wolf
06-06-2007, 07:48
In your tent?! I am not that brave.
yes. always
Didn't you just read about that kid who was dragged in his sleeping bag by a bear because he had food in it?! I think his friends videotaped it.
Lone Wolf
06-06-2007, 07:55
Didn't you just read about that kid who was dragged in his sleeping bag by a bear because he had food in it?! I think his friends videotaped it.
nope. i'm different
saimyoji
06-06-2007, 07:56
nope. i'm different
different = special
Lone Wolf
06-06-2007, 07:59
different = special
special = retarded
Special Ed and the Short Bus is a great band
Nightwalker
06-06-2007, 08:55
special = retarded
Special Ed and the Short Bus is a great band
And "Short Bus" was an, ahem, interesting movie.
I keep it in the tent as well. Black bears are afraid of people. Raccoons are more likely to take your food, and they go down bear lines without a problem. I'd rather keep mine, thanks.
Honestly, almost no one keeps there food 100 feet away from there camp site though I am sure some do. We are not talking the Rocky mtn west here..just the Appalachians.
When I thru hiked last year there was this big fuss about hanging food. Yet some only saw bears in the zoo in NY most did not see any for months. I saw my first bear in VA and that was not in Camp.
The thing is.. what bear is actually going to approach a Full shelter with like 8-10 people in it?
In GSMNP and in SNP, there are pullys are big poles provided for hkers to hang food up on. Outside the parks and from about mid VA on.. almost no one even hung food. I just put mine on mouse hangs. No problem.
Now mice THEY are a problem on the AT. Fear the mice not the bears!
When I tented, I usually kept my food outside the tent but under tent fly. If I were to do the hike again, I suspect I'd use my food bag as a pillow inside the tent.
saimyoji
06-06-2007, 10:32
I've only hung my food a few times, and never had any problems keeping it in my tent with me. There are some places you can get in trouble for NOT hanging or using the bear cables/boxes. Backpacker site 2 at Sunfish pond comes to mind.
100 yds. not 100 ft.!
OK given 1oo yards not 100 feet... I did not see ANY hikers that keept their food 100 yards away from where they camped. That too me is a totally rediculous distance. In the wilderness of the Montana rockies..maybe but in the Appalachians, that is absurd.
David
QHShowoman
06-06-2007, 11:16
I backpacked in SNP over the Memorial Day weekend. We hung our food bags about 100 feet or so from our tents and sure enough, at about 2am, a bear lumbered through our campsite. The foodbags remained untouched (I don't even think the bear noticed they were there) ... he just lumbered around for a bit and then went back into the woods. We weren't super careful about bears and had plenty of non-food scented items with us in our tents, such as babywipes, bug spray, etc., but it did make me happy for those few minutes that there was no food near me.
If I am in an area with a dense bear population, I hang amy food bag. When I do, I try to hang it at least 200 yards away, but never less than 100 yards, usually in the direction of the trail (but well off the trail) that I'll be hiking in the morning. I pick it up as I am heading up the trail the next morning and drop it into the top of the pack. I also put all smelly stuff in it, including toothpaste, soap, etc.
David: Why do you think it's more important to hang a bear bag in the Rocky Mountains than in the Appalachians? I guarantee you that black bear populations are way higher in parts of the east than in the Rockies. (I'm excluding the Pacific coast states, which do have high bear populations).
In Pennsylvania, where I do most of my hiking, the black bear population is estimated to be at least 14,000. Most of them live on the wooded ridges and mountains that we hike on, and it is quite common to see them.
Why do I hang a bear bag in bear country? When I lived in Oregon I once stopped to chat with some campers who showed me where at about 3am a bear had ripped open the back of a tent where they had been sleeping. They shot the bear. Since then, I've been careful to keep smells out of my tents.
Just my $.02.
I'm hanging a bear bag-enough said. I'm just gonna hate walking 100 yds. for coffee. I can walk 100s of mile for fun but for coffee... I wish I could keep a coffemaker on my night stand. Hmmmm.... that would be a great alarm clock.
Tipi Walter
06-06-2007, 13:42
Here's what I don't understand: After a meal our stomachs become a full food bag and we bring that bag into the tent at night so who's to say a bear can't smell that? Sure, I always hang my food bags on the easiest branch but only to discourage mice and small mammal action. The only time I bring the food into the tent vestibule is when a blizzard hits and even then the mice find it within 30 minutes and scurry about all night in and around and upon me.
Some campsites do not have mice but many do. I won't ever leave it in a backpack or zippered up in the tent. Mice will gnaw a hole, easily.
hammock engineer
06-06-2007, 14:01
I can't speak for bears, but in my part of the world mice and more importantly raccoons are the big issue. More than once I have had a raccoon test his courage by walking up to the side of my campsite. The next day I could tell they had been through. When I am not worried about bears, 4 feet in the air and 4 feet from any tree trunk/branch is good enough for me.
gordon larson
06-11-2007, 16:24
On the AT, with trees other than fir trees it's much easier to find a tree branch to hoist a food bag into. Some like to separate the food from the rest of the pack and I'm sure that's fine. With the tried and true rock in bandana-at-the-end-of-your-rope method, I hoist the whole thing. And I take a frisbee with a hole drilled in the center and have a knot about a foot above my bag. The frisbee sits on that knot and makes it tricky for any critters to get to the pack. Can't say it's 100% guarantee, but it's worked for me.
fazhahpopsicle
It might not be the ultralight option, but I take an airtight container like you might keep pasta in at home. I take that and keep it away from my sleeping area, but not far - more like 10 yards, not 100, and I don't hang it unless I'm at a shelter that has cables. I figure as long as they can't smell it, they're not going to find it or otherwise be attracted to the area.
Bears are creatures of habit. They know where to find food. And that's usually around shelters.
At most shelters where there are active bears, there is a bear line, bear box, or bear pole. Use them, and there wouldn't be problems.
Elsewhere, bears will probably not be a problem. But it doesn't take much effort to throw up a quick bear line over a branch, and you can then sleep well knowing that you will not have a bear problem.
Jester2000
06-11-2007, 21:36
nope. i'm different
'Course, you have to keep in mind what else Lonewolf has in his tent with him.
Bears are not a problem on the AT in CT. They have moved into town and are attending school. click here (http://www.newstimeslive.com/news/story.php?id=1056311&category=Local&kword=bear&searchtype=AND)
I used one of these on a Grand Canyon hike to keep small critters out of my food. Worked well.
http://www.armoredoutdoorgear.com/index.html
The Mechanical Man
06-15-2007, 00:54
I just saw this, I wonder if it works on mice?
check this out, a bear bag with some punch!
http://www.wilderness-solutions.com/palisade_est.htm
I just saw this, I wonder if it works on mice?
check this out, a bear bag with some punch!
http://www.wilderness-solutions.com/palisade_est.htm
I wonder if you could utilize the unused energy to microwave a meal. :rolleyes: