View Full Version : Another Bear Bag Question
SoonerTex
09-26-2008, 15:29
Where do you carry your food when Hiking? I was out earlier this week and tried FBC (which I like). I noticed the smell of the food had gone thru the freezer bag and into the coozie. That started me thinking about how all foods emit an odor and if you carry it in your backpack what good does it do to seperate your food at night in bear country? Would you not need to hang your backpack? Just wondering SoonerTex
I know LW you sleep in your food in bear country or something like that.:)
Shouldn't be necessary to hang a pack, but many hang their pot and other smellables.
Lone Wolf
09-26-2008, 15:58
I know LW you sleep in your food in bear country or something like that.:)
i don't sleep IN it, i sleep WITH it in my tent
I have my food in a silnylon stuff sack with clips at the top to form a loop (availible at walmart in the camping section in a 3 pack). I hang my food, or i put it in a bear box (I mostly hike in NJ at the moment which has a lot of bear activity). My pot usually has water boiled in it, so there really is no food smell coming from it, but i usually put my spoon and my cup in the bag and hang it or put it in the box.
There are in some areas, ways to hang your whole backpack to get it off the ground (backpacker campsite just south of sunfish pond in NJ) but I only use those when they come up.
SoonerTex
09-26-2008, 16:34
Thanks. So the odor from foods carried in your backpack during the day don't absorb into your pack material? I guess my question should have been, is there a special type of bag or material you use to put your food in, while you carry it in your backpack while actually hiking. I will look into those bags at walmart. SoonerTex
The pack probably smells, but when the bear investigates it, he doesn't get rewarded as he would if the food were still in it.
SoonerTex
09-26-2008, 16:43
Got it. That makes since. Thanks Lyle
I put my cozy into my Ursack bear bag at night :) Just to be safe!
bigcranky
09-26-2008, 20:56
I put my cozy into my Ursack bear bag at night :) Just to be safe!
Me too. Along with my spoon, trash, and any other smellables.
It may actually smell worse from human scent than food. The only thing i worry about is food and food packaging, and my mug and spoon.
Some also include bug spray, lip balm, sunscreen, etc. in their "smellables" or bear bag.
Fiddleback
09-27-2008, 10:58
None of us can know what scent is going to attract a bear. We can only speculate on what is more attractive than not. But even then it's a losing game. Grizzlys (maybe black bears too?) are estimated to have a sense of smell 1000 times that of a dog's. Trying to contain odors in an odor-proof bag may be helpful but it's not a sure thing. Further, bears are very intelligent and very curious. While we may think the smoked salmon is an attractant, the spilled stove fuel, used kleenex, or a pair of soggy camp shoes might be too. We just don't know.
That said, I hang all my kitchen stuff; food, wrappers and garbage, the stove and kettle, utensils, fuel...everything. I also hang what toiletries I have. But, in the end, that all breaks down to what I can smell...everything else in camp has an odor too and may, or may not, entice a bear.
Late at night, when I hear that splash in the stream and I'm wondering if it's a jumping fish or a footstep of an approaching bear I comfort myself in the theory that Early Man survived the stronger, bigger, faster predators not because he was smarter, but because he didn't taste good.:)
We all draw lines...some hang nothing, some hang everything they possibly can. Some in the middle hang their stuff in the middle of camp...not good!
FB
Blissful
09-27-2008, 14:40
If something is that odiferous, you might ziploc bag it separately and the put it in your food bag.
NICKTHEGREEK
09-27-2008, 15:19
i don't sleep IN it, i sleep WITH it in my tent
LW, you've said that frequently and I wonder what sort of food you sleep with that doesn't attract the critters? Seriously.
Lone Wolf
09-27-2008, 15:44
LW, you've said that frequently and I wonder what sort of food you sleep with that doesn't attract the critters? Seriously.
just your normal hiking foods
All my food (and trash) stays in these Odor Proof sacks.
http://www.watchfuleyedesigns.com/index.cfm?do=list&categoryid=2
Flush2wice
09-27-2008, 17:10
Shouldn't be necessary to hang a pack, but many hang their pot and other smellables.
I don't think bears are attracted to pot.
I don't think bears are attracted to pot.
Except this kind...
http://www.funbumperstickers.com/images/Grateful_Dead_bear2.gif
I don't think bears are attracted to pot.
Of course they are. That is why they are always stealing food, they have the munchies.
A couple of black bears were ripping apart a backpackers food stash when they found a box of mac and cheese. The one bear said to the other... "dude, we have to make this"
superman
09-27-2008, 20:43
It's best if you have your hike catered. If you have a problem with that they have some super bear cans. The advantage over a bear bag is that you can sit on your bear can. If you don't want to use that space in your pack for a bear can and bear bags don't do enough for you just use your food as a pillow.:)
Blissful
09-27-2008, 21:48
just your normal hiking foods
Limburger cheese. And salami as a pillow. The good stuff.
:D
ccjamesdean
09-29-2008, 10:22
All items that had food in them should be hung on a bear pole, pack, food bag, trash, cooking sack.
Bob
All items that had food in themt should be hung on a bear pole, pack, food bag, trash, cooking sack.
Bob
While this seems to make sense on the surface, my thought is that if your clothes, sleeping bag, flashlight, etc were all stored in the smelly pack all day with the food, they will also have picked up the food odors. Plastic or sylnylon bags won't stop it. I choose to simplify and bag only food and garbage, and toothpaste. Again, let the bear investigate the pack and cooking pot. He won't get rewarded when he does, so will go elsewhere.
The scouts out at Philmont used to take bearbagging to extreames, requireing film, bandaids, moleskin, EVERYTHING to be included in the bear bag. I never bought into that position either.
If I hiked in grizzly country I would be more worried. Here we have black bears - I put my main items such as spoon, cozy, food and garbage in my Ursack. I don't hang my pack though - it goes under my feet in my tent. My boots come in as well at night. I don't carry smelly items in my first aid kit, it stays in the pack in my tent at night. I'll be honest.....I keep my prescription meds with me, in the tent, in my kit for the reason that I can hike without food, but not without my meds!
I have no fear of sleeping with my bandaids ;)
Serial 07
09-30-2008, 00:30
the only place i had trouble with my food is in maine...those dang mice nibbled into my tent and into my bag...my last night on the trail...geez...bears, no...mice in maine, yes...
dzierzak
09-30-2008, 14:11
Philmont is kond of a special case...
When you have about 22,000 people going through the same 200+ square miles in a 3 month season, some of it make sense. Then, too, the number of in-experienced backpackers there makes fairly rigid bear protocols helpful.
ed