View Full Version : Novice Hiker Looking for Bear Bag Advice
markAT2009
11-04-2008, 14:04
I need some help. I've read many different posts, articles, etc regarding food and animals. As an example, let's say I've arrived at an AT shelter in mid afternoon and promptly set up camp and made a meal of beef stew and a peanut butter sandwich. If I take all the smelly stuff (food, pots, toothpaste, etc) and put it all into a commercial grade garbage bag and walk 50 yards into the woods. What now? Specifically, do I need an Ursack type bag, a Silnylon bag, is a garbage bag enough? How high does it need to be hung form a tree? What method for hanging the bag should I use.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ideas.
Easier to go to the top bar on the home page. Click on search. Wealth of info on lots of stuff.
Get some Paracord or something that'll hold the weight of your bag, sling it over a tree, Tie it to the bag, hoist it up 10-15 feet or so and tie the other end to the tree. It's a lot simpler than you're making it.
Kerosene
11-04-2008, 15:16
Here's a list of threads (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/search.php?searchid=4919526) with "bear bag" in the title.
I use a lightweight silnyl stuffsack for my foodbag, about the size of what I'd need to stuff my sleeping bag, with a small carabiner on the end. With about 40' of lightweight rope, I tie the rope around a convenient stone or stick and throw it over a branch about 15-25' high and at least 6' from the treetrunk (careful not to get hit by the stone as it swings over the branch!). There are alternative methods to this approach that you can read about in one of the threads.
your options: u can risk it or you can be smart and just go ahead and hang it, just don't sleep with it!!!
check out the other threads mentioned above,
there are also good diagrams (probably found in the links above) about hanging a bear line, throwing the line can be fun, but also frustrating, but really it doesn't take much time...
Creek Dancer
11-04-2008, 15:37
I use the same method, except that I have tie a very small mesh bag to the end of the rope and drop the rock in that. Then I store the rope inside the bag when not in use.
Here's a list of threads (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/search.php?searchid=4919526) with "bear bag" in the title.
I use a lightweight silnyl stuffsack for my foodbag, about the size of what I'd need to stuff my sleeping bag, with a small carabiner on the end. With about 40' of lightweight rope, I tie the rope around a convenient stone or stick and throw it over a branch about 15-25' high and at least 6' from the treetrunk (careful not to get hit by the stone as it swings over the branch!). There are alternative methods to this approach that you can read about in one of the threads.
Lone Wolf
11-04-2008, 15:47
just don't sleep with it!!!
why? i ALWAYS sleep with it
here's a couple of ways if you don't have cables or poles to hang food bags from
http://www.backpacker.com/learn_how_to_hang_a_bear_bag/destinations/dvideos/22
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/bear_bag_hanging_technique.html
Blissful
11-04-2008, 15:55
I got a sea to summit bag sil dry bag for food hanging - like it very much. And waterproof.
The PCT method described on JERMM's link is the easiest, lightest, and safest bear-baging method I know of.
rootball
11-04-2008, 18:56
Paracord will haul my food and my dogs food for 5 days. Anymore than that and I would bring a second paracord - pulling heavy loads can be difficult and it wears on the cord and damages the limbs. I see folks that willl basically hang it over their tents. I go a little distance - but not way down the hollar.
garlic08
11-04-2008, 19:30
I do exactly what Kerosene says. I saw some very poor hanging practices on the AT and a few people missing days of food and a few bears getting more habituated. Don't be lax about it, a fed bear is a dead bear.
The Chinese tend to have advanced techniques...
http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/NewsPictures/0707-BeerBag.jpg
I've had it, can you pronounce it?
turtle fast
11-04-2008, 23:36
A sil nylon bag is just enough with some para cord. Some shelters have bear cables or poles to hang your food and smellables from. Most of the time though, you will need to dangle it from a tree limb...several techniques exist and can be found here on Whiteblaze. But do hang it....I have seen mangled bags from bears, raccoons, squirrls, and mostly though from mice!!!
Pickleodeon
11-22-2008, 12:51
This PCT method of bear bagging.. well, I've tried it. I'm 5'2", a girl, and frankly, can't throw so save my life. I tried the rock in bandana method.. it punched holes in my bandana when it landed on the ground :( I also hit myself with the rock more than once when it swings down or misses the branch and falls. I've heard about trying a 2/3 full soda bottle with water in it- havent tried it. Dont get me started on getting it tangled and yanking it until it catapults onto another branch. Also, I've had trouble finding decent trees with thick branches that I can throw over and have it far enough from the actual tree- they're all really high up. I just can't throw high enough. I'm sure if people watched me try to hang my food they would die laughing, that's if they didnt die from being hit with my poorly thrown rock. Plus it's hard for me to pull the bag up, it's like 10 lbs maybe for 5 days of food over a rough branch that the rope gets stuck on, 15 ft up, and then trying to retrieve the end of rope with the PCT method involves me jumping like a maniac. I've practiced this process in my yard and just cannot get it down.
Long story, well, long, I got an Ursack. I plan on tying it to a tree, so it doesnt get dragged away, but I trust that, especially against mice and squirrels, more than I trust my throwing arm. I dont want to spend 3 hours in the dark trying to hang a bear bag and end up being medivacced for a head injury from my rock.
ofthearth
11-22-2008, 13:21
I need some help.What method for hanging the bag should I use. Thanks in advance for any thoughts/ideas.
why? i ALWAYS sleep with it
Paracord will haul my food and my dogs food for 5 days. Anymore than that and I would bring a second paracord - pulling heavy loads can be difficult and it wears on the cord and damages the limbs. I see folks that willl basically hang it over their tents. I go a little distance - but not way down the hollar.
This PCT method of bear bagging.. well, I've tried it. I'm 5'2", a girl, and frankly, can't throw so save my life. I tried the rock in bandana method.. it punched holes in my bandana when it landed on the ground :( I also hit myself with the rock more than once when it swings down or misses the branch and falls. I've heard about trying a 2/3 full soda bottle with water in it- havent tried it. Dont get me started on getting it tangled and yanking it until it catapults onto another branch. Also, I've had trouble finding decent trees with thick branches that I can throw over and have it far enough from the actual tree- they're all really high up. I just can't throw high enough. I'm sure if people watched me try to hang my food they would die laughing, that's if they didnt die from being hit with my poorly thrown rock. Plus it's hard for me to pull the bag up, it's like 10 lbs maybe for 5 days of food over a rough branch that the rope gets stuck on, 15 ft up, and then trying to retrieve the end of rope with the PCT method involves me jumping like a maniac. I've practiced this process in my yard and just cannot get it down.
Long story, well, long, I got an Ursack. I plan on tying it to a tree, so it doesnt get dragged away, but I trust that, especially against mice and squirrels, more than I trust my throwing arm. I dont want to spend 3 hours in the dark trying to hang a bear bag and end up being medivacced for a head injury from my rock.
As you can see there are many ways to do it and the above posts seem to cover the range. I bought a Ursack and don't use it. Kinda heavy. If you want to go that way pm me and we can work something out. LW doesn't hang his and he's hiked a lot, though I always mean to ask where/when etc. ( Not to start anything just to gather more info to make a better choice) The question seems to be one that comes up often (very often). Maybe someone could do a poll so others could get a better idea of what most people do.
chair/ofthearth
hopefulhiker
11-22-2008, 17:35
I saw a lot of people just hanging their bags from the roofs of shelters. I found that mice are more of a problem than bears..
bigcranky
11-22-2008, 21:09
Long story, well, long, I got an Ursack. I plan on tying it to a tree, so it doesnt get dragged away, but I trust that, especially against mice and squirrels, more than I trust my throwing arm..
I use an Ursack. Makes life a lot easier. When you tie it to a tree, use a Figure-8 knot (http://www.animatedknots.com/fig8climbing/index.php?LogoImage=LogoGrog.jpg&Website=www.animatedknots.com), so you can easily untie it if some critter tries to drag it away.
take-a-knee
11-22-2008, 22:03
The PCT method described on JERMM's link is the easiest, lightest, and safest bear-baging method I know of.
If you are not in bear country (most of the AT is), then sleep with it. If you are, then use the PCT method, and don't let anyone tell you that paracord will work, it isn't slick enough. Use this:
http://www.antigravitygear.com/proddetail.php?prod=TRLINE&cat=93
hung 10-15 feet high will keep the bears away. Also make sure it is not to close to limbs are the trunk, otherwise the squirlls and coons will get it. I like the two ropes tied to two different tree method. There is a diagram of it on here somewhere.
I have been accused of being part of the "Ursack Mafia" due to my long term love affair with them :p
I own two Ursacks, one from 2002 (a second gen yellow one) and a green 3rd gen one).
Slowly over the years most of my hiking partners have picked up Ursacks. We have at least one of every model sold. Including the goofy "silly sack" that my buddy Marzsit picked up at the start of the Iraq war - when they couldn't get more fabric. Ursack was sewing odd ball sized ones for a short period out of scraps. The silly sack is still a favorite!
I am short. I have never been able to properly hang a bear bag - most times I camp at treeline with tiny evergreens that are useless for hanging. So for me, the Ursack was a blessing. Now my son has his own as well.
I do own a canister but only use it if legally required.
If you can bear bag correctly and have good trees, then go for it. 7 ounces for the Ursack and getting to tie it off/go to bed in a minute is worth it :p
SouthMark
11-23-2008, 00:30
why? i ALWAYS sleep with it
[QUOTE=ofthearth;728608]As you can see there are many ways to do it and the above posts seem to cover the range. I bought a Ursack and don't use it. Kinda heavy. If you want to go that way pm me and we can work something out. LW doesn't hang his and he's hiked a lot, though I always mean to ask where/when etc. ( Not to start anything just to gather more info to make a better choice) The question seems to be one that comes up often (very often). Maybe someone could do a poll so others could get a better idea of what most people do.
I have never slept with mine but from Springer to Hot Springs I have never bear bagged either. Just hung it over a low limb or from my hammock support lines. I'm not suggesting to not bear bag, just saying what works for me. I did bear bag in the Rockies though.