Latest news on bears and canisters

[rsmout]

REI is having its anniversary sale this week and its website contained the following information about black bears and bear resistant food containers (BRFCs):

"There is a bear in the Marcy Dam area of the Adirondacks in upstate New York that has learned to open BearVault food containers. BearVaults are approved for use everywhere except the area encompassing the Lake Colden/Marcy Dam corridor and the Johns Brook valley in the Adirondacks."

Here is the link to that page:

http://www.rei.com/product/768901/bearvault-bv450-solo-food-container

Note that the guidance for using BRFCs says to never keep a bear canister in your tent.

Given the intelligence of this bear, I wouldn't be surprised if it was buying stock in Counter Assault and Garcia, makers of competing BRFCs, and shorting BearVault.

Takeaway: never underestimate a bear's motivation to do what it wants to do and its ability to assess risk.

[WingedMonkey]

Even REI has to cover it's legal backside.

[bfayer]

For what it's worth, the bear is named Yellow yellow, and seems to be smarter than a 5th grader.

http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/bears.php

[map man]

That's a great article, bfayer. Thanks for the link! It would be great if a lot of the folks here at WB who freak out about bears would read it.

[Snowleopard]

For what it's worth, the bear is named Yellow yellow, and seems to be smarter than a 5th grader.

http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/stories/bears.php
It is stronger than a 5th grader too.
quotes from a couple of reviews of the Bear Vault at REI


Not easy to open if you do not have strong arms and a strong grip, e.g. my kids can open the Keg without help but they cannot open this one.
...
REI Staff had difficulty opening in the 70-degree store and
I missed dinner AND breakfast at Marmot Pass last night AND this morning because my strong hands were not strong enough to open the "Vault" at an estimated 30-degrees...
Yellow-yellow is a small shy female and not confrontational.

[rsmout]

I have the tall and short Bear Vault. My tall canister has just the one detente point, but the short one has two. It takes some finger strength to mash down on the detentes, but after some practice it gets easier. I think it would be possible to stand on the lid end and pop the lid off.

The Garcia, UDAP, and Counter Assault canisters use a two/three-point cam/latch system; you turn the latches using a coin multi-tool, or knife. They are probably a little harder to load, and one of the short ones doesn't have a lot of volume. They are also a little heavier per unit of volume.

One advantage of the Bear Vault is that the clear polycarbonate allows you to see what you have without having to open the canister. The other products use an opaque material.

Maybe the Bear Vault will go the way of the UrSack - unapproved in parks and back country areas. Who knows?

[mateozzz]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the use of Bear Vaults (or equivalent) required in Georgia and GSMNP due to the increasing problems with bears getting hiker food. Not sure if the problem is due to there being more bears or more hikers, but most of the problem would disappear if everyone used a canister. The other thing that would help is to use bear boxes, since the cables tend to mostly be broken and/or overloaded and/or ineffective. I know the bear boxes attract trash, but it seems like a reasonable tradeoff.

[russb]

I wrote to BearVault a few years ago with a "new design" for their canisters which would eliminate the present method yellow-yellow uses. The people at BV stated that they needed a "design for least common denominator (of humans)" and my idea might make it too difficult for some. They said they were also testing a new design already. But that was more than 2 years ago, and nothing has been updated on their site yet.

[Snowleopard]

... They said they were also testing a new design already. But that was more than 2 years ago, and nothing has been updated on their site yet.
Apparently they did test a modified design in the Adirondacks and it didn't take Yellow-yellow long to figure it out. Other brands of canister seem to be OK. I think the Bear Vault does fine elsewhere, it's just Yellow-yellow and her students that have mastered it.

According to the NYS DEC, one reason for canisters is that they spread out the food, reducing the concentration of bears around where the food is stored. Bear boxes are not an option in the Adirondack Forest Preserve because they are a permanent structure which are banned by the NY constitution (ADK and Catskill preserves are 'forever wild').

[long island bob]

I have "met" probably a half dozen bears during the day. None of them had cubs with them and all of them were more afraid of me than I was of them. In fact generally they tend to run away once you get within 50-100 yards of them or so.

They are, in their natural behavior, more skittish than cows, almost as skittish as deer.

That said, I have NEVER experienced a bear sniffing around my tent for food at night, and I think the experience would require I take a quick trip to the local laundry-mat (and maybe to a cardiologist).

[gregpphoto]

I've met Yellow Yellow, and had run ins with her evidence as well. I was one of the unlucky hikers who rented a BearVault in 2007 and had my food stolen. In 09 I saw lots of fresh prints and claw marks on trees. But as SnowLeopard pointed out, she's not aggressive towards people. She just wants to eat!