Bear Resistant Bags

[isocyanate]

Maybe I misinterpreted the regulation, but I leave the bear container at camp with the bulk of my food in it and load a gallon ziplock with a days worth to carry with me, so I'm only toting the can in/out.

Figured as long as I was in possession of the food it didn't have to be in the canister. If not, I'm really not sure where the line is.

Guess this is moot if you are carrying camp every day.

This is the one I bought, works fine. I do like being able to just leave it on the ground as a matter of convenience.

https://www.amazon.com/NO-FED-BEAR-Bear-Resistant-Canister-UDAP/dp/B004BT5290

 

[jkilburg]

Maybe I misinterpreted the regulation, but I leave the bear container at camp with the bulk of my food in it and load a gallon ziplock with a days worth to carry with me, so I'm only toting the can in/out.

Figured as long as I was in possession of the food it didn't have to be in the canister. If not, I'm really not sure where the line is.

Guess this is moot if you are carrying camp every day.

This is the one I bought, works fine. I do like being able to just leave it on the ground as a matter of convenience.

https://www.amazon.com/NO-FED-BEAR-Bear-Resistant-Canister-UDAP/dp/B004BT5290

It is required to be in an approved container I thought at all times. However, I we won’t necessarily have a basecamp all the time to come back to.


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[jkilburg]

Ursak- largest ones. Black color so they hide well in the shade of the tree. Highly recommend a couple reflective marker tags so you can find the tree in the dark. They all look the same when you're exhausted, even when you're close to camp.

The big Ursaks are super handy when on multi day bivvy from basecamp. When we get to our bivvy camp location, we haul extra food up a tree and near our bivvy tents or hammocks. Saves a lot of weight in the backpacks.

Get yourself a urethane coated, thin, lightweight arborist's haul line, they are best because the slippery coating helps keep the line from snagging on the coarse branch bark of the evergreen/pine trees.


JL

Great info! I do have some of the urethane coated haul line already. Figured hanging would be much easier with it.


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[fatlander]

I’d pay the fine if it came to it. The goal is to reduce human conflict with bears. Hanging your food is going to accomplish the same end goal. I can’t imagine that you’re going to get stopped and checked for a bear approved canister once you leave the trailhead. If you do, explain your system for hanging food. No way in hell I’d lug that canister around through the woods.

Are you going to bone out meat and pack it piece by piece in that little canister? Didn’t think so.

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[TradLife406]

Ursack


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[jkilburg]

I’d pay the fine if it came to it. The goal is to reduce human conflict with bears. Hanging your food is going to accomplish the same end goal. I can’t imagine that you’re going to get stopped and checked for a bear approved canister once you leave the trailhead. If you do, explain your system for hanging food. No way in hell I’d lug that canister around through the woods.

Are you going to bone out meat and pack it piece by piece in that little canister? Didn’t think so.

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$5K is the fine. We all know that logic is the best approach it minimizing bear contact. However, I don’t want to spend $5K when I could get a sack that fits inside my pack.


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[punchparty]

The Ursack Major or Udap is going to be the way to go. The Ursack is all about how well you knot it up in the tree. Ive read and seen a lot of reports of the Bear Vault canisters not holding up to an actual beating from a bear, but should keep all the small critters out. Your mileage may vary. Ursack is the most easily packable and flexible in my opinion.

 

[Bobrobheimer]

I have been running an Ursak for quite a while in Colorado after picking one up when required on a specific hunt a number of years back. Came to use it most of the time rather than deal with setting up a good hang or sleeping with my food.

I was aware that food would get crushed should a bear make a go for my food but I was under the general impression that it would resist puncture. I found out on a recent trip with my son on night one that this is not the case. I am pretty sure I was awake and heard the bear the moment it started on the bag, and more or less immediately got out of the tent and ran it off but even in that relatively short time the damage done was quite substantial. Many of the items inside were not only crushed but punctured. I had to discard a decent amount of food and rebuild most of the day bags. Some of the dehydrated dinner bags were ripped or punctured and I had to save other ones to cook them in. General pain, though we had enough food for the rest of the trip. If the bears effort had been long term (if I was dead sleep or a bag was left behind for a day - I am not confident there would be anything left or even that the bear might not eventually be able to get food out of the bag).

I own and have used an aluminum liner with the Ursak in RMNP because that’s the only way they allow it and I am now kinda of the opinion that it’s worth the weight of using the Ursak.