Do You Sleep With Your Food in Bear Country?

[Poser]

“uh yeah… is this S/R… yeah a bear ate my food. Can you bring me some more? Or come get me?”

A bear destroyed their tent and sleeping bags in the process of eating their food.

 

[MallardSX2]

If I was in grizzly country, I would not sleep with food in my tent.

 

[akcabin]

I always stay near any hanging game meat or food in coolers near the camp. Or else you are asking for trouble with bears thinking that they have a chance to steal your food.
I hunt in areas where there are already too many bears of both colors

 

[Ucsdryder]

A bear destroyed their tent and sleeping bags in the process of eating their food.

I know. I was just poking fun. Why wouldn’t they just hike out? If I came back to my shit and it was destroyed I’d pack up the remnants and head for my truck. The thought of calling SR would never cross my mind.

 

[huntnful]

I sleep with it in the tent now. I only really worry about it when I'm gone for the day hunting. But I need my food, so I like the idea of my scent being the main deterrent, and being able to protect it throughout the night, if need be. Never had an issue though. Back country bears don't love human interactions.

Everything I bring is well sealed, to hopefully prevent spreading of the scent. And I burn the daily food trash every night if possible.

 

[TaperPin]

If you want a bear in your tent, store food in it. Black or griz, while you’re away good luck keeping a bear from ripping into your tent. I’m shocked so many guys are doing it. It’s common knowledge to not even keep food stored in a vehicle or a bear can rip the window down on most cars. Hang food from a tree to keep it away from mice or bears.

If someone is 5 miles in on a hunt they’ve been preparing for all year and probably have at the very least a couple grand in expenses, what happens when your tent is ruined and you week’s worth of food is gone? No thank you.

It’s safe to say all Wyoming bears know all about backpackers and campers - tents appear everywhere all summer and fall.

 

[Maverick1]

Hang food in a tree, every time. Do not want any sort of animals into the food during a hunt. Bear, mouse, squirrels, rodents, etc.

 

[realunlucky]

I sleep with it in the tent now. I only really worry about it when I'm gone for the day hunting. But I need my food, so I like the idea of my scent being the main deterrent, and being able to protect it throughout the night, if need be. Never had an issue though. Back country bears don't love human interactions.

So you've never had a bear in camp?

People that have regular bear encounters do not keep food in thier tents.

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[Ucsdryder]

So you've never had a bear in camp?

People that have regular bear encounters do not keep food in thier tents.

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I’ve never had a bear in camp in my life and I’d bet I spend more time in the woods than almost anybody that identifies as a hunter. I probably effed myself and I’ll come back to camp this year with yogi eating my snickers.

 

[huntnful]

So you've never had a bear in camp?

People that have regular bear encounters do not keep food in thier tents.

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Where are you having REGULAR bear encounters in the backcountry? I live one of the most densely populated black bear states in the west, and have back pack hunted NM, ID, MT, UT, WY, OR, AK, CO and AZ... and I have never had a bear in camp. And I learned the food in the tent thing from AK guides.... there's plenty of bears there.

 

[huntnful]

I’ve never had a bear in camp in my life and I’d bet I spend more time in the woods than almost anybody that identifies as a hunter. I probably effed myself and I’ll come back to camp this year with yogi eating my snickers.

Hahaha yeah, I'm probably going to have to fight off 3 bears this year just because I said I haven't had any issues before

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

Brown/Grizzly country? No way. Wasn't that long ago a woman was killed near here for having her toothpaste in an old blueberry bag in her tent. That was a food-conditioned bear, but you never know when you're going to run into a bear that has a taste for human food because someone wasn't using appropriate storage...

 

[PMcGee]

I don’t sleep with food in my tent but it’s not far away. Usually we cook right at the tent and move the food 100’ at most before we go to bed. Toothpaste goes in the tent.


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[realunlucky]

I’ve never had a bear in camp in my life and I’d bet I spend more time in the woods than almost anybody that identifies as a hunter. I probably effed myself and I’ll come back to camp this year with yogi eating my snickers.

More time than anyone? That sounds like a lot.

 

[flyfisher117]

No food in the tent period. Bear country or not.

Nobody has an issue, ever, until they do. Do what makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. I feel warm and fuzzy when I'm not tempting warm and fuzzy critters with a snack. Even mice.

 

[Ucsdryder]

More time than anyone? That sounds like a lot.

“Almost”. Key disclaimer. And I didn’t say rokslide, I said “identifies as a hunter”. My first back country horse camping trip was when I was 6. I’m in my 40s now. I didn’t miss much in between. I stand by my comment.

 

[Otto#14]

Are we talking like wall tent type of food or freezer dried 7 miles back in type of food?

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Maybe because I spent 5 yrs guiding for black bears, but I don't worry about them, unless you blood trialing an arrow shot one on my hands and knees thru some thick stuff. Those situations can get western fast...

G bears yes, anything with food scent goes in a tree.

 

[Jethro]

People that have regular bear encounters do not keep food in thier tents.

If no food in tent, why the regular bear encounters? What's the attraction?

 

[huntnful]

Are we talking like wall tent type of food or freezer dried 7 miles back in type of food?

I do think that it’s important to distinguish between.

Ice chests full of loosely packaged meat and shitty packaged gas station donuts and croissants covered in sugar, with hanging garbage bags full of food scraps.

Is a lot different than a vacuum sealed food stash the size of a basketball. With everything getting burned every night.