Do You Sleep With Your Food in Bear Country?

[ianpadron]

When I lived in WA food was always in the tent, but camp was clean, zero issues and never thought twice about it. Same thing when I hunt Idaho.

Here in Montana the past 3 years...everything that smells is hung in a tree at least 100 yards downwind from camp

 

[ianpadron]

I can’t be the only one more worried about the damn mice chewing holes in my food and coming home with hantavirus or something rather than a black bear deciding to ransack my tent with me in it. Effing mice.

My buddy woke up choking on a mouse 5 years ago. Bout the funniest thing I've ever witnessed. 2AM and all hell broke loose right next to me in the tent, coughing, puking, swearing. He finally got his act together when we saw a little field mouse scurrying away haha.

Freakin' mouthbreathers!

 

[Jimmy]

In CA black bear country, in areas you can hunt black bears(not Yosemite or Tahoe), I rarely hang food.

Sometimes it's because the only trees around me are scrubby, short little pines that wouldn't get the food away from bears anyways. I don't keep my main food in the tent either. Just nearby. I want to wake up and scare a bear off if one comes. Haven't had an issue in maybe 50 nights solo hunting.

(Not sure if it helps, but I pee around the tent and snore like a train out of hell too)

 

[TaperPin]

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.

The game trail at timberline near our usual western Wyoming deer camp has so many bears, we aren’t trying and see one every other year on the 5 mile hike up the mountain through timber and fresh sign every year, all season. Any place we bone out an elk or deer will get a black camped out on it. Wyoming doesn’t seem to be a bear mecha, but blacks are very common on all regularly used high country trails, even above timberline.

I have a stubborn friend that always kept food in his tent - until a bear came into camp well above timberline. If the bear doesn’t leave, you either shoot the bear, shoot to scare the bear or get out of the way. He got out of the tent and stood 100 yards away as it ate all their food - only then did the shock wear off and in hind sight kicked himself for not shooting to scare it. Just because you’re allowed to shoot a bear doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences. If you want to have a hunt interrupted while waiting for a game warden on horseback to investigate in the middle of their busy season, shoot the bear, but be warned simply having a dead bear doesn’t mean it automatically qualifies as justifiable. I know a guy who knows a guy who got the privilege of paying the full sticker price of a bear without even driving it off the lot.

 

[Ucsdryder]

My buddy woke up choking on a mouse 5 years ago. Bout the funniest thing I've ever witnessed. 2AM and all hell broke loose right next to me in the tent, coughing, puking, swearing. He finally got his act together when we saw a little field mouse scurrying away haha.

Freakin' mouthbreathers!

That’s an effing horror movie!!! I might just call it a trip and go home after that. I’d rather have a bear eating my empty mountain house pouch outside the tent.

You’d truly be a millionaire if you could have gotten that on video though.

 

[TaperPin]

(Not sure if it helps, but I pee around the tent

Reminds me of a prank on a teenager’s first backpacking trip. Every time I peed I’d make the motions like rubbing something behind my ears. I told him it’s an old timer’s thing to rub a drop of pee behind the ears so bears would know to stay away from his face pressed up against the tent, but because it’s behind the ear you won’t smell it - the ear kind of blocks the scent. He said,”BS I’ve never heard of that.” “Of course nobody talks about it - would you tell a girl you put pee on your ear?” He started to believed it until my grin gave it away. Lol

 

[Chumsnagger]

I sleep very near my meat and packed food in bear country. The closer your food is to you and your scent the better the protective border. Outside that small zone around the tent are urine markers up to 3 feet in the willows and around the parameter of camp. Any bear that challenges that 50-ft circle is dead on contact without hesitation, but have never had one challenge that tight circle.

The farther the food from camp the more comfortable bears are to investigate and steal.

Meat cache is treated the same way. 100-ft is my limit, not 100 yards.

Larry is spot on for most places in Alaska. Unfortunately a lot of lower 48 hunters have been habituating bears by leaving food and meat caches 100 yards or more from camp for the bears to get. That food and meat is YOURS- don’t let the bears get it. I think bears in the lesser 48 are not scared of humans because of protections.

And yes, I would advocate NRs shooting grizzlies without a guide legislation.

 

[Winternews]

Sometimes there are no willows or boulders to tie off an Ursack, so we keep it in the tent. In 40 years have had one bear sneak past the tent and get into the pot and cooking stuff (away from the tent), but none have come into camp. In the two photos, caribou country, there was nowhere to secure a bear bag. A bear came in the night within 100 yds of the tent in the second but turned around when it got that close. We found its tracks in the morning.

 

[Schoolhousegrizz]

I think we would get better data if you make a new thread/poll with multi-selectable answers of
- black (lower 48)
- grizzly/black (lower 48)
- coastal Alaska
- interior Alaska

But to answer your question:
In black bear country, yes. Grizzly bear country, no.

Same

 

[BoilerBowHunter]

How much experience do you have with each? Pretty sure the answer is "not much", or the question you asked simply shows how much you "don't get it". They're different critters. If you treat them the same, that's your prerogative, but it's reflective of how much you understand about the differences between them.
Your response makes as much sense as suggesting you'd approach a random street thug in the same way you'd approach a random high school teacher-- after all, they're both just humans.

I've spent time in tents in bear country, but not a ton. Hence the question....

I'm interested in any non-anecdotal resources that explain why a black bear would be less likely to enter a tent than a grizzly. Or how that situation would be less dangerous if it's a black bear vs a grizzly. Not being a smart***; I would actually be very interested in reading through that. From what I can tell, though, it's mostly the "I've been doing it this way for 20 years and never had an issue". Seems like it's kind of like not wearing a seat belt while driving. It's fine until it's not....

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of bears. I would say that I'm not interested in a close encounter with one. From that perspective, treating them all the same seems logical to me.

I'm not criticizing anyone's approach on this. This is America; do what you want.... I'm just interested in the various perspectives.

 

[LongWayAround]

I keep my food within arm's reach so that I can eat it.

If I had backpacked in for a week or so, I would hang the excess to avoid carrying it all around with me.

 

[Scoot]

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of bears. I would say that I'm not interested in a close encounter with one. From that perspective, treating them all the same seems logical to me.

Your reply helps in understanding where you're coming from on this. I have no interest in spending time with either variety of bear in a tent. But similarly, if you go back to my reply, I have no interest in a knife fight with anyone either, but the likelihood of one happening with a teacher or a street thug are very different.

Grizz and black bears are different deals. I don't want to tangle with either, but the odds of an altercation are very different. Also, if you get in a scrap with a black bear, your odds of survival are much better than if a grizz grabs ahold of you (kinda like if a black tip shark takes a swipe at you vs. a great white).

Good luck in bear country. I certainly have no issue with you or anyone taking great care and precaution in dealing with them. Better to be overly cautious than to be overly brazen and pay for it. But... they are different animals and treating them the same isn't typically based in knowledge and experience- it's usually driven by fear and inexperience.

Good luck this fall.

 

[svivian]

I have never had an issue with a black bear and that is in areas that it’s heavily population dense for them. However I have noticed that those who have had issues typically is caused by their trash storage/disposal more than their actual food storage. Just my .02

Only once have I ever had a black bear in my tent and it was a canvas tent where I had left it for a week. There was no food whatsoever in the tent. He just wanted my air mattress for some reason. Left everything else alone including a grease covered grill stored 50 yards away.

Grizz country I hang food

 

[mlevimadden]

I always sleep with food in my tent when backpacking in summer and during fall hunting. I'm typically in areas with black bears but never camped in grizzly country.

 

[Johnny Tyndall]

I've spent time in tents in bear country, but not a ton. Hence the question....

I'm interested in any non-anecdotal resources that explain why a black bear would be less likely to enter a tent than a grizzly. Or how that situation would be less dangerous if it's a black bear vs a grizzly. Not being a smart***; I would actually be very interested in reading through that. From what I can tell, though, it's mostly the "I've been doing it this way for 20 years and never had an issue". Seems like it's kind of like not wearing a seat belt while driving. It's fine until it's not....

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of bears. I would say that I'm not interested in a close encounter with one. From that perspective, treating them all the same seems logical to me.

I'm not criticizing anyone's approach on this. This is America; do what you want.... I'm just interested in the various perspectives.

Black, brown, and grizzly bears all behave differently, and then they'll behave differently based on how accustomed to people they are. I always recommend the book Bear Attacks: Their Causes and Avoidance by Stephen Herrero if you want to learn about it.

Long story short - non-habituated black bears act like big housecats. Bang two pots together and they'll trip over themselves trying to get away. Habituated black bears, on the other hand, are the most likely of the bears to engage in predatory attacks - where they are actually trying to kill and eat you. Brown and Grizzly bears seem to have a better sense of their position as the baddest MF around. They generally are interested in defending food and stopping what they see as threats. (Coastal) brown bears are generally better fed and are willing to tolerate having people or other bears closer; Grizzly bears have to work harder for food and are more uptight about it.

Hence: if it's brown, stay down (once you're not a threat they'll leave you alone), if it's black, fight back (by the time a black bear is attacking it's actually trying to eat you).

 

[Ucsdryder]

I have never had an issue with a black bear and that is in areas that it’s heavily population dense for them. However I have noticed that those who have had issues typically is caused by their trash storage/disposal more than their actual food storage. Just my .02

Only once have I ever had a black bear in my tent and it was a canvas tent where I had left it for a week. There was no food whatsoever in the tent. He just wanted my air mattress for some reason. Left everything else alone including a grease covered grill stored 50 yards away.

Grizz country I hang food

I’ve had cattle destroy my shit. My tent is not your scratching pole…

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

I've never hung a bag of food. I don't know if that's smart or not... but I've never had a bear in my camp either. Mostly in the Colorado mountains and Montana's Beartooth range, if you're curious.

 

[SBTX]

Going on my first bear hunt this year. Thanks for this thread and all y'all's comments

 

[Ten Bears]

I can’t be the only one more worried about the damn mice chewing holes in my food and coming home with hantavirus or something rather than a black bear deciding to ransack my tent with me in it. Effing mice.

Was just going to post the same thing.. mice have caused me way more issues…I hate them!

 

[stv117]

my food is always protected..