How do you store extra food at the truck when camping away from the truck?

[HoughLePuff]

New guy question!

I will be hunting in Colorado and we are gonna spend a couple of days at spots ABC. Since we will be in bear country, what's the best way to store food at the truck? My buddy has a yeti cooler that we were gonna put the extra food in. We are gonna lock it shut and then put a locking cable through it to the trailer hitch on the outside of the truck.

We are new to this and don't know the norms. Should we go ahead and hang the extra food, or is this sufficient?

 

[amassi]

I wouldnt leave a yeti visible locked or otherwise

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[HoughLePuff]

I wouldnt leave a yeti visible locked or otherwise

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Is theft that big of a problem?

 

[amassi]

Sadly

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[Nickofthewoods]

Just put Coleman stickers over the Yeti logos and you'll be fine.

 

[Maverick1]

Put cooler inside the vehicle. Cover with an old sleeping bag. Make sure food is non perishable / won’t rot or get nasty while you are out.

 

[FairChaseHunter]

The Yeti will keep the bears out but 2-legged bears will likely as not steal the Yeti, lock, cooler and cable. I suggest you get a "contractor" box at Home Depot and lock the Yeti inside the contractor box along with other valuable items. The contractor box can be secured to the vehicle or trailer.

 

[HoughLePuff]

It's a shame I am now more worried about theft than bears

 

[Hunt4lyf]

I've never had a problem with bears and leaving my food inside and in the back of my truck, I don't even worry about honestly when out hunting, thieves though worry me and I always try and keep my stuff as covered up as possible as I've seen glass on the ground more than a few times at trailheads.

 

[Clarkdale17]

I've had problems with bears getting into coolers in the bed of my truck on two separate occasions. Any extra food or anything I'd be sad to see walk off gets locked up in the truck out of view. I use the igloo marine coolers and leave them in the bed of the truck for ice. If one were to ever walk off I'm only down $50 rather than a couple hundred.

I will say I'm more likely to have someone leave me money out of pity for new coolers than steal them once they see how they look after two encounters with bears though haha.

 

[Dust Rider]

Thief's are the worst. Keep the Yeti locked inside cab of truck covered up.

 

[Bubblehide]

Go out and buy a few chlorine pool tabs. I place them on my truck's undercarriage. That keeps the bears away.

 

[Desk Jockey]

Go out and buy a few chlorine pool tabs. I place them on my truck's undercarriage. That keeps the bears away.

Ring your truck with ground cayenne pepper.

for extra fun, put a trail camera on it and see what critters do when they get a snoot full of Cajun goodness.

 

[sb7000]

Best to keep it out of sight. Sadly the two legged critters can cause more problems when it comes to Yeti coolers.

 

[MThuntr]

For me extra food at the truck is almost always non-perishable although if you know it's going to only be a couple days and your cooler will keep ice (I prefer frozen jugs). Sure it sucks when you're starving and all you got is a can of chili or spaghetti-0s or mac & cheese but it's better than a potentially bad meat.

If you know your cooler will last then frozen chili, spaghetti, lasagna, etc in vacuum bags is great. Boil in bag and consume.

I'll echo the others...hide your Yeti and covering with old sleeping bag or blanket will actually help it stay cool too.

 

[Str8shooter]

Non sealing coolers in the bed or topper is just asking for a bear to rampage your stuff. Also dont leave sweets in the cab...bears are getting damn good at popping windows and will absolutely smell jerky/candy/banana peel on your floor.

 

[NMframed]

I would also keep the cooler inside the truck and cover it with a blanket. I don’t know about yours but my back seats fold up and make plenty of room for a good size cooler. Frozen jugs of water last a lot longer than bags of ice but I just did two 5 day trips in Colorado temps ranging from 70 during the day and 30 at night and two bags of ice lasted for 5 days in a Coleman cooler. I wouldn’t leave the cooler locked to the truck, bolt cutters are to easy to come by

 

[Fivefuchs]

New guy question!

I will be hunting in Colorado and we are gonna spend a couple of days at spots ABC. Since we will be in bear country, what's the best way to store food at the truck? My buddy has a yeti cooler that we were gonna put the extra food in. We are gonna lock it shut and then put a locking cable through it to the trailer hitch on the outside of the truck.

We are new to this and don't know the norms. Should we go ahead and hang the extra food, or is this sufficient?

I use a cable lock to keep thieves from stealing my coolers. I’ve never had bears mess with them but I keep everything clean. No food smells on the outside of the cooler or in the bed of my truck. Also try covering the cooler with a tarp to help hide it.

 

[Mosby]

No real solution for thieves if they want it but I keep locks on my cooler, use a cable lock and I cover it with a wool blanket. Wool helps insulate the cooler and my ice lasts longer. I am thinking about spray painting and putting a bunch of stickers on the cooler I keep in my truck. Make it fugly and easily recognizable.

 

[Marble]

I'm 45 years old and have never had stuff stolen from my truck at the trail head. I also live in usually the highest density of bears in the lower 48 and have never had a bear problem with my camp or food at my truck. Does it happen? Sure. No one ever tells the story about the uneventful trip, it's only the eventful ones. These things are very very uncommon.

I also have a camper shell on my trucks and it helps conceal stuff.

Just use common sense measures to prevent theft and bears getting into your stuff and worry more about weather, hunting and whatever else.

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