Real life backcountry food safety with bears??

[COOPDUCK]

Hey all
Doing my first solo backpack elk trip next week, into a central ID unit that is grizz free. What it lacks in brown though, reports say it makes up for in black. Some of the highest black bear numbers in state per many reports. I’ll be at 6-8k feet for two weeks, spiking out of a base camp.

I hunt alone regularly, and black bears are common where I’m at, so not scared of black bears. I’m confused though what bear precautions people ACTUALLY take in the backcountry in regards to their food, especially when sleeping.

At 7-8k feet finding trees with stout accessible limbs are in short supply. Plus it will be 15-20 degrees at night. Would rather keep my food insulated in tent with me if possible. All my food will be in sealed freezer ziplocks and vacuum sealed bags. Trash wrappers etc into gallon freezer bag.

Do I REALLY need to hang my food? Food will be in my pack during the day, won’t leave it in tent. But what are real life practices people are taking at night at that elevation and temp?

 

[PMcGee]

We never hang our food. Half the time it’s right next to our shelter. Maybe not the smartest thing but I’ve never had a problem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Elevation and temps won't matter if the bears are still out and active. I once hiked in to meet some friends at their Elk camp and overnight a bear had chomped their Gatorade bottles that were cooling in the creek 30 feet from their tents, so Ziplock bags are not going to eliminate all scent to a bear.

Also, there are a lot of other threads on this topic if you search, and (spoiler alert) most people don't support the idea of eating and storing food inside the tent in bear country.

 

[ahlgringo]

Totally up to you. I would hang and do, Never used to, but if you ever come back to camp to see your stuff torn to hell and your food ruined, and hunt over- it sucks. So now I do

If nothing else- get it away from your tent/bag/etc

I am not worried about it at night when I am there.

 

[Backyard]

Just hang it.
General rule of thumb: 12' up, 6' out, 3' down

 

[Pacific_Fork]

I hang my food if there are good trees close by, if not my food is next to my loaded rifle and I never worry about it. I always pee around the tent. Grizz country is a completely different story...

 

[Poser]

Even with shorter trees close to treeline, you can usually get a 2 rope hang system up that will get the food 8 feet off the ground. It’s a bit of a PITA to rig solo, but if you are basecamping, take the time and do it right. Limbs don’t have to be that burly as you get enough friction throughout the system to distribute the load pretty well. A single rope hang, unless you have a perfect throw on a long limb, will almost always be insufficient for leaving camp unattended.

 

[Upstate SC]

Using a bear canister is also an option.

 

[COOPDUCK]

Thanks everyone, this is a backpack in ultralight trip, so don’t want to bring a canister. Food will be with me in backpack during the day, not in the tent or at camp. More just worried about at night. I think I’ll just keep it in tent with me and the rifle, unless there is a very convenient branch nearby.

 

[Upstate SC]

You may want to check out Ursack. It is basically a bag made out of a high strength polymer that a bear can’t get through. You can tie it to the base of a tree or something (don’t have to hang it).

Depending on the size you need, the weight will probably be less than 8oz. If you are using it in place of another bag, your added weight will be less.

 

[Geewhiz]

All my life I have slept with food either in or right outside my tent and have never once had an issue.

 

[Poser]

I had a 1 liter bladder full of bourbon that I was leaving under my tarp. Came back to camp and smelled whiskey. A rodent had taken a bit into the bladder and punctured it

 

[Brock A]

No, you do not need to hang your food if there are no grizz around. I would be more worried about mice getting into my food than a bear. Even then, no need to pack the extra weight of a canister in...

 

[orionsbrother]

String some paracord or other cordage between two trees. Put a small carabiner on the cordage with a second line running through it to the mid point of the second line before affixing the second side of the “main” line. The caribiner acts as a pulley with little friction. You can tie that second line to a waterproof stuff sack or Rockagator bag and raise and lower it easily, tying it if to a tree to keep it up high, positioned away from the trees that the “main” line is tied to.

 

[Upstate SC]

No, you do not need to hang your food if there are no grizz around. I would be more worried about mice getting into my food than a bear. Even then, no need to pack the extra weight of a canister in...

Black bears will also get in a tent after food. This happened in a wilderness area close to me years ago and the forest service closed it to camping for a period of time.

Link

 

[Brock A]

Black bears will also get in a tent after food. This happened in a wilderness area close to me years ago and the forest service closed it to camping for a period of time.

Link

I’m not familiar with that part of the country but that seems silly to close an area because of a bear getting into a tent. Is there no hunting allowed in there? Is it a campground that a bear could become a habitual problem in? Those are all vastly different scenarios then a backcountry hunt in Idaho. I’ve actually been in a campground before that had a nuisance bear, Idaho F & G came in, shot the bear and left and no camper was disturbed . This occurred in Stanley in 2018.

I’ve spent hundreds of nights in the backcountry all over the west and never had a bear get closer than 50 yards from my tent and turn and burn when it smelled a human presence. The risk vs weight to carrying a canister is not even close and if a guy wants to hang his food, go for it. Just not needed imo. Bears are extremely skiddish to humans and Yes, there is always that chance but just not enough to worry about. Carry on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JaredW]

I haven't worried about it much. I've spiked in Idaho and Colorado and it's always been within dense bear populations. I've been keeping the food outside the tent just to prevent the tent or me from being destroyed. The ursack looks like a good option, your food may be mangled and mushed a bit but it shouldn't ruin the hunt/trip.

 

[CoffeeGoat]

I did a fair bit of camping in the Adirondacks and bears are a serious problem there due too the number of people and the resulting aclimation. However, here in Colorado people seem to worry about bears far less. Perhaps just less exposure to humans, later in the season camping, whatever. I still think about it, but I don't bring my bear canister anymore, and unless it's getting left at camp I rarely hang my food anymore. I'm sure I'll have a bad experience and be scarred for life, but it hasn't happened yet, rodents seem to be a much more present problem.

 

[Upstate SC]

I’m not familiar with that part of the country but that seems silly to close an area because of a bear getting into a tent. Is there no hunting allowed in there? Is it a campground that a bear could become a habitual problem in? Those are all vastly different scenarios then a backcountry hunt in Idaho. I’ve actually been in a campground before that had a nuisance bear, Idaho F & G came in, shot the bear and left and no camper was disturbed . This occurred in Stanley in 2018.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’m not sure if hunting is allowed there or not (not my state). It wasn’t a campground like you drive to but an area people would camp on backpacking trips (not a designated campground). They closed it because there was a pattern of people not storing their food properly and bears getting into it, not just one occurrence. They don’t want people to get hurt but also don’t want bears dependent on human food. In Smoky Mountains NP they have ropes rigged between trees in the backpacking campgrounds to hang your food because bears will get it otherwise.

There are a lot of NP and NF that require proper bear food storage in the backcountry because they had problems in the past.

I’ve never been to Idaho (hope to go next year). Maybe the black bears behave differently there, but you’d be asking for trouble around here you were backpacking regularly and not storing your food properly.

 

[zion zig zag]

It's cheap insurance and it's easy to do. I don't see the downside of hanging it.

Black bears in the running: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America