So how far away from your tent are you hanging your food and cooking/eating your food? 30 yards, 100 yards, 300 yards? I'm at a slight disadvantage being a type 1 diabetic that I'll always have some type of food in my tent while sleeping in case my blood sugar drops in the middle of the night. I normally keep some sort of gummy or granola bar in the pocket next to my pillow. But after reading this thread, ill probably hang my mountain house in a dry bag like the examples above.
To hang bear bags or not to hang bear bags when backcountry hunting.
- Thread starter dannyb278
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Straight Arrow
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At least 100 yards from sleeping area is what is recommended.
Benfromalbuquerque
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Hundred yards is plenty. Unless you got an acclimated critter because they’ll go right into camp expecting treats. Ain’t no recourse for a wild animal that’s been hand fed by gorbies. Your Type 1 case is special and going hypoglycemic anywhere is a medical emergency, especially alone in a tent! Some sugary thing has to be accessible all the time so do that. It’s just the way it has to be in your life. If I were in your situation, I’d still take to the woods, bears be damned.
Yeah, my gummies will be sitting on top of my bear spray while I'm sleeping!
But there is no way it's keeping me off the mountain! Just trying to take the right type of precautions to give me the highest probability of making it home.
glass eye
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Camping on Kodiak where it’s treeless hanging wasn’t an option. First night we left our food just outside the tent and a fox got into it so the rest of the time it stayed inside the tent and we took our chances. Never saw a bear.The following year we camped at the same spot. Never saw a fox but saw a bear every morning near camp.
I stashed the food on top of a strange inverted tree stump out of reach of foxes but a bear could certainly reach it.
I would scan the area with binos before heading for my cache 100 yards from camp.
One morning after retrieving my stash I plopped it down at camp and looked back at my stash site and saw a bear right there. He either just walked in right behind me or he was there the entire time hiding in the deep grass.
Straight Arrow
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The very reason that the food canister storage was perfected.
FlatlandHunter
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I will hang bear bags from now on when backpack hunting. I was sloppy after killing an elk a few years ago and left my tent at 7 am for the 1st load of meat hauling. By the time I got back around 3 pm a bear had ripped the fly open and rummaged through my tent for a mountain house meal I left. Thankfully I had left the tent door open or the bear would have totaled the tent. Completely my fault and hopefully that bear never bothered anyone else.
glass eye
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I have one but you can’t fit many freeze dried meals inside and they are bulky and heavy.
Straight Arrow
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Ours is light in weight polycarbon material, has outer grooves for paracord attachment / securing, holds meals for several days (approx 2 1/f2 gal volume), fits nicely in backpack, and has proven very useful. We like it. I guess it depends on the one you select.
glass eye
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Sounds like we have the same size but I pack for 2 (my wife) and we typically go for 2 weeks. Flying to our destination complicates weight and volume.
I don’t hunt in grizzly country so my thinking is different. I normally hang my food bag in a tree six foot or so on a limb to keep the mice out of my food. I’ve had several encounters with mice, zero with bears after 100s of nights backpacking. Occasionally, if I see heavy black bear sign in the area, I’ll have in a tree with paracord.
My boys were in Boy Scouts. We played all the Boy Scout games of hanging food bags when backpacking for no good reason.
My thinking would be completely different in grizz country.
My boys were in Boy Scouts. We played all the Boy Scout games of hanging food bags when backpacking for no good reason.
My thinking would be completely different in grizz country.
Straight Arrow
Well-known member
Yes, that would require multiple canisters or bear bags. I'm not sure what would be a practical lightweight solution for two weeks.
We don't backpack for more than seven days at a time, so one bear bag and one canister has served us well.
yakimanoob
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Me neither, despite being apparently lazy and unimaginative (which I'll admit honestly does describe a lot of my bear hangs in the past!).
Joking aside, I truly hope none of you analyze risks this way. "I've been doing X and never had Y experience" is asinine when Y is unlikely in the first place. That's the same logic that gets people killed in the mountains every winter: "I've skied this kind of thing before and never been in an avalanche."
Once again for clarity: if you feel that keeping food in your tent is too much risk, don't keep food in your tent. My only point has always been that when folks have tested bear hangs with actual bears, almost no form of hang actually keeps the bear away. Ursacks and hard-sided canisters, on the other hand, are thoroughly proven with actual bears.
I like to sleep soundly at night and having food near me with real bears around keeps me up, especially with a persistent bear. I like to hang my food way away from camp or leave it in a bear canister away from camp to sleep soundly.
By all mean poke as many holes into my thought process as you please…
By all mean poke as many holes into my thought process as you please…
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noisy
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Yeah I’ve never hung my food either.
When forkyfinder and I were out, we didn’t either… left the grill out and everything, we were camped at a trailhead but we were the only ones there, and there is def griz in there!
if I get that spooky feeling, or see a ton of bear sign, I’d probably hang it…
Hate to end up like that lady in Ovando
Let me guess--you don't douse your campfire either.
Flatbrimmer
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That’s derogatory and I take offense! Nothing makes me more mad, especially this time of year!
Straight Arrow
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Be Smokey Bear Aware! Only you can prevent bears from craving human-style food.
Straight Arrow
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At backcountry campsites such as in Yellowstone NP, where there are hanging rails and established food prep and eating areas, it is irresponsible to have food in tents which are in areas away from the food areas. Once upon arriving at our reserved backcountry site, I spent the first hour picking up candy wrappers and other litter from the tent site area. Some nimrods just had no clue about Bear Aware. They got by with it, but if leaving odiferous tidbits in the tent area, sooner or later the bear will show up to investigate, then someone is at risk. If you elect to keep food in your tent, that's irresponsible IM experienced O.
It's better to hang it and not have a bear tear into your camp; then to not hang it and the bear tear your camp apart. It will ruin your hunt.
Besides, bears that become habituated to human food end up dead ... do the bears a favor and don't tempt or encourage them to recognize humans/camps with food.
Besides, bears that become habituated to human food end up dead ... do the bears a favor and don't tempt or encourage them to recognize humans/camps with food.
yakimanoob
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I agree 100%. If there are specific rules at the place you're camping, follow the rules. If I thought the place was anything like Yellowstone in terms of bear/human interactions, no way in heck would I keep food in the tent. In that case I'd go full "Bear Aware" and eat away from where I'm sleeping, hang the Ursack 100+ yds from where I'm sleeping, etc.
If it's just black bears but there are a lot in the area and the area regularly has hikers/campers, I'm a little less concerned about where I eat but I still use the Ursack. If in an area with very few bears and no history of interactions, sure, food in the tent.
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