Bears and alcohol fuel.

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gdurkee
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Re: Bears and alcohol fuel.

Post by gdurkee »

Doyle's right. Young bears especially -- but not always limited to them -- will just chew into stuff to see if there's food involved. So i doubt it's the alcohol on those rare times they puncture a container. I've seen them puncture insect spray, toothpaste, etc. Being brighter than the average person, they only do it once in their careers. Which is also to say I'm not one of those rangers who advises people to stuff everything with an odor into a canister. If there's room, sure, but otherwise toothpaste and insect spray can stay out on a log. Bears aren't dumb.

They're definitely still around and probably in close to the same numbers they've always been, but the canisters have been incredibly successful, so bears no longer seek out people's camps as their primary food source. They still occasionally check out camps but almost in the same way they check out manzanita bushes and, if there's food involved, keep coming back to both.
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Colter
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Re: Bears and alcohol fuel.

Post by Colter »

Rockchucker wrote:I've had bears chew holes into plastic gas cans , so they probably would go for alcohol also.
I agree. Many times at places like remote cabins I've seen bears chew holes in just about any man-made object, perhaps just to sample it. A buddy of mine who spends a lot of time in remote Alaska cabins says "bears hate round stuff." He's partially kidding of course, but any can or bottle or stove pipe or what-have-you they can get at they'll often bite.
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freestone
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Re: Bears and alcohol fuel.

Post by freestone »

I have used alcohol fuel exclusively for several seasons now and have never had a problem with bears being attracted to my camp. Denatured alcohol is manufactured to taste bad, even to bears, I would assume.
Short cuts make long delays. JRR Tolkien
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OzSwaggie
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Re: Bears and alcohol fuel.

Post by OzSwaggie »

Denatured alcohol smells and tastes absolutely vile, not spirits-like at all, more like nail polish remover. It never occurred to me that a bear would be attracted to it so we just leave it out next to the stove overnight and have never had anything tamper with it.
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