Bear canister, now what?

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AlmostThere
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

Post by AlmostThere »

rlown wrote:
schmalz wrote: Can you explain your reasoning? I'm totally open to changing my habits but would like to know more as to why you think that. My thought is that if I place the canister in a place where the bear cannot move it then I risk less by not messing with the bear than trying to deal with it in the dark. Can they really move a cannister out of a depression with a bunch of big rocks in it? I don't see how. Is the logic that allowing bears to mess with canisters might make it easier for them to learn how to open them?
They don't belong in your food or your space. We're trying to keep them wild. That means know your surroundings and potential bear threats. and be defensive almost to the point of being offensive.

There is a caveat. Once, the Bear was a momma bear, and we didn't know her cubs were behind us. That's the only time to back off.

Otherwise, you have to teach a bear to go be wild and not look for an easy meal. Always important to keep a clean kitchen as well.
Bears are very, very smart and some have figured out how to break into canisters.

The more you let them fool with the cans, the more time they have to figure it out, or roll it away into water, off a ledge, into a canyon, etc where you can't find it.

I also shoo away begging squirrels - which gets me called a meanie, but they deserve to live WILD as they are supposed to. Our food is extremely unhealthy for wild animals.
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AlmostThere
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

Post by AlmostThere »

longri wrote:
AlmostThere wrote:
longri wrote:I push the canister about three feet from my tent, sometimes less.

On my most recent outing I left it in the vestibule.
One can do that a lot of times before a bear visits.

Then that habit changes - a lot.
Oh, don't be so silly. Mr. Bear isn't going to eat me.
I'm not silly - you are. You're inviting injury when the startled bear does as bears do, and defends itself when suddenly the big sack sits up and surprises them... the only bear related injuries in Yosemite happened just like that.

At the best, you have a ruined tent and a fed bear that is one more step closer to being a dead bear. At the worst, you're injured and bleeding, bear is a dead bear. Guess who loses the most?

Talk to someone who's spent some summers on trail crew... a friend who is the most bear-vigilant hiker I know has some hair raising stories. One of the crew got a care package from home, with candy in it. Rather than store it safely with the kitchen supplies, she put it under her pillow so other trail crew wouldn't take 'em. She woke with the bear licking her face! Could have been a very dangerous situation and they were very lucky....
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rlown
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

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k. let's not get silly here. Where a can is mandatory, use them and use them correctly. Don't feed the bears. This thread wasn't about can certification, as we all don't do that as far as i know.

Use what is right based on the area. Defend your food. Keep a clean camp, and definitely shoo away the squirrels, unless it's hunting season and you're not in a park. They are sooo tasty.

Russ
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longri
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

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AlmostThere wrote:Rather than store it safely with the kitchen supplies, she put it under her pillow so other trail crew wouldn't take 'em. She woke with the bear licking her face! Could have been a very dangerous situation and they were very lucky....
I keep my food in the canister. Come on, stop trying to push my buttons.
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rlown
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

Post by rlown »

kinda serious here. just stop. doesn't matter who does first. just don't egg it on.

Or, just get back on topic.
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AlmostThere
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

Post by AlmostThere »

I've said all I intend to say. Apparently I care more than I should, according to some. Information does that I suppose.
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hal
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Re: Bear canister, now what?

Post by hal »

I backpacked in the Sierras for about 15 years, years before bear canisters existed. After getting nailed a couple of times with hanging food in trees, I discovered that if I hung my food about 6-10 feet down from the top of a rock "cliff," I never lost anymore food. Also, I discovered that putting my food bag on top of a rather large boulder that took some rock climbing skills to get to the top of, say 8-10 feet tall, also worked.

So I always packed a 10 foot length of small diameter rock climbing rope that I could either tie to a bush on the edge of a cliff, or tie to a small rock climbing chock that I also packed, embedded in a crack close to the edge of the "cliff."

This technique implies that you must find a camp site with the appropriate rock formations, but I generally didn't find that much of a problem.
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