Question for experienced bear country people

[MrNoodly]

Do you unload all your food and things with fragrances into bear boxes when you're in bear country? If they want you to do it in campgrounds, what about when you're dispersed camping?

 

[Blanch]

I never have.
I keep a clean camp, I keep my food in my fridge. Dishes are cleaned daily before bed. I have dogs and bears usually don’t like dogs.

Bears look for the easy target. They are usually out at night. Clean up before dark.


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[DLTooley]

I've never seen a bear in a camp, with a dog. Areas with problem bears are likely to be heavily used, and managed. The bear won't last long. My biggest fear is my garbage bags, but I have not had an issue with these.

Due the risk of predation I do also always keep my dog confined at night.

 

[lenny flank]

I'm an easterner, so all my bear experience comes from backpacking in PA.......

Bearproof containers are always the safest option. And most Appalachian Trail hikers hang their food out of reach of bears at night.

I have found though that the bears you really have to worry about are those who are accustomed to humans and view us as grocery stores. Out in the sticks away from the well-used campgrounds, bears generally avoid humans. The ones i encountered took off as soon as they realized I was there.

(Of course those were all Black Bears. Grizzlies are a different story... for them, we may be on the menu.)

 

[wagoneer]

At French Meadows an out of the way CG in central Ca. the ranger encouraged me to keep the cooler in my car covered with towels, 2 AM a big black bear folded my door in half climbed in and emptied my cooler for me, beer bacon and eggs the closest camper to me left a bottle of whiskey sitting on a stump cheap whiskey in a plastic bottle the bear bit the bottle and sucked out contents this old guy was pissed off.

 

[MrNoodly]

...a big black bear folded my door in half climbed in and emptied my cooler for me...

Yeah, it's stories like those that make me less than eager to be in bear country.

 

[lenny flank]

It may be worth noting that in most areas of the country, the damn raccoons have also learned how to open coolers and clean you out (though they haven't graduated to ripping doors off yet). The little bastids can even open soda bottles.

(Heck, in South Africa's Kruger Park campsites they tell you not to keep food in the hut fridges--the baboons know how to open your windows AND your fridge.......)

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Do you unload all your food and things with fragrances into bear boxes when you're in bear country? If they want you to do it in campgrounds, what about when you're dispersed camping?

I did when I was in a tent but now with a built in refrigerator I just leave everything in the camper.  I seldom camp where there are bear boxes.

I always talk to the rangers when I go to a new area.  I usually (but not always) avoid areas with known problem bears.  I have camped for 50+ years in bear country, cooking bacon, without problems.

 

[seak]

I use a bear box whenever provided. But I've been tent camping. I have wondered the same as you about dispersed camping. If you camp in a vehicle, what do you do with your food in bear country?

I live in Alaska and the recommendations up here are for bear proof containers and sleep 100 yards from where you eat and cook. I think in practice, RV campers are keeping their food in the RV and keeping a clean camp.

Here's a link to the Alaska Department of Fish & Game's living with bears web pages. Bears are a big deal up here and ADF&G has the most complete info I've seen on living and camping around bears.

http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=livingwithbears.main

Check out the electric fences!

 

[QinReno]

Unlike wagoneer, I don't think I would ever leave bacon in my car in bear country. This is what they say in Yosemite:
https://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bears.htm
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Please note that these food storage regulations have the force and effect of federal law: Failure to store your food properly may result in impoundment of your food or car and/or a fine of up to $5,000 and/or revocation of your camping permit.
........
Do not store food in your car after dark: use a food locker.
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When I used to backpack in the back country of the Sierra Nevadas, we would use the suspend-it-from-a-tree-limb method, located some distance from the campsite. Like so,
https://theultimatehang.com/2013/03/19/hanging-a-bear-bag-the-pct-method/

I think I would do the same thing when I go to Montana grizzly country in my new van.

 

[Dennis]

I have put all food, and items with fragrances in the bear boxes at Yosemite. That gets old before long even though I understand the reason for it. The $5K fine will have you doing it though. That's one of the reasons I won't go back to Yosemite to camp.
A NFS or BLM campground next door will advise you to keep a clean camp and lock all those items in a vehicle. I have been in bear country in different campgrounds and have yet to see a bear in camp but I don't want to leave any temptation out to change that. It is probably a good practice also not to leave a window even cracked enough that a bear can get it's claws over it and break the window.