How do you hang food when camping?

Hanging Your Food

1. You can suspend your food from a high, sturdy tree limb.
2. At some backcountry campsites you’ll find bear poles, a major improvement over tree branches.
3. Or you may find a high horizontal metal cable strung between two poles, which is usually easier to hang your food bag from.

What is the point of a bear bag?

THE PURPOSE OF HANGING A BEAR BAG IS TO KEEP BEARS WILD! The primary purpose of hanging a bear bag at night or using a bear canister is to keep bears wild. Period. If a bear starts eating human food because of your carelessness or hubris (excessive pride), it’s possible that it will stop seeking natural food sources.

Do you really need a bear canister?

Protecting your food from bears is recommended in any area that is inhabited by bears, and using a bear canister is required in many state and national parks, national forests and wilderness areas, and a number of other public lands.

What smells do bears hate?

Bears also dislike the strong scent of pine-based cleaners, but avoid using anything with a fresh, lemony or fruity smell. And never mix bleach and ammonia; the combination produces fumes that can be deadly to both people and bears.

What to do if a black bear is outside your tent?

What to Do When A Bear Approaches the Tent

1. Be quiet first. Often, once a bear realizes there are humans present, it will take off.
2. Then use your voice.
3. Get your bear spray or gun ready.
4. Do not confront the bear but stand your ground.
5. Don’t run.
6. Know when to fight back.

Can you use a dry sack as a bear bag?

If used carefully, smell-proof bags should keep their contents undetectable to bears as well as mice. Consider using a smell-proof bag as a liner inside your bear canister or Ursack bag. Dry bags: I used the same dry bag for my entire thru-hike.

Does hanging a bear bag work?

It’s often impossible. The effectiveness of a hang depends largely on the tree in which the bear bag is suspended. It’s recommended that the bag is positioned about 12 feet off the ground, five feet away from the trunk, and about five feet below the closest limb. Near tree line, the trees are too stunted.

Are dry bags smell proof?

Ziplocs are most definitely NOT odor proof. Whether its the pores or leaky bags or whatever, just stick any food in them and even you can smell it. OPSAKs work really well, IMO. They could be more durable, but if you’re careful you can get some long use out of them.

How many days of food can you fit in a bear canister?

Bear Canister Pros and Cons Downside: They are heavy (2-3 lbs.), bulky and a tight (or insufficient) fit for all the food and scented items you aim to carry on a lengthy trip. Canisters typically hold 3-5 days’ worth of food and toiletries for 1 person.

Can you use an Ursack instead of a bear canister?

Even if it isn’t required, still use a bear canister. You could save a bear’s life by not teaching it food conditioning. Only use an Ursack if you really can’t carry the weight. In areas without bears: Then hang your food as protection against critters.

How much food can you fit in a bear canister?

You can comfortably fit 1 days food in 100 Cubic Inches of space. So a 400 Cubic inch bear canister is going to hold 4 days worth of food. Or you could divide the total cubic inches of your container by 100 to get your total number of days.

What colors do bears not like?

They found, for example, that grizzlies seemed to ignore dark colors or camouflage colors, whereas they were often attracted to bright colors, such as yellow or red.

Are bears attracted to human urine?

Pee Where You Sleep If you’ve ever smelled coffee, alcohol, or yesterday’s beetroot salad in your urine, bears can smell every donut and drip of hot sauce you’ve eaten from miles away. There’s no understanding why, but bears ogle over human piss.

What are bears afraid of?

Black bears by nature tend to be wary of humans and avoid people. To scare the bear away, make loud noises by yelling, banging pots and pans or using an airhorn. Make yourself look as big as possible by waving your arms. If you are with someone else, stand close together with your arms raised above your head.