bear bagging on a bald
How do you take care of your food if you camp on a bald like Max Patch?
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." - Galileo
http://www.trailjournals.com/shadesofblue
I was on Siler Bald in NC two weekends ago. I took care of my food by sleeping with it.
It's a great day to be alive !
i sleep with it
Doesn't sleeping with it just mean that the bear will attack you too...?
ummm, no......Originally Posted by hellomolly
Doesn't sleeping with it just mean that the bear will attack you too...?
Where's the advice from all the hangers? I imagine most would say to stay away from these areas or to use some type of anti-bear container. Really interested to hear from the hangers.
BTW, I would just keep it in my tent, but that's just my normal practice.
why not? you hugging your food won't keep them from smelling it....
whatever. i've never hung food and i ain't about to start. it's a non-issue to me
Where's Chaco? He can tell you about the bear that visited his tent.
I'm a hanger. The only time I did not hang food in '07 was at Liberty Springs tentsite in the pouring rain.
Anyway I have camped in bald areas but always managed to find some tree somewhere to hang it. Max Patch is pretty clear but Id camp closer to the edge of the bald and go down to the tree line to hang it and pick it up on the way down the trail.
Cite me an incident where an individual was injured by a bear while sleeping with their food? I've never heard of one.
"If you don't know where you're going...any road will get you there."
"He who's not busy living is busy dying"
I read about bears stealing food from hangers quite often, haven't read any about stealing food from tents.
"If you don't know where you're going...any road will get you there."
"He who's not busy living is busy dying"
It's just common sense. Every park Web site or information building has literature advising against keeping food or even food-smelling items in your tent with you. It's why there are bear boxes in bear-populated areas and it's why people hang bear bags - because bears can smell food, even through nylon, if you can believe it.Cite me an incident where an individual was injured by a bear while sleeping with their food? I've never heard of one.
But like Lone Wolf said - whatever. Do what you want, HYOH, to each his own, blah blah blah and all that jazz. I don't care what you do. I just think that if a bear really wants my food, my little arm wrapped around a big ol' bag of yummy bars and such isn't going to be much of a deterent.
Having thought about this for, like, 5 minutes, I think I have an idea why bears don't go for food in tents, unless they are either desperate or habituated, like the trash dump bear that Chaco ran into. When a bear finds some food somewhere, that food becomes the bear's property, in his (her) mind. This is common among scavengers and hunters. So, when a bag of food is hanging out there, away from the obvious humans camping nearby, the bear figures it's his for the taking. And once he's made a few swipes at it, he figures it belongs to him. But if it is next to the human, in his den, so to speak, it is clear that it belongs to the human, and by bear psychology, it will be defended. So no free lunch. But bears are adaptable, so if they become used to the transient humans in the campground or shelter, they might not make much of a distinction about who owns the food. After all, bears are bigger, faster and stronger. etc. But part of the sleep with your food strategy is to steer clear of bear problem areas, so any bear that comes upon you isn't likely to be spoiled. He'll go for ants or grubs or berries, or even an easier meal over at the shelter. But if there are too many bears in a territory, this may not work so well, as all the bears could get hungry and desperate.
Also note that bears are territorial, so if one bear has a shelter or campsite staked out, he will run off any other bears. So the other bears won't get habituated, just the "owner" bear.
That's my attempt at bear psychology. But please note that bears don't read, and they don't know psychology either. So they may not do what they're supposed to do. YMMV, HYOH, etc.
You are the Bear Whisperer.
You are definitely smarter than the average bear.
I'm not really a hiker, I just play one on White Blaze.
I don't know about that. Bears make a better living out in the forest than I could. And I think I'll let someone else do the actual whispering. The ear end is also the teeth end, if you catch my drift.
We're not worthy.
We're not worthy.
I'm not really a hiker, I just play one on White Blaze.
But don't forget you're a walking grocery store to a bear's nose while hiking.
You totally miss the point.It's just common sense. Every park Web site or information building has literature advising against keeping food or even food-smelling items in your tent with you. It's why there are bear boxes in bear-populated areas and it's why people hang bear bags - because bears can smell food, even through nylon, if you can believe it.
But like Lone Wolf said - whatever. Do what you want, HYOH, to each his own, blah blah blah and all that jazz. I don't care what you do. I just think that if a bear really wants my food, my little arm wrapped around a big ol' bag of yummy bars and such isn't going to be much of a deterent.
"If you don't know where you're going...any road will get you there."
"He who's not busy living is busy dying"
No I didn't - if you want a list of people who have suffered a bear attack, google it yourself I'm sure you could find a few who were attacked while they were in their tent and most likely with food. I found a number of them.
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