Daria wrote:
I've had one of my friends shoe mysteriously vanish while camping out in the open. So I would secure the bear canister with a string or something to make sure the thing is still there when you wake up.

mrchad9 wrote:http://www.ursack.com/

MoapaPk wrote:

mrchad9 wrote:I wouldn't call it being naive then.

Avoidance of hunters is not naive. But if one thinks of naivete as just being a lack of knowledge, then I think it is safe to say that the bears in the Ruby Mts of NV (e.g) are much more naive than the bears in the High Peaks of the Adirondacks, at least as far as human food is concerned. The more easily-procured human food that a bear encounters, the more s/he will likely learn the tricks needed for harvesting that food. As noted earlier in this thread, the Adirondacks are home to the only bears that have (yet) figured out how to defeat a bear vault.

There is also the issue of numbers. I see few bear tracks in NV; I saw lots and lots in the Adirondacks, particularly on the trails from John's Brook up to Marcy. I think this is partly because of other factors; lots of mud (conducive to tracks) in the Adks, and much of the human habitation is confined to narrow strips along trails, so the bears have to range over smaller regions for fat pickin'.

If a bear really decides to chew on an ursack, no internal liners (assuming plastic bags) are going to make a lot of difference.

Daria wrote:

MoapaPk wrote:

maddie77777 wrote:If I buy a bear canister, do I just keep it in my tent with me? Or do I then put it in my pack and hang it from a tree as well?

Neither. Most canisters have instructions to place the canister on the ground quite a distance from you or your critical gear. Sometimes the bears play soccer with the canisters and you may have to look a while to retrieve the cache; I'm painted the top of my bearvault orange (never had a bear encounter, though).

Do they prevent scents from getting out, or are they just made to keep the bears from getting in and ever realizing any food rewards?

The latter.

I've had one of my friends shoe mysteriously vanish while camping out in the open. So I would secure the bear canister with a string or something to make sure the thing is still there when you wake up.

rhyang wrote:

maddie77777 wrote:I think I may go with Rhyang's 3rd option, the Bare Boxer. It's cheap and seems big enough to house a couple meals for a couple days. I could just flourescent-tape that thing as well, right, since it's coin/screwdriver operated?

The next question is "what are the odds I totally forget to bring some sort of coin/screwdriver with me?"

If you do get a bareboxer, a coin won't work. When I go backpacking (or climbing) I always have one of those little swiss army knives with a nail file. The tip of the nail file seems to work just fine, but practice at home first with whatever you plan on bringing on your trip.

For the coin-style locking devices (ie. my bearikade) I just have a coin I drilled a hole into, and put one of those little keychain rings on (an austrian pfennig, just in case any US secret service agents are reading this ) This makes it easy to clip onto a key ring or something.

If you're like me, you have lots of random stickers lying around (what online retailer doesn't send stickers in the box anymore ?) I just put a couple of those on my canisters. This also helps with identification, in case you go on trips with someone who has an identical model of canister.

mrchad9 wrote:Why was everyone leaving their shoes outside!

Cool find to spot all the shoes at the den.

coldfoot wrote:Every time I see this thread, I think it is a question about the world's dumbest bear canister.