rhyang wrote:Tips from Yosemite national park -
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bearcanisters.htmBlack bears such as we have in CA possess an incredible sense of smell -- they've been known to rip the doors off cars to get at candy bar wrappers left under the seat
So a canister isn't generally going to keep a bear from smelling your food. Bear canisters just prevent them from actually eating your food. Sorry bear, you are just going to have to be content with berries
Yeah, a couple of the companies that manufacture these joke in their ads about how the bear can't open the canister without a coin or a screwdriver, and all I can think of is the bears in Yosemite that have been known to climb thirty feet up a 5.8, stemming between the rock and a tree to reach a bear bag or canister. Or the Camp 4 mama bear that only breaks into one particular model of car, allegedly because they're easier to get into. Coin or screwdriver? They'll figure it out.
Yosemite bears are environmentally stimulated toward cognition because the rewards are so great. I mean seriously, where else have you heard of a "nuisance" bear that never attacked anyone, but was deemed a nuisance because she'd sit patiently at the edge of a campsite and wait politely for the campers to leave before she began her ransack?
I used to think bear canisters were unnecessary -- then I met some bears. I mean, I love bears and all, but, to me, little else is as truly frightening in the backcountry as is a cranky and motivated 400lb autodidact with claws.