Bear-resistant coolers

[Rumline]

Normally when I go camping in bear country, I'm either backpacking or staying at a campground. In the former case, we wouldn't be bringing much food and bear canisters worked like a charm. In the latter case, the campgrounds always had metal bins fixed to the ground that you could stick your cooler in. Now I'm planning a week-long trip to the Eastern Sierras where we will be off-road and dispersed camping the whole time and I'm wondering what we can do about storing our food.

I'd like to bring a cooler because, hey, this is car camping! But if I have to run the cooler up a tree every night that doesn't sound so awesome. Then I found that several of the expensive cooler manufacturers make coolers that are certified Bear-Resistant by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. Sounds like a good solution, but I'm wondering about alternatives.

I've decided on the Pelican coolers because they're a little cheaper and I like their latches (you need locks with any of the bear-resistant coolers to actually make them bear resistant) but if there's another great solution out there that prevents me from dropping $250 on a cooler :Wow1: then I'm all ears.

I found this other thread from 2007 but nothing there really stood out as being a clear solution to the problem.

 

[IdaSHO]

#1 rule for bear proof anything.


NOTHING is bear proof :chef:

 

[Rumline]

Nothing is bear proof.... I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewie! Take the Professor in back and plug him into the hyperdrive!

 

[DaveNay]

Nothing is bear proof.... I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewie! Take the Professor in back and plug him into the hyperdrive!

The point being....spending $250 on a "bear proof" cooler is just silly. Spending $250 on technically provable features is one thing (super insulated, attached blender, converts into a Tiki Bar, etc) but there are far better tactics to making your camp site "bear proof" than relying on marketing that clearly won't last the first 30 seconds of an encounter with a hungry or curious bear.

 

[IdaSHO]

For starters you should probably get very specific about your proposed routes.

I know the Eastern Sierras. I grew up right in the Owens Valley.

There are not a ton of trails into the Sierras that put you deep enough into bear country to worry about them.

Even then anything that is even remotely bear PROOF will be incredibly heavy and not worth the transport.



As I said, I grew up there, and I know the trouble bears can cause. Ive even helped test a few designs of bear cans in the Sierras.

Funny stories revolve around most of those. Like watching a bear swat a bear can around for more than an hour trying to get into it.... then finally as ge gave up he plopped his lard but on the can, and it broke in half :sombrero:

Ive also watched bears tear into flat-landers cars going for food. And over time have proven that bears have even learned to connect the dots between an ice chest and food.

Even cars with EMPTY ice chests were broken into. And they know how to get in. one paw on the roof, one paw/claw into the window frame, and pry it open like popping the cap off of a soda can.

 

[Stumpalump]

The goverment gunman can write you an expensive ticket if you do not have the bear proof tax stamp on your gear.

 

[doug720]

There are still a few areas in the Eastern Sierra that have roads and bears...


I'm not or claiming to be a bear expert, but we stay outside of Bridgeport each year and have learned what we have to do as they visit our camp nearly every night and most days!

As mentioned, bear proof is doubtful, as bears know ice chests hold food. If they see it, they will chew and claw it, maybe not get in, but it will not be the same after they "play" with it. Bears break into cars when they can see an ice chest, so you must cover them.

I have an ice chest mounted in my 60, I cover it and have not had any issues in over 30 years of camping in an area that we see bear almost every day, and one that they come through camp every night. We have watched way to many people do stupid things with food and bears with camps and equipment destroyed and people never wanting to camp again because of poor camp management. We have seen the results of some campers who did not listen to warnings from other campers!

IMHO, having a clean camp, not cooking next to where you sleep, not sleeping with food and covering your ice chest in a vehicle is more important than a bear proof ice chest.

 

[wreckdiver1321]

^ this. I grew up car camping out here in Montana. There are certain areas we go to that bears in the campsite are pretty common. We just keep the food in the truck and cover it up with a blanket. Never had a problem in 15 years of doing this.

 

[TheViking]

#1 rule for bear proof anything.


NOTHING is bear proof :chef:

This.

 

[GrizzlyCoolers]

#1 rule for bear proof anything.


NOTHING is bear proof :chef:

Correct, IGBC Certification is "Bear Resistant" not bear proof. Certification requires the cooler to be able to withstand significant abuse for a prescribed time frame that most bears will move on to an easier meal.

 

[WeLikeCamping]

"withstand significant abuse for a prescribed time frame" - I'd be afraid to open the cooler after all this. Unless, of course, it was full of beer. But then the bear and I would have been fighting - for the cooler.

 

[Rumline]

It seems that by using the term "bear proof" as opposed to "bear resistant" I caused panties to bunch up all across the interwebz. I've gone ahead and updated the thread title to see if that can keep the discussion on the actual question I had. Which was: "what else can I do besides buy these expensive coolers when camping in bear country?" and also a not-explicit-enough "does anybody have any experience with these fancy coolers in bear country?"

There are not a ton of trails into the Sierras that put you deep enough into bear country to worry about them.

That doesn't square with my experience at all. But then again I have yet to go car camping in the backcountry. Maybe away from the established campgrounds and popular backpacking routes they're not as prevalent.

Even then anything that is even remotely bear PROOF will be incredibly heavy and not worth the transport.

It's car camping though, so weight is not important. As long as it's <150 lbs loaded so it's still movable by two adults.

As I said, I grew up there, and I know the trouble bears can cause. Ive even helped test a few designs of bear cans in the Sierras.

Funny stories revolve around most of those. Like watching a bear swat a bear can around for more than an hour trying to get into it.... then finally as ge gave up he plopped his lard but on the can, and it broke in half :sombrero:

Ive also watched bears tear into flat-landers cars going for food. And over time have proven that bears have even learned to connect the dots between an ice chest and food.

Even cars with EMPTY ice chests were broken into. And they know how to get in. one paw on the roof, one paw/claw into the window frame, and pry it open like popping the cap off of a soda can.

Cool stories. I've only been able to see a bear trying to get into one of my canisters once. If my food wasn't being threatened it'd almost be fun to watch him try to get inside. They're far from dumb animals.

IMHO, having a clean camp, not cooking next to where you sleep, not sleeping with food and covering your ice chest in a vehicle is more important than a bear proof ice chest.

Thank you for that reply. I definitely adhere to the first three but I was not aware that covering the coolers was the way to go. I'm surprised that works, because I thought that bears primarily find this stuff by scent. Do you put it in your car and cover it or do you leave it outside and covered?

Spending $250 on technically provable features is one thing (super insulated, attached blender, converts into a Tiki Bar, etc)

IMHO "super insulation" is the worst reason to spend $250 on a cooler, because the Yetis etc aren't much better at ice retention than the Coleman Xtreme coolers at 1/5th the cost.

 

[Rumline]

"withstand significant abuse for a prescribed time frame" - I'd be afraid to open the cooler after all this. Unless, of course, it was full of beer. But then the bear and I would have been fighting - for the cooler.

If my cooler full of beer got batted around by a bear, that would become the beer I gift to other people for the next hour or two.

 

[doug720]

It seems that by using the term "bear proof" as opposed to "bear resistant" I caused panties to bunch up all across the interwebz. I've gone ahead and updated the thread title to see if that can keep the discussion on the actual question I had. Which was: "what else can I do besides buy these expensive coolers when camping in bear country?" and also a not-explicit-enough "does anybody have any experience with these fancy coolers in bear country?"

That doesn't square with my experience at all. But then again I have yet to go car camping in the backcountry. Maybe away from the established campgrounds and popular backpacking routes they're not as prevalent.

It's car camping though, so weight is not important. As long as it's <150 lbs loaded so it's still movable by two adults.

Cool stories. I've only been able to see a bear trying to get into one of my canisters once. If my food wasn't being threatened it'd almost be fun to watch him try to get inside. They're far from dumb animals.

Thank you for that reply. I definitely adhere to the first three but I was not aware that covering the coolers was the way to go. I'm surprised that works, because I thought that bears primarily find this stuff by scent. Do you put it in your car and cover it or do you leave it outside and covered?

IMHO "super insulation" is the worst reason to spend $250 on a cooler, because the Yetis etc aren't much better at ice retention than the Coleman Xtreme coolers at 1/5th the cost.

We leave our ice chests in the vehicle covered with a dark colored blanket. In my experience, any ice chest left out at night, covered or not, gets "Investigated". Some are investigated harder than others...

 

[Rumline]

Thanks for the info. That's a nice setup you've got there!