food storage

[Photomike]

Is hanging food from an extended tree limb or using bear containers still the approved method of food storage in bear country?

If you are in a soft sided sleeping unit then yes. A hard sided unit like a vehicle or an RV it can be stored in either place but most leave in the vehicle., hard to empty a fridge and all the cupboards in an RV every night. Have been to a couple campgrounds that have warned people about problem bears and they asked campers to keep food in vehicles but to dispose of garbage ASAP.

 

[Happy Joe]

Question was on ants, they usually do not pull doors off.

I live, work and play in bear country and have done so for over 38 years. I have had bears walk through campsites during the day and night, before, during and after eating, when we have been sleeping in tents or sitting out, once a grizzly walked under a hammock that my dad's girlfriend uses to sleep in brushing the hammock while she watched him walk under her, bears in yards and met them at parking lots and on trails. Carried food in backpacks during the day, cooked at picnic tables and ate at the same. Stored food of all sorts in vehicles, cook in many of our units and keep all the food that you would have at home in our units all this time and never an issue. Can it be a issue? You bet it can, but so can it be an issue with any creature that is looking for free food. Is it as bad as people think? Not even close. A trouble bear can do damage to a vehicle or a camper but most bears never have and never will. Have had more damage done to vehicles by sheep and goats licking salt off and climbing on them to get to more salt.

I prefer to store all my food stuffs in the vehicle then hung in a tree or in a bear box. The only time I would store food differently is if I was in a tent or a soft sided camper and did not have a vehicle with me (not sure how that would happen with a soft sided camper).

I rather imagine the level of risk depends on how acclimated the particular bears are to human food...
I, too, have never had a bear problem BUT; I, still, take appropriate precautions...
Here is a link to a quick google "bear damage to vehicles" image search;
https://www.google.com/search?q=bea...tneAhVDjoMKHbpfAIYQ_AUIDygC&biw=1760&bih=1001

IMO if you don't mind, eventually, replacing/fixing vehicles go ahead and risk storing food in them... I, too, could plead guilty to this in my early camping career...but having been lucky for years, I decided the odds would be improved if I camped smarter.

BTW; some of the stories folks from Alaska & Canada tell about bears tearing into homes indicates that camper/rvs would be little problem... for the bear...IF they want in.

Enjoy!

 

[Kerensky97]

Ziploc WeatherShield Bins.
Weather/dust/insect proof. Latches to close tight. Handles to easy carry. Stackable so they limit sliding around. Sides are sloped just enough to allow them to stack into each other so not lots of wasted side space.
And most importantly, they're cheap and can be found in lots of places if you need more or need to replace one.

I used to have Rubbermaid Actionpackers but they're surprisingly low quality. I added weatherstripping around the lip of them to help keep the insects out but it was kind of a kludge. These have the weatherstripping built in.
They aren't bear proof but most containers aren't and they'll be in the truck at night anyway. They do keep out just about everything smaller than bears. I'm mostly worried about desert mice and foxes, in which case these are great even if left outside overnight.

https://amzn.to/2PBAfZm