Wanna see how a bear gets your food?

Check this out. Canisters work!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLYbXXIbUX0&feature=related

At one point I was waiting for the canister to be catapulted off into the horizon lol. 

I have had a bear knock my canister over at night to see if it was open, and then walk away.  In the Sierras they have been conditioned enough to know that if the canister is closed, they can't get any food.

I have also been on a trip with some scouts who neglected to close their canister when they went to bed, and a bear cleaned out all of the food from one canister before I woke up from the noise.

Thanks for posting the video f klock.

I always responded well to visual teaching aids, this video is no exception.

I have often thought that a hungry animal is just as (or more) resourceful as a hungry human, plus they have abilities we don't have in wilderness environments.

Mike G.

I would like to see a square or at least a cannister with a flat side. Camping once in the high sierra I had a cannister roll down a granite slope when I accidently laid it down for a second.

I rarely hike in bear country or where bears have grown accustomed to human food. In the Gila, Grand Staircase and around Arizona places I have hiked the bears don't raid camps, food caches or anything in my experience.

I sometimes use the PCT method. This way you don't give a bear any help by providing them with horizontal tight ropes to walk. :)

Here is a video I found explaining it a bit more in-depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8FXRJldcpE&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL48A1CE61E056585C

Both of my solo tents(3 & 4 season) come with pole repair splints. The splints seem to work well for this purpose. Also a tent stake works. 

A flat surface may give a bear a purchase point to get into it. its my belief that the shape, as well as the material, is what keeps the buggers out.

For some reason I find bears very entertaining. Thanks for the video.

Cool vid. I think I would prefer to see a video of a bear going after some food, rather then be up close and personal.

I am just waiting for someone to get a video of the bears near Mt. Marcy in the adirondacks that can open bear vault brand canisters. Have heard quite a few stories of it hapening.

Rick-Pittsburgh said:

I sometimes use the PCT method. This way you don't give a bear any help by providing them with horizontal tight ropes to walk. :)

Here is a video I found explaining it a bit more in-depth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8FXRJldcpE&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL48A1CE61E056585C

Both of my solo tents(3 & 4 season) come with pole repair splints. The splints seem to work well for this purpose. Also a tent stake works. 

This may work in some parts of the world, but there are sections of the PCT  (in Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP, Inyo NF, and Yosemite NP) where the bears have long since learned how to get at this type of hang. In those areas, hikers are required to use canisters. Same in Yellowstone, Glacier, and Denali NPs.

The mention of the Bear Vault in Marcy reminds me of a conversation I had with the BV folks a couple years ago when the bears in the Rae Lakes area (Sierra) were learning how to get into the first several generations of BV. BV had an exchange program to replace the early models with a later version that was supposed to get around the problem. Unfortunately, the bears learned how to open those as well. At about the same time, the Marcy bears were starting to open the earlier and "fixed" canisters as well. I wondered about this, since many people have problems learning how to open the BV canisters (sort of like "child-proof" medicine containers that adults have a hard time with). I was skeptical at first, until I got the word directly from BV and from some ranger friends, one of whom showed me a video of a bear actually opening one.

Hanging, counterbalance, and the kevlar bags work ok in some areas. But the Garcia and Bear-i-Kade seem to be the only consistently successful at keeping the bears out. However, when the bear walks up to you, holds out its paw, and asks for "spare change", you better get real worried (the Garcia opens with a quarter or screwdriver).

Yeah, but they don't have pockets.  +1 humans.

We spend the vast majority of our time in the Yosemite backcountry and we always carry one of our three BV bear canisters even though we are usually in low risk areas. I know of a bunch of other locals that don't, but with our low baseweights, I guess I don't really mind anymore. On our wedding trip, we actually stashed one of our canisters for ten days while we roamed around the backcountry.

tricky bugger

Great video. I always love watching bears. Fortunately, on my Barren Lands, Yukon and Northern BC trips, we never have to worry about canisters or hanging our food. 

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