Bear bagging is now obsolete.

At least if this one is near by. 

We'll have to kill it now, cannot have any of this survival of the fittest.

Duane

This is why I use the PCT method for hanging. No slackline for the bear to utilize:

No point in giving them any help right?

I'm not so sure this one couldn't climb the rope.

ocalacomputerguy said:

I'm not so sure this one couldn't climb the rope.

 Good point. ;)

that is funny

ive read many places where the PCT method doesnt work as much as it used too cuz bears are climbing the trees and learning to break the branch or chew through the rope on the branch. and illegal in some parks like Yosemite.

Thats why I am so fond winter. NO BEARS. I'm more worried about raccoons getting into my food than bears in the warmer seasons. 

Blackies just never really worried me too much from the experiences I have had with them over the years. 

Just buy an Ursack:

http://www.ursack.com/

Right on, it's good to know that humans are not the only animal on this planet that can learn from experience and increase their knowledge and intelligence. Well done bear, you have my kudos and get a brownie point or a gold star.....your choice.

That bear is part monkey.

To heck with the climbing this one just levitates!

Rick-Pittsburgh said:

Just buy an Ursack:

http://www.ursack.com/

 The Ursack is not permitted in Yosemite, Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Yellowstone, Glacier, North Cascades, and Denali National Parks, and the US National Forests along the Sierra (Inyo NF covers much of the Sierra in the Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon region). The reason is that the bears can get into them or at the least pound on them enough to get any liquids and powders to dribbling out (they then lick up the food). Grizzlies in Alaska, Yellowstone, North Cascades, and Glacier can rip through the Ursack with their claws, even doing damage to the aluminum liners. (Ursack offered the aluminum liner after finding that Yosemite bears could get through the "bulletproof" outer sack).

When you read Ursack's FAQ, you will see that they hedge a lot and dodge some of the critical questions. Considering how light the BearIKade is for the volume, I can't even see using an Ursack where they are permitted. In any case, the Ursack is not approved in so much of the Sierra that I would say, save your money and spend the amount on the BearIKade.

Couple examples of dissembling - one of the FAQs says:

With an URSACK Hybrid it won't be squashed.
If you use Ursack without the Aluminum Liner, probably some, but not all, of your food will be crushed.
However, substantially packaged freeze dried foods and similar items should still be edible. They are pre-squashed anyway.
Worst case : you will eat nutritious mush.

They say:

Rangers have reported to us that even the hard sided canisters are broken by bears on occasion.

but fail to mention that this involves the original Garcias that have been exposed to UV (lots of high altitude sun) for many many days (plastics and the Kevlar of the old Ursacks, and the Spectra of the newer versions - just ask climbers who find old spectra slings left as rappel slings after a couple years). It also involves earlier models of the Bear Vault, which bears in the Rey Lakes and Adirondacks regions learned to open.

They do admit:

There have been 2 reported incidents of torn fabric where the aluminum liner was not used. 

The aluminum liner adds 10.8 ounces.

Contrary to their assertion, SIBBG found that the original Ursack did not meet their criteria and would not approve it (Ursack FAQ implies SIBBG did not test it) and found that the current version also does not meet their criteria.

ocalacomputerguy said:

This picture is too funny. Needs a caption that says... "Boing! Boing! Boing!

The photos of the bear on the wire have been around for a while. One forum (can't remember where) had a big discussion about whether the pictures were Photoshopped, with advocates on both sides of the question sure they were right.

I can tell you we have pictures just like those in the local newspapers around here at least twice a year. I've also spent a fair amount of time on Photoshop, some of it doing work for the Smithsonian & NPS. I seriously doubt those are fake.

Comparing the bear to the bird house, it's a pretty small cub. Totally probable for what he is doing. The dam things are worse than squirrels with the bird feeders around here.

Those first pics were awesome. Thanks for the grins!

f_klock posted this one a while back. When you get to the Youtube site, there are several related videos as well.

ocalacomputerguy said:

To heck with the climbing this one just levitates!

 where is the cape

When I saw the subject of this thread, I gave a great sigh of relief. All those years I took a bag along on hikes to pick up others trash and anything else I found on the trail. Sometimes I found bears. You can imagine how difficult it is to get a cub in a bag; imagine a sow black bear. They learned to spread their legs apart, so they wouldn't fit through the top of the sack; meanwhile grinning like an ijit. I'm glad that is over with.

overmywaders said:

You can imagine how difficult it is to get a cub in a bag; imagine a sow black bear. They learned to spread their legs apart, so they wouldn't fit through the top of the sack; meanwhile grinning like an ijit. I'm glad that is over with.

 I ran into the same problem. ;)

for me, the bottom line on this story is that you're better off having a bear play soccer with your bear canister.  the Adirondacks tried a pilot program of bear 'cables' at some campsites - basically, a steel pole with a woven steel cable so you could hoist your bear bag straight up - and bears eventually figured out how to get at those by mashing up the cable hoisting hardware.  very resourceful.  get a commercially-made bear barrel, close it up tight, and keep it a safe distance from your campsite.  

if you know that your destination has bear 'boxes' (steel box with a locking mechanism), that is an effective way to store your food, toiletries, etc.  some campsites in the Adirondacks and the Northeast have them.  problem is, you need to be ready if there aren't any boxes, or if they are full.  

The bear poles in the Canadian mountain parks consist of a pole slung between two trees about 5 metres up, then individual loops of steel cable for each person's pack. You hook your food or pack onto a clip (which is covered by an inverted plastic pail to keep the rain out), then use the loop to pull it to the top of the pole. There is a second hook halfway around the loop that fastens onto a cable around one of the tree trunks to keep the bag suspended.The same method is sometimes used with a steel pole of about the same height.

I've never heard of a bear getting one down.

Don't feed wild bears.  It is as good as giving them a death sentence.

The challenge for me here in the Southeast is to get 45-50 lbs of food (in three large food bags) hoisted high enough in a tree on a bear line.  The friction of the line against a high branch always keeps me from getting my food more than about 5 feet off the ground.  What a great invitation to a bear party. 

Lately I've been keeping all of it in the tent vestibule and waiting for a fight to the death. 

Callahan said:

Don't feed wild bears.  It is as good as giving them a death sentence.

 See 'Sulphur Skyline' trip report.

Tipi Walter said:

 The friction of the line against a high branch always keeps me from getting my food more than about 5 feet off the ground.

 Have you tried using a carabiner as a pulley? Once you get your line over, just clip the biner to the end, then run your line through the gate, pull the biner to the desired height, then hoist the food. 

Yes, I remember you showing me this technique several months ago.  It's a good idea and one I will try.

peter1955 said:

Callahan said:

Don't feed wild bears.  It is as good as giving them a death sentence.

 See 'Sulphur Skyline' trip report.

 Probably before the Warden gets to it, the bear will get on the back of some young kid or little old lady or you  or me and bite us.  If we are lucky we won't die, as the bear looks for that elusive apple that all humans carry.

i just want to know what brand of rope was holding that birdhouse up.  i could use some.

Dyneema, Spectra, would be a very good, super strong, abrasion and cut resistant line to use.  Even step it up to Dux, but it costs more.

When car camping next,,,,

put one of these on the edge of the campsite,

Bear bag(ging) does exist, bean bag.

Gilkey said:

ive read many places where the PCT method doesnt work as much as it used too cuz bears are climbing the trees and learning to break the branch or chew through the rope on the branch. and illegal in some parks like Yosemite.

 Yep, some years ago when on a thru hike I was woken up one morning in Yosemite with some impressive 'crashing' noises when a local bear broke off the tree limb that my bag was hanging on!  When I finally summoned up the courage to investigate, I found a mix of tree branch, shredded bag and line on the ground and the only thing surviving was my toothpaste! Unless he'd 'flossed' instead, seems my hairy dinner guest was not into oral hygiene!

George

How does one get a bear into a bag anyway? What if it doesn't want to go in?

Gary said:

How does one get a bear into a bag anyway? What if it doesn't want to go in?

You have to bait the bag with food.  Something stinky like bacon.  The other option is to shoot it and stuff it in yourself.  It just depends on how much fun you want to have when you take him out.

Expedition pack and bear canister with proper LNT 100m triangle style? Sometimes sacrifices must be made.

-Mumbles

I read somewhere a couple of years ago about a couple of guys who had a patented, or were trying to patent, a "stun can" if you will, a bear can with a million volt zapper band or a "zap-you-hard" lid plate or whatever.  Remote on/off, timer, tunable zap, all the standard stuff you can do out of parts at Radio Shack.  No amps.  Million volts.  That's a lot. 

Yeah, just zap 'em right in the beak and call 'em Smokey, that is the theory.  And that bear will never again be interested in food cans after that, and will lose all trust of human beings forever and will warn his friends.  Bonus!  It seems to be a fairly practical solution when you first think about it.  Aversion training, pass the word and they do.

'Course it might hurl those inquisitive and always helpful ground squirrels straight up into the air, too, like hairy little bundles of popcorn liberated from the popper at full pop.  Now some folks, not me of course, would probably like to own a "stun can" just for that spectacle alone.  They'd want to own it even if there were zero bears in their hemisphere.  They'd want to be there when that 1-1/2 ounce ground squirrel, teeth tightly clenched, got accelerated into the vertical, the smell of burning hair wafting gently through the camp...

I'm thinkin' that the design has some issues.

But still it does hold a lot of promise and I want one, once they resolve the Unintended Consequences and Collateral Damage concerns.  But being as how we live in a very litigious and safe society it's probably gonna' be a very cold day before I get my hands on one, and when I do I'm not sure I'll actually touch it anyway.

Funny thing is that I had forgotten all about the "stun can" 'til I read this thread.  Wonder what happened with it, really.

The management of bears, yeah.  To quote John Muir, "Never trust an animal who can learn to ride a bicycle".  He is an inspiration to us all, isn't he?

Though that doesn't sound like anything he would have ever said...  

Now that I think about it I'm not certain that John Muir ever said that, or ever said anything remotely like that.

But I think it was somebody like him that did, I'm pretty sure.

HYOH

Drake

I have thought they should make bear canisters flat on one side of the round edge, as I found bears in Yosemite's high country would often roll them away even tho they could not open them.

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