Hi all, got a question regarding scented items near the tent. My food will be hung in a tree at least 100 yards from the tent, that goes without saying. I assume that I should also hang any other scented items such as bug spray, sun block, etc.? What about snacks? Obviously no food inside the tent, that's a no brainer. But what about eating snacks around the campfire? Or are the bears nose sensitive enough that even the slightest trace would bring them into the back country site? And last question, what about clothes? Do you guys have separate eating and sleeping clothes? I usually bring some pajama shorts for the tent, but I'll often use my fleece (the same one I eat in) as a makeshift pillow. Is this a bad idea? Just wondering where the line is between being anal and being safe

Tx!
adam

Yes, bears do have extremely sensitive smellers, and they are curious creatures, but they generally know human scent and prefer to keep humans at a distance (seeing us as the crazed psycho-killers of the woods).

So, unless the bears in your area are particularly habituated to human presence and have a strong tradition of seeking human food, you shouldn't have to take any extraordinary precautions beyond hanging food and being sensible about not cooking and eating in the tent or storing food in it.

If you backpack in the California Sierras, or certain parts of the Appalachian Trail, this equation changes, since many bears thereabouts are unafraid of humans and see us as food-bringers, not psycho-killers.

Separate sleeping clothes - yes.

Fleece jacket as pillow - if no food gets on it, ok. Otherwise, no.

Smellables can go in a small mesh bag and hang with your food bag (don't forget about toothpaste if you choose to carry it).

My method.

- I eat an early dinner and thus cook my dinner and then continue hiking for one-three miles.

-When I set up my camp, I hang my food and all smellables (sunscreen, deet etc).

I do not have separate eating clothes, but I do have sleeping clothes. However, all sets of clothing stay under my tarp-- I have never hung clothes.

I have to admit that we don't visit LYV or some of the other backpacker intensive areas, but we've never had a problem. OVer the past two years we've done about 200 miles in ten different trips in the Sierra Nevada. We cook dinner where we sleep, and all of our clothes are in out tent when we sleep. We do use a bear canister at ALL times, and place that away from our tent.

On the other hand, we've had SERIOUS problems with bears in car campgrounds where there were no bear boxes.

I hang or otherwise appropriately store everything smellable. all food, toothpaste, cooking gear, etc.

I don't worry about my clothing unless I spill big glops of goo on it. Frankly (and I'm not trying to be rude here) my shorts after a few good farts and a day of hiking probably smell more of "food" than anything else.

Bears have a nose but aren't sharks. They will also smell you. In general outside of habituated bear country they will avoid you.

You also want to store all your smellables for *rodents*. I've never had problems with a bear in many years with my food stored properly. What always catches me doing something wrong is mice or squirrels or porcupines. The result is then chewed food bags or gear.

that was tactfull !!!!sabre11004...

would it be wrong, unethical, unmoral to say throw a chunk of peanut butter or a snickers say right around the tree you hang your food in...givng the rodents and or anything else something they can actually have...rather than have them put effort into eating through my tent for the crumbs i may have?

Let's not get any more animals habituated to human food than already are!
Please! Anyway, human food is not good for them!

Phat--

Yes - wrong on all counts:

1) it habituates the rodents to human food and makes the problem worse. if nobody feeds them they aren't going to "attack your tent to chew through it" if there is nothing in it. They will view your tent as different and scary and stay away from it.

My worst problems with rodents are in backcountry sites where people *DO* feed them... "awww how cute" - and then I have the aggressive richardsons's ground squirrell who won't leave you alone while cooking.

2) It may contain stuff that's bad for them.

3) You don't know for sure what is going to get it. Do you really want to attract bears or skunks?

don't feed *ANYTHING* nonhuman in the outdoors.

don't feed *ANYTHING* nonhuman in the outdoors.

That can't be said too often.

The bear or raccoon or whatever that becomes addicted to peanut butter or Snickers bars will progress to ripping apart your pack while you're carrying it! That's what has happened with the raccoons on Washington's Olympic National Park coast. Things have calmed down a bit there since the NPS started requiring hard-sided containers.