Ok so I have searched a bit and haven't found the words I am looking for/ didn't feel like sifting through all those pages.
So here it is Q: Have you ever had a problem with a Bear in your camp while using a Bear Can. Example- a Bear moving or tampering with the can, or wake your unhappy butt up after a long day of hiking...

I only ask because I have had Bears come into camp because they can smell my food hanging in the tree(duh). I was hoping that in combination with Stealth Camping and a Bear can these encounters would decline. Thanks for the assistance.

There are odor proof bags you can use in conjunction with a bear bag or a canister but there is some debate as to the effectiveness of them. Bears do have a very good sense of smell.

Yes, we've had bears in camp - but they generally walk through and head for the canisters, which are intended to be placed 50-100 feet away from your shelter, in a spot where they can roll them around without knocking them down a hill, cliff or into water (they are not really waterproof either). I often find the concavity where a tree has fallen to leave the canister in. We sometimes buried the canisters under large flakes of granite so we would hear the bears moving the rocks and get up to chase them off.

Don't hang the bag in camp.

I've heard of bears moving canisters around, scent proof bags should help. I have more issues with deer messing with it. They can be like vultures, rocks don't help (thrown). I stick my canister in some rocks or under a windfall if possible for an alarm system or make it harder for them to pull it out.

I have heard it said numerous times that a bear which is already familiar with bear canisters will usually investigate, but when they find the canister, they will move on in search of an easier meal.

If you stealth camp far off the beaten path then you will probably eliminate bears that regularly visit campsites, but if a bear does chance along, it may very well come over to see what's up with the enticing smell. It may even bat your can around some. This should be pretty rare.

If you combine stealth sites, a canister and odorproof bags, that should keep you as safe from camp intrusion as it is possible to get. There are no absolute guarantees, though.

In Yosemite, we picked out a campsite around the base of the half-dome fork in the trail. All 3 of us had the rented bear canisters from the ranger station. We were camping near a pretty heavy slope, so after cooking and eating we packed our smellables into our canisters and stuffed them in a bush (to prevent them from easily rolling down the hill). Canisters and eating area were about 30yds away from tents and sleeping area.

During the night, could obviously hear a bear playing with our canisters for a good 30minutes then I either fell asleep or he stopped.

Awake the next morning, without my eyeballs in (contacts) to see a new large, dark rock near our tents. Put one contact lens in and there was a large-dog sized bear staring back at me about 8ft from my tent door. Called out to the guys in the next door tent to get up, bear immediately scattered off.

Checked cans, 2 were virtually unmoved where one was rolled out of the bush just a few feet from its former stash location. Wasn't opened or anything so we ate some breakfast, repacked them and stashed them back in our bush. We were going up to half-dome that day so we had just a couple mini day-packs with snacks, water, jackets so one of the guys left his tent standing and we just stored our full packs inside it.


Coming back from half-dome, I noticed something a little off as we got closer to our gear. Asked my friend if he had taken the tent poles out of the tent as it was drooping down a bit. Then it was all clear as we got closer...



Seems our wake-up-call played with the tent while we were gone. Tore a few holes in it, looks to have gnawed on one of the poles enough to snap it, mesh netting shredded. Everything inside was untouched. Nothing smellable in the tent, we double checked.

Made for a nice story, especially since that was night one. Rest of the time we had to MacGuyver the tent to get it to stand and be rain-proof. Reported it back to the ranger station in the valle. Ranger said the bears in that area are not shy due to the often full backpacking site just below our campsite and most likely was curious. He also said it was likely that that bear has gotten food from that exact tent before in the past and was hoping to score another snack.


Anyway, to answer your question: bear canisters are not smell-proof. They are simply a means to prevent said animal from getting at your food. If they eats your food, they will then associate people=food and become more persistant in their Twinkie hunting.

Glad I don't own a MSR tent.:)

I feel led to make the disclaimer that Yosemite and SEKI bears are not like other black bears... years of exposure to tourons who hand them granola bars have trained them to expect people to be an easy food source.

The bears close to Half Dome are really, really bad - they sneak up on people making dinner and grab stuff when your back is turned. Other areas of the park they are less troublesome.

Our night in the Tuolumne Meadows backpacker camp was enlightening - two rangers were running around all afternoon with a paintball gun and small dish tracking a radio collar on a nuisance bear. The deer don't even flinch from grazing when the gun goes off.

The only injuries caused by bears in those parks are when tourons leave food in a tent with people... those are fortunately rarer than one would expect.

As a partial answer, the Bearikade is the only can that truly seals the contents behind an o-ring. The others, including the BearVault and especially the Garcia are unsealed (the BearVault is the better of those two, but is hard to open if you screw it too tight).

Just handling the cans leaves scents on the outside surfaces, but at least with the Bearikade, very fragrant stored items are sealed up.

As to bears marauding in campsites, they'll indeed return to the scene of successful earlier crimes. It's how they roll.

Cheers,

good to know thanks for the help all, kinda just a good idea maybe when spending much time above tree line or near it. Hear the bear roll that thing around might be more annoying

carry on

I have not had any problems while using my Bearikade canister but I also prefer to keep things inside of it sealed in plastic bags to further diminish smells that may entice hungry bears.