(You've got to love threads that start with the subject "maybe be a dumb question". :-p)

Anyway, I've got a question about bears and food.

Back story:
I'm going backpacking in Montana this summer with my dad and stepbrothers. When my dad and younger stepbrother went last year, they took a Kevlar (sp?) bag and hung it off the side of a steep drop off to keep bears out of their food. I think the plan is the same this year. However, I know that we will each carry our share of the food while hiking. They did not hang their packs, but stored them in the tent vestibule.

My question is: Is my pack going to smell like food and lead to a bear trying to steal my pack in the middle of the night if I hike with food in there? They carried GORP, cliff bars and the dehydrated meals and I will probably do much the same. Do I have to buy some "smell-proof" thing to store the food (and my toothpaste, or anything else that might have an "interesting" smell) in while it's in my pack during the day?

Feeling clueless... again.

Thanks, all.

I would think that if you store food properly (as per the instructions for whatever wilderness area you are in) and follow the recommended protocols - some areas it's suggested you stop, cook and eat dinner, then hike another little while to a campsite to avoid camping where you've eaten - you will be okay.

I never thought about toothpaste.

Drug dogs are trained to smell drugs, packaged in plastic, wrapped in tin foil, and hid in coffee or peanut butter. Point being, if you are the least bit concerned, hang it. Some animals sense of smell are incredible.
Better safe than sorry.

As for your pack, I would "think" keeping all of your food in a separate bag inside your back pack would keep it clean of scent.

That's what OP sacks (odor proof) are for. I especially use them for my dog's food because if I can smell his kibble through a freezer bag, certainly a bear could! I don't know about a bear, but my dog can't smell his food through the OP sack. OP sacks are an essential part of the Ursack system.

Of course your hands can transfer the smell to the outside of the OP sack after a while, so they are not 100% effective.

PS: There is no such thing as a dumb question; the only thing dumb is not asking the question!

There are odor proof sacks that come with the ursack. Having said that, I hike all the time in grizzly country and seldome use them, the caveat is just about *all* my food is neatly packaged in ziploc freezer bags and nothing is left loose in the ursack, or in my pack.

Now, put a dose of reality in it.. if you let a peanut butter sandwitch get smeared all over the inside of your pack, and put your pack in your tent - it's going to smell like food! A lot!
if you don't do that, you're likely no worse off than the amount of food that is in your beard and on your clothing after eating. bears are not sharks.

I normally sleep with my (empty, or only clothing in it) pack with me, either hanging from the head of my hammock, or under my feet with a 3/4 length pad - All my food and smellables though (deodoant, cooking utensils, food, toothpaste, etc. etc.) are in the ursack and/or hung. I am normally in grizzly country (i.e. just north of montana)

If I do have an "accident" and get food spilled on my pack, I wash it out, and make sure I hang for the rest of the trip. I will then wash the pack when I get home.

So be appropriately careful, but not unreasonable.

So you don't have any problems with the Ursack and rodents when you BP "local"?

I never have. At least not with the way I keep my food.

Understand I do keep stuff in ziplocs inside the ursack.

Never had problems with the possums in tasmania either, and they were eating everyone else out of house and home.

Excellent - thank you for your reply - an Ursack is officially on the wish list

Thanks for the replies. Since I'm a play-it-safe kinda girl, I think I might pick up some odor proof bags. Any recommendations on which ones?

"OP Sacks" is a brand name. They're the only ones I've found. Be gentle with the closure, because it occasionally rips.

I get mine at REI.

Thank you!

I find that it always rips, and/or otherwise gets to be too much of a PITA to seal. I'm talking here of the large bear-bag sized ones. A small one that I used at one point for suntan lotion and lip balm lasted much, much longer in that way.

I now just expect the top closure to not last long and frankly don't even try anymore barring unusual situations. Unless my food bag is maxed out, I just roll the OP sack inside the Ursack and consider that I'm getting most of the value. We have on us and produce so many interesting smells that I don't think of this as any sort of absolute, just a way of limiting how far and how strong the food odors propagate.

The good news is that apart from the zip closure, the OP sacks last quite well.