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The night a bear in Shenandoah made me ditch my whole food storage method
Last October I was camped at Big Meadows and thought I had it all figured out. Bear canister locked, hung 12 feet up, all the usual stuff. Then around 2am I heard this metallic scraping that got louder and louder. I grabbed my headlamp and there it was, a decent sized black bear literally batting my canister around like a toy. It never got in, but watching it slide that thing 40 yards downhill made me realize my whole approach was about keeping bears out of food, not keeping the canister where I left it. I switched to a Ursack with an Opsak liner after that trip and tied it to a tree trunk instead of hanging it. I've done 4 trips since and no issues, but I still wonder if I got lucky. Anyone else had a wildlife encounter that made you change your gear routine? What did you switch to?
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evand6527d ago
See, tying it to a tree is exactly what I'd worry about, since a bear that wants it can just snap the cord or chew through it and now your food's gone instead of just rolling downhill. At least the canister kept the food in one piece even if it went for a ride. The being-lucky part is what gets me here, four trips is a pretty small sample size.
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