Backpack hunt food storage

[grantk]

What do you use for food storage on alpine/sub-alpine backpack hunts in Interior BC? Seems like some people simply pack each day's food into ziplocks and keep them packed in their bag inside the tent. Others hang from a tree in a dry sack, although apparently this is no longer the "official" recommended method, and finding a suitable tree can be difficult. Anyone use an Ursack or something similar? Maybe I'm over-thinking this....

[Chrispryn]

I still go with a dry sack thrown over the best branch I can find. Failing to find a suitable tree I just simply get it away from camp and store it anyway I can in the dry sack.

I figure IF my food is attracting predators I would rather them be attracted somewhere other than my tent. In reality dehydrated food probably doesn't even attract anything but the confidence that it's a safe distance away helps me sleep better.

Chris

[RiverOtter]

I use a large Ziploc freezer bag for energy bars, Via coffee, dried fruit, etc. The Mountain House and Backpackers Pantry go into an Ultra-Sil stuff sack.

And it ALL sleeps in the tent with me.
Two very good reasons for that...Firstly, there's no suitable trees above treeline and secondly, food is a lifeline. Lose your food and your hunt is done.

Only thing closer to my body at night than my food, is my rifle. If a bear is hungry enough to poke his nose in my vestibule, he's gonna be eating a TTSX at point blank.

And the fact is, bears have entered tents for nothing more than the human carcass(es) on the inside.
Just a risk you take on a mountain hunt.

[allan]

I put everything that has a scent, in ziplock bags in a dry bag and either toss in in a tree away from camp with a rope or if no trees suitable away from camp where I can see it with good visibility when I wake up in the morning.
i only have water in my tent when I sleep.

[Krico]

I’m with RiverOtter on this one. My food is in my pack, in the vestibule. Gun laying next to me.

[Kill-da-wabbit]

A ziplock won't stop a bear from smelling your food, just minimize the scent. And that's all you can do is minimize risks, never eliminate them. I store mine 100yds away from my sleeping area, and sleep with my rifle. Never had a problem.

[ryanb]

I will try to hang my food if I can. My main concern is rodents, not bears! There usually aren't high enough trees around most of the time to deter a bear anyhow.

[whitlers]

No food in camp for us. Dry sack and the best tree we can find or bury it under some rocks or shrubs 100 yards from the tents. No cooking in camp either but that's mostly when in heavy gbear territory.

[Bustercluck]

I don’t sleep with food either. My thoughts are if a bear smells food and is hungry, I’d rather him fill himself up on my grub and let me sleep. We can go quite awhile without food before we die and there’s usually something around you could kill or scavenge if you’re desperate enough.

On a a side note, I did buy one of those bear barrels recommended by all of the parks in the states and I find it too heavy and a pain in the ass to deal with.

[wos]

Mine is in a tree about 100 yds from camp. The height of the trees above the tree line are not gonna stop a bear from getting my food. The biggest reason i do this is to prevent a bear from coming into my camp when im out hunting so it doesn't destroy my tent and sleeping bag. In the mountains those are your real life lines.

[Ron.C]

I still go with a dry sack thrown over the best branch I can find. Failing to find a suitable tree I just simply get it away from camp and store it anyway I can in the dry sack.

I figure IF my food is attracting predators I would rather them be attracted somewhere other than my tent. In reality dehydrated food probably doesn't even attract anything but the confidence that it's a safe distance away helps me sleep better.

Chris

Same as we do

[grantk]

Good info guys, thanks! I think I'm with wos on this one... my sleeping bag, shelter, and un-mauled legs to get off the mountain are my lifeline. There's probably a good chance of nothing ever happening sleeping with my food, but I'd personally just rather not take the risk.

[eatram]

I usually keep all of the food in a garbage bag outside of my tent, on my partner's side...

[HarryToolips]

I keep my food away from camp, helps me sleep a bit better....

[RiverOtter]

Interesting. I honestly thought there'd be more guys guarding their food a bit closer. Especially considering that backpack hunts, at least to me, mean freeze dried and packaged foods, which means greatly reduced scent.

Being that the OP stated interior alpine hunts, I'm going to assume we're talking 2-4 nights, as opposed to a 12-14 day sheep hunt where losing your food after getting dropped off is a pretty big deal.

At any rate, it don't much matter to me how other folks go about looking after their grub, just find the different approaches interesting.

[mountain_hunter]

I usually end up working with one of the following four scenarios:
1) I use my paracord to hang my food in one bag on the tallest branch I can find.
2) With elevation trees can still be tall but the branches get shorter (i.e closer to the trunk where a climbing critter could still my food), so I use one side of my paracord between two tree trunk. I then use the other side of the cord to hang the food off the tensioned cord.
3) At the alpine tree line the trees will bend too much and are getting short. To get as much height off the ground as possible I use one side of my paracord to connect multiple tree tops together for better support. Again I use the other side of the cord to hang the food off the tensioned cord. I also look for depression in the topography between the two tree bunch to get higher vertical clearance from the ground.
4) Above tree line I split my food supply in 2 or 3 bags and hide them each in opposite direction from my camp. If a critter get to my food I will hopefully have 1/2 or 2/3 of my food left.

Each scenarios keeps the food (bear attractant) at least 100 m away from me when i am vulnerably sleeping and away form my tent when I am away. I also bring a pack perimeter alarm to notify me of anything within my safety perimeter while sleeping. I have my rifle on one side and bear spray on the other side. I also sleep with my headlamp ready to blind a bear and shoot. I have done many solo remote backpack trips and never has issues with my food.