Sheep Hunting, food storage

[264mag]

Just curious as to what everyone does. Obviously if possible and you have trees nearby you would hang your food.

What do you do when you don’t have trees nearby?

I dehydrate all of my dinners and have them vacuum sealed, my breakfast and snack bags are double bagged in ziplocks and all are stored in lightweight dried bags and are easy to hang. I also have a pack alarm.

I have asked many sheep hunters what they do and it’s a 50/50 split. 1/2 keep their food in their tent with loaded weapon and 1/2 try to cache or hang the food.

Thoughts and opinions welcome!

[Moose63]

Hang it in the trees about 50 yds away

[Bustercluck]

You’re thinking too much into this. Bears aren’t really nocturnal(garbage bears are different). They’re not looking to crash through your tent and eat your spaghetti in the middle of the night.

I try and hang my food somewhere the ground critters and birds can’t get it. If there’s nowhere to put my food, then it goes in the tent. I don’t sleep with a loaded gun or a pack alarm.

[butcher]

I usually use it for a pillow. When I'm hungry at night I can easily snack.

[swampthing]

I use my tent as bears are scared of people so they cant get at it. When I am away from my tent is when I have concerns! I do a peerimeter around my tent so that should work I figure!

[RJHunter]

I put food in the vestibule area of the tent when in the alpine and hang in a tree if below tree line.....and I am feeling ambitious or have the kids along. No trouble with bears yet but rodents have been a problem and the main reason I like to hang if possible. This year I used Nylofume bags for my food and gear to keep things dry and also to limit food smells as they limit odor. They did seem to contain food smells and no critters tried to chew into my food. Tough bags that can be used many times and would be good for keeping the pack clean when loading meat.

https://www.litesmith.com/nylofume-pack-liner-bags/

[jac]

Obviously if it happens bears can be a real problem, more so if your gear and food is left alone. Rodents have been a larger problem for me. We had a rat eat 6 of 8 Straps off all our hiking poles in 1 night. Pretty funny

[Weatherby Fan]

Porcupines were the bad ones for us, not into our food but chewed the rubber covers off our jetboil stoves, luckily we had spares, then they went to work on tent lines so we dispatched a few and then hit the rest with rocks so that put the run on them
food we kept in the vestibule of the tent, no bear issues but also no trees where we were.

[264mag]

We had a porcupine come in and chew on water bladders and trekking poles as well.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

This year we spiked out under a tarp for a couple days. Got back to the tent in the dark to find my clothes bag outside the tent in the rain. Friggin marmot chewed big hole thru the screen in my Kuiu tent....ignored the food but drug my clothes outside the tent for some strange reason.
Apparently marmots are just pricks.

SSS

[decker9]

My regular camp food I keep by my tent. I feel a bit more relaxed with my dog sleeping outside the tent (never leave home without her).

Funny I read so much about porcupines, we had them in camp every night this season. My dog tangled with one last season and learnt her lesson, this season she kept her distance, but sure let us know something was around camp.

If I didn’t have a good dog, my methods would certainly change.

[Astepanuk]

This year we spiked out under a tarp for a couple days. Got back to the tent in the dark to find my clothes bag outside the tent in the rain. Friggin marmot chewed big hole thru the screen in my Kuiu tent....ignored the food but drug my clothes outside the tent for some strange reason.
Apparently marmots are just pricks.

SSS

Now that sucks!! last year on a sheep hunt I poured a coffee in my Silicone folding cup and started pissing out, Darn Mouse chewed a hole in it!!!