Alpine Bears & Food

[wetcoasthunter1]

Just wondering what everyone does to keep your food (and yourself) safe when they are way up high and you have no trees to hang your food in to protect it from the furry *******s. Thanks guys.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Not much you can really do.

Some guys use camp alarms to encompass your tent.

We just left the food in the tent.

Have has zero issues over the years.

Fresh meat gets buried in snow pack if available.

SSS

[TheObserver]

Just wondering what everyone does to keep your food (and yourself) safe when they are way up high and you have no trees to hang your food in to protect it from the furry *******s. Thanks guys.

Could get a Bear can, also known as Bear vault. Or bury it lol

[KootenayKiller]

I bring paracord, and hang it off cliffs if no trees available. Sometimes will bury it under a pile of rocks. I've also gotten lucky just sleeping with it in my tent, but that doesn't mean this is best practice... I pack vacuum-sealed dehydrated meals in odor-proof bags. If I don't feel confident about the quality of my stash spot, I will sometimes makes a separate stash of used/dirty food packaging/dishes/etc. so that animals aren't as likely to find my uneaten food. I try to keep at least 200m between my tent and stashes. I sleep with bear spray at the ready. Never had a problem.

[Downtown]

Electric Fence and all night illumination. Buckshot for the too persistent Grizzlies.

Cheers

[jamfarm]

My last day of snowmobiling was on June 5th and we were way up in the alpine on top of a mountain. Across the valley we saw a grizzly making its way across a glacier, it covered so much ground so quickly it made me think twice about how I will store food going forward. You might think that the bears will just be down in the valleys feeding until they're not and if they get a whiff of your food when you're on top of the mountain they might come to visit.

[CheesyLimper]

I usually keep my food in a bright orange dry bag which really stands out against the background and try to have it in a direct line of sight out from the tent zipper and a decent distance away. It's easy to spot when I crawl out in the morning so if it's not there, or in a different place at least I know somethings around. On that note, I've never had bear trouble with my food. Porcupines on the other hand...

[Downtown]

Above the Treeline in the real Alpine is always the poorest habitat, that is where most of the inexperienced Grizzly Sows especially with Cubs and pretty well all the subadult try to carve out a living by hunting Mice (Lemmings) Ground Squirls, Marmots and such. Big experienced old Males tend to have territories and control lowlands where Beaver perhaps Salmon are plentiful, If a sub adult gets cough by one of them they going to have a bad day or worse.

If one of the Alpine Grizzlies finds your freshly killed Goa/Sheep he found a Goldmine and will protect it with his life. That is when you may find out a .338 with 250 Grain slugs is superior to a 180 Grain out of an odd6.

Cheers

[Bustercluck]

Other than a few times, I’ve always found a shitty subalpine tree to hang my food out of. I’m more worried about ground critters getting into it than bears. If a bear wants to eat my food than he can have it, I’m not fighting him for it. My philosophy is leave your food where the bears can get it and maybe hang a bell off the bottom so you know something is messing with it, but I’d rather the bear eat my lunch than me.

The grizz I’ve ran into in the alpine didn’t want anything to do with me. As soon as they’ve sniffed me out they take off. On the other hand my brother ran into a goat that a bear stuffed under a log in the alpine and the bear came over and chased them off. They had to abandon their bags and come back for them.

Personally I think you’re thinking too much into it. It’s really not a big deal and you’ll figure it out as you go.

[Gateholio]

Not much you can really do.

Some guys use camp alarms to encompass your tent.

We just left the food in the tent.

Have has zero issues over the years.

Fresh meat gets buried in snow pack if available.

SSS

I'm with SSS on this.

Only so much you can do.

You aren't in a park or a campground that bears may have become habituated to hot dogs. Lots of backcountry bears know what humans are, but they don't see them frequently so they are usually a bit more wary of humans than campground bears.

Of course just like humans, sometimes you run into a bear that is just an asshole. :)

[HarryToolips]

Other than a few times, I’ve always found a shitty subalpine tree to hang my food out of.

The grizz I’ve ran into in the alpine didn’t want anything to do with me. As soon as they’ve sniffed me out they take off.

This has been my experience as well... curiosity even got the best of me once and I tried elk bugles right at a grizzly sow with her yearling, she didn't even look up at me..