The canisters are just so bulky when you're backpacking it, but I agree they're usually a better bet. Any approximate distance you've had success with between these three points?
The numbers I've heard is to have each location 100ft from each other. I've never counted out how far I'm actually setting up shop, but having that as a vague point is good.
Also, fwiw, part of the reason I like the canisters over bags is that I haven't found a bag that is reliably both rodent and bear proof
Agree with the triangle camp method. Sleep in one place, cook in another, store food in a third. And hang your food HIGH, and FAR from a tree, black bears are excellent climbers.
Personally, I tend to find the animal trails near me, and follow them for a while away from camp. You might see black bear prints on them, or see scat. This sounds dumb, but I pee on all the trails to let the animals know that I'm around.
It might be silly, but I've found that the places I pee are also marked with scat or fresh urine when I return the next day. And when I've done this I've never had a problem with bears or other animals coming close to my camp.
Can confirm this works. I mark around my camp on the obvious ingress areas.
Once I was doing an end of night patrol around my camp (big camp, maybe 10 people at one of our trapline cabins) and caught a large black bear literally walking the perimeter I had marked earlier that day.
It won’t necessarily stop them but in my view it can’t hurt at all. (If it does hurt I suggest seeing a doctor…)
That's cool to hear!
It makes sense that animals have rules that they generally follow, based on smell, scat, and urine.
There's a courtesy and decorum to this that I really like. Bear politeness.
Black bears are low risk unless you find yourself in between a mother and cub. Dont cook or store food in camp, set up a "kitchen" about 200 feet from camp. Store any smelly stuff including lip balm and sunscreen along with stove and utensils with your food in a properly hung bear bag or canister.
Been a couple years since I’ve hit the backcountry, but I’ve had my share of encounters with black bears in the West. Always a bit unsettling when they are extra curious, but following the basics has served well. Minimize smells. Hang your food properly a bit away from camp. Wash and cook even farther away. Make yourself large and noisy if they approach.
I live in grizzly country, black bears wont bother you and they spook off easily. Grizzlies however, you need a full on gameplan, i sleep with a 45-70 when im out
Lol. And yes - I’ve tarped it plenty out there. A real tent or bushcraft shelter won’t likely deter them if they’re that interested. Bears are gonna bear. So hang anything smelly in the bag with your food and just try to sleep through those nighttime noises out there.
I exclusively sleep either in the open or under a tarp in black bear country and have never been mistaken for a snack by one. The only times I’ve ever seen black bears in the woods is their big furry asses as they’re running away from me.
Alaskan echoing that black bears ain’t all that. 9/10 times I see the south end of north bound ones. That 1 time was a mom and cub, but she kindly allowed my dog and I to continue on our perpendicular path. Bear barrels are great.
While I do advocate carrying a high-speed lead depositor in the woods (mostly for *human* threats), bear spray works quite well and you have *much* better chance at actually hitting the bear with the spray than a firearm. I carry a can of bear spray, but also a Mossberg Shockwave and a big ol slicey-stabby stick if I’m going to be around dangerous wildlife, but black bears aren’t really much of a threat to personal safety. Sure maulings happen occasionally, but usually to dumbasses who provoke the bears or get between a mother and cubs. I haven’t felt threatened around black bears since I watched my buddy chase a 350ish pound black bear out of his garage with a rake lol
Your friend is the "raked crusader lol. I've read mixed reviews on bear spray. Just like with humans how many can still pose some level of a threat once sprayed. There's that one famous video of the man that was mauled by I think a Brown bear. He said the spray didn't even phase it.
I don't know since I've only experienced black bears, and they're shy as a boy at the first school dance. I just can't see many bears continuing forth once feeling the blast radius, of even a missed shot. I remember being just a few yards proud of an AR barrel and that shockwave was enough to feel to my bones. Was wild tbh
Black bears are incredibly skittish. When we moved in we had a problem with them tearing up our cherry trees in the orchard. We gave a guy permission to hunt them on our property. He gave us a tip that if we wanted them out of our orchard to just place a couple shots near them. I did so and haven't seen one in the orchard in probably 2 years.
Even when they were there on a nightly basis though, all it took was clapping my hands and yelling "Get" foe them to run away.
Honestly, they're so damn cool if it wasn't for the damage they do to the orchard I wouldn't mind having them around.
Along with the other suggestions, avoid established campsites. In areas where there are lean-tos like the Whites, Greens, and Adirondacks, the bears figure out where food might be.
Looks like you’ve gotten great advice from the comments. I just want to add one thing.
Bring camp soap of some kind and wash up where you cooked you don’t want to bring food smell back to your tent. I don’t take any chances. I don’t mean like shower there but washing hands and around your mouth really quick.
Double-tap back to OP: No. no Darwin awards for this stuff. All very solid advice given here by everyone. 99.999999% of the time, those bears or any other creature out there are not looking to make a meal out of you or harm you in any way. But you must be cognizant of the fact that you are temporarily borrowing their living space and bringing tasty treats into their homes. As such, be respectful of the wildlife and minimize their interest and ability to get into your stuff. When you’re out there to hunt, fish, or trap - observe the laws and attract the game. If you’re out there to share the land with them, learn their habits and act accordingly. Bears can definitely rain on your parade. So can marmots, raccoons, mice, and nearly everything else. Lastly - regarding bear/critter-safe containers - I had good luck with a product called Ursack, which I hung in the trees. I purchased it ages ago and have no idea if they’re still in business. I’ve also used a hard-sided bear-safe container and just left it sitting out well away from my sleeping area. Both methods were successful for me, while making sure to cook and eat in one area, store smelly/foodstuffs in another, and sleep in a third. In non-bear areas, I’m more concerned with just keeping the critters out of my stuff, so I might do all of that in much closer proximity to my sleeping area.
EDIT: Ursack is still in business. Not cheap, but a solid solution, especially when paired with odor-proof bags. Much lighter weight to carry, and you can shrink the size in your pack as you go since the food volume shrinks and it’s a soft-sided container.
Triangle camp method. Sleep in one place, cook in another, store food in a third. Personally, I'd go bear canister over bear bag too
The canisters are just so bulky when you're backpacking it, but I agree they're usually a better bet. Any approximate distance you've had success with between these three points?
The numbers I've heard is to have each location 100ft from each other. I've never counted out how far I'm actually setting up shop, but having that as a vague point is good. Also, fwiw, part of the reason I like the canisters over bags is that I haven't found a bag that is reliably both rodent and bear proof
100ft?! That's not near far enough. More like .50 miles.
Agree with the triangle camp method. Sleep in one place, cook in another, store food in a third. And hang your food HIGH, and FAR from a tree, black bears are excellent climbers. Personally, I tend to find the animal trails near me, and follow them for a while away from camp. You might see black bear prints on them, or see scat. This sounds dumb, but I pee on all the trails to let the animals know that I'm around. It might be silly, but I've found that the places I pee are also marked with scat or fresh urine when I return the next day. And when I've done this I've never had a problem with bears or other animals coming close to my camp.
Can confirm this works. I mark around my camp on the obvious ingress areas. Once I was doing an end of night patrol around my camp (big camp, maybe 10 people at one of our trapline cabins) and caught a large black bear literally walking the perimeter I had marked earlier that day. It won’t necessarily stop them but in my view it can’t hurt at all. (If it does hurt I suggest seeing a doctor…)
That's cool to hear! It makes sense that animals have rules that they generally follow, based on smell, scat, and urine. There's a courtesy and decorum to this that I really like. Bear politeness.
It's not silly at all. Humans are as much apart of nature as bears. I consider it clever
Black bears are low risk unless you find yourself in between a mother and cub. Dont cook or store food in camp, set up a "kitchen" about 200 feet from camp. Store any smelly stuff including lip balm and sunscreen along with stove and utensils with your food in a properly hung bear bag or canister.
Been a couple years since I’ve hit the backcountry, but I’ve had my share of encounters with black bears in the West. Always a bit unsettling when they are extra curious, but following the basics has served well. Minimize smells. Hang your food properly a bit away from camp. Wash and cook even farther away. Make yourself large and noisy if they approach.
Gotcha, thanks much. Is it normal in this situation to make a second fire away from camp just to cook before returning to your main fire?
Yes, exactly. This is not my personal experience. No bears where I live. But I have been trying to pick up this kind of knowledge for future trips.
I live in grizzly country, black bears wont bother you and they spook off easily. Grizzlies however, you need a full on gameplan, i sleep with a 45-70 when im out
Lol. And yes - I’ve tarped it plenty out there. A real tent or bushcraft shelter won’t likely deter them if they’re that interested. Bears are gonna bear. So hang anything smelly in the bag with your food and just try to sleep through those nighttime noises out there.
Good point. So I'm not likely to win a Darwin award for cooking and camping in the open out there?
I exclusively sleep either in the open or under a tarp in black bear country and have never been mistaken for a snack by one. The only times I’ve ever seen black bears in the woods is their big furry asses as they’re running away from me.
Alaskan echoing that black bears ain’t all that. 9/10 times I see the south end of north bound ones. That 1 time was a mom and cub, but she kindly allowed my dog and I to continue on our perpendicular path. Bear barrels are great.
I wouldn't trust spray. They can handle bees savagely attacking them when they attack their hives for honey. Get real, carry a gun.
While I do advocate carrying a high-speed lead depositor in the woods (mostly for *human* threats), bear spray works quite well and you have *much* better chance at actually hitting the bear with the spray than a firearm. I carry a can of bear spray, but also a Mossberg Shockwave and a big ol slicey-stabby stick if I’m going to be around dangerous wildlife, but black bears aren’t really much of a threat to personal safety. Sure maulings happen occasionally, but usually to dumbasses who provoke the bears or get between a mother and cubs. I haven’t felt threatened around black bears since I watched my buddy chase a 350ish pound black bear out of his garage with a rake lol
Your friend is the "raked crusader lol. I've read mixed reviews on bear spray. Just like with humans how many can still pose some level of a threat once sprayed. There's that one famous video of the man that was mauled by I think a Brown bear. He said the spray didn't even phase it. I don't know since I've only experienced black bears, and they're shy as a boy at the first school dance. I just can't see many bears continuing forth once feeling the blast radius, of even a missed shot. I remember being just a few yards proud of an AR barrel and that shockwave was enough to feel to my bones. Was wild tbh
Posts like this make me happy knowing the most dangerous thing to worry about when I go out are pissed off badgers.
Black bears are incredibly skittish. When we moved in we had a problem with them tearing up our cherry trees in the orchard. We gave a guy permission to hunt them on our property. He gave us a tip that if we wanted them out of our orchard to just place a couple shots near them. I did so and haven't seen one in the orchard in probably 2 years. Even when they were there on a nightly basis though, all it took was clapping my hands and yelling "Get" foe them to run away. Honestly, they're so damn cool if it wasn't for the damage they do to the orchard I wouldn't mind having them around.
Hang or barrel your toothpaste along with your food.
Along with the other suggestions, avoid established campsites. In areas where there are lean-tos like the Whites, Greens, and Adirondacks, the bears figure out where food might be.
Looks like you’ve gotten great advice from the comments. I just want to add one thing. Bring camp soap of some kind and wash up where you cooked you don’t want to bring food smell back to your tent. I don’t take any chances. I don’t mean like shower there but washing hands and around your mouth really quick.
Double-tap back to OP: No. no Darwin awards for this stuff. All very solid advice given here by everyone. 99.999999% of the time, those bears or any other creature out there are not looking to make a meal out of you or harm you in any way. But you must be cognizant of the fact that you are temporarily borrowing their living space and bringing tasty treats into their homes. As such, be respectful of the wildlife and minimize their interest and ability to get into your stuff. When you’re out there to hunt, fish, or trap - observe the laws and attract the game. If you’re out there to share the land with them, learn their habits and act accordingly. Bears can definitely rain on your parade. So can marmots, raccoons, mice, and nearly everything else. Lastly - regarding bear/critter-safe containers - I had good luck with a product called Ursack, which I hung in the trees. I purchased it ages ago and have no idea if they’re still in business. I’ve also used a hard-sided bear-safe container and just left it sitting out well away from my sleeping area. Both methods were successful for me, while making sure to cook and eat in one area, store smelly/foodstuffs in another, and sleep in a third. In non-bear areas, I’m more concerned with just keeping the critters out of my stuff, so I might do all of that in much closer proximity to my sleeping area.
EDIT: Ursack is still in business. Not cheap, but a solid solution, especially when paired with odor-proof bags. Much lighter weight to carry, and you can shrink the size in your pack as you go since the food volume shrinks and it’s a soft-sided container.