Contemplating a backpack trip in northern New Mexico or southern Colorado. Sange de Cristos. It has been a while since I have done that. I have read about the various techniques for bear proofing your food and hanging it in a tree, one such method being the PCT. How do the pros do it? Thanks in advance.

Hey, saw the question and will come back to it when I have a real keyboard.

Ursus, is this the way we do it at the ranch?

Easy to do, I think I have some pics of mine in the valle vidal on my computer.

Methodology up in the Valle, yes, how we did it on the ranch, no.

To some extent you have to study up on what the local bears have figured out. Try Philmont's bear cable system, or a standard counter balance system at the Yosemite area, and the bears will love you. Either method is susceptible to kamakazee (sp?). The cubs/yearlings will literally get a little higher on the tree than the bags, launch themselves off the tree, and catch the bag as best they can on the way by. For years at Phimont, it was common to tie off both ends of the bear rope to basically the same tree. One summer a sow in the Ponil area discovered it was really easy to chew through all the ropes tied to one tree. By the end of the summer, several bears had picked up this little trick. Those bears were removed, and started tying off to 2 trees, and the problem went away.

Throughout Colorado and NM, the bears aren't as inclined to spend a lot of time problem solving (compared to their California buddies). Drop a line over a limb, keep the bag 6 feet off the trunk, at least 3 feet below the limb, and you will be fine. Old school counter balancing still works pretty well in the area. The method Pro Sandy is hunting for pictures of is pretty easy to do, and I tend to recommend.

doesn't get much more pro than this






seriously though, the method I think Sandy is looking for a picture of goes something like this:

1) find suitable trees - branches sturdy enough to hold your bags, far enough apart that he/she can't climb the tree and reach out, hich enough they can't reach it from the ground, etc.

2) attach bag(s) to middle of rope. I use a larkshead (make an alien, punch him in the face, and pull out his guts) but as long as it is secure you should be good to go.

3) throw one end of rope over a branch on one tree and the other end over a branch on the 2nd tree.

4) pull up bag(s) and tie off to two different trees (if available).

a more bearproof way is to use two ropes and tie the ends to 4 different trees but that's too much rope to carry if you're not in a big group imho.


I have also lowered bags off cliffs, used bear canisters, used the bear bags as pillows...but the method described above is quick and easy and studies have shown that 60% of the time it works, every time.

EDIT: is that the valle method ya'll are talking about (more or less)?

[This message has been edited by ccard257 (edited 6/29/2011 5:21p).]

Yeah, I never used cables and never let my rowdies use them

Yeah, I never used cables and never let my rowdies use them

It was always interesting watching folks figure things out on the south side of Urraca.

Card, I like the ingenuity. Looks like a teasing fishing pole.

Another product that I have seen work pretty well is the Ursack. It is a bear resistant bag that can be hung, anchored to deadfall, or left alone (not my preference). If used correctly, it's worked pretty good with black bears. I don't think I would use it in grizzly country. It is also significantly lighter than the canisters.---I should add it's not approved in all areas (like in Yosemite).

[This message has been edited by ursusguy (edited 6/29/2011 10:13p).]

Looks good Sandy. Thanks for the replies.

How about this idea? Pitch a food tent about 75 yards from your sleeping area, place a transistor radio in it and tune to a Chicago station (easy to pick up at 12000 feet I have discovered), pee around the tent, then go to bed in your sleeping tent 75 yards away. OK, go ahead and laugh, I deserve it. Seriously though, any merit to this in Black Bear country?
I once cranked the volume three times on my radio at about 0400 when a black was outside rummaging around, and he/she went away. It worked on coyotes/wolves also.

Any comments on above?

I don't know if that would work or not, but an extra tent and a radio is a hell of a lot more to carry than a small rope. If you really don't want to hang food, you could get a bear canister.

Oops, sorry I missed the followup.

Yeah, I'm not sure about the carrying an extra tent and a radio just for shear weight aspect. I would be leery though of the technique. The curiosity of the smell may overpower the avoidance of the radio. I can see the theory behind it, but I wouldn't want to risk them getting a reward out of the matter.

Oh, and most could really care less about peeing around a tent.

ccard, how do the cannisters work? Are they just indestructablle and you leave them out, or do they prevent odor escape, or both? Prob dumb questions, but they are new to me.

Yes, they are very bear resistant. Overall they work really well, just keep in mind they like to use them as soccer balls occasionally.

You want to minimize smell, but honestly, they are going to smell it anyway.

Understand about the smell. I know that you are never supposed to have food in your tent, but I also know that on a backpack trip it is just about impossible to not have some food smell on you.

Somethings that I never did until ursus taught me was only having my sleeping bag in the tent and wearing sleep clothes. Normally I either had my pack in the tent with me or at least the clothes I had been wearing.

So those are things you can do to minimize the smell in your tent.

To go with what Pro Sandy said, of the 6 bear attack incidents I worked (at Philmont, I've worked others too) 3 had wearing the day clothes as a major factor. One kid literally had a food stained shirt wrapped up as a pillow (thought washing the shirt off was enough) by his arm. He was extremely lucky his tentmate was able to fight the bear off. The bear (about a 120 lbs male) had drug him about 12 feet from the tent. By the time the tentmate could go to town on the bear, the kid already had 16 puncture wounds that were bone deep. There was a whole mix of problems, but ultimately I could still smell the big hot chocolate stain on his shirt/pillow.

This is one of the reasons bear attack stories in the media tend to annoy me. I want to know the contributing factors. Especially with black bear attacks, they are rarely completely random. Something attacted them to the area (some food source, tempting smells etc.), and once there the victim usually makes themselves stick out in some manner (usually campsite setup, but they some times smell way too good). Without knowing any other details, in a campsite attack, looking at a stick diagram I can probably guess where the attack took place.

As usual, the best board by far. Thank you for all the great replies. When you have not bathed for a while you obviously cannot help but smell a little including the food you have prepared and eaten. I guess the idea is to try not to smell any more than absolutely necessary.

Where are the bear cannisters not allowed if so?