Bears and canned food
WallStridr
This may be a really dumb question, but how can a bear know if you have
couple cans of food in the tent with you? Is there a food odor on the cans
themselves from the processing factory, or the store, or the cupboards at home,
or what? I was just filling the bear canister for the next trip and as I was
putting a couple of small cans of peaches and small cans of chicken in, this
thought hit me. It sure would be nice to have the extra room in there for trail
mix or whatever. Like I said, this might be a really dumb question, so toast me
if it is:-)
Roger
Dook of URLs
>how can a bear know if you have
>couple cans of food in the tent with you? Is there a food odor on the cans
>themselves from the processing factory, or the store, or the cupboards at home,
>or what? I was just filling the bear canister for the next trip and as I was
>putting a couple of small cans of peaches and small cans of chicken in, this
>thought hit me. It sure would be nice to have the extra room in there for trail
>mix or whatever.
Hey, Roger. I think it is either food smell on the outside of the can
and on the label, or more likely the appearance of the can.
On the latter point (actually, guess), bears have learned that bear
canisters are not a source of food no matter how good they might
smell, so they leave canisters alone. And they have learned that an
ice chest IS a source of food (even a never used one in NPS tests), so
will casually rip the door off your car to inspect one. Similarly with
cans.
I was thinking of suggesting that you test the theory by leaving one
inside the canister and one outside., but, that would almost certainly
result in a fed, then dead, bear. So, put your faith in science, and
jam those cans into you canister. BTW, for food which you will eat
with a day, you could open the can, dump the stuff into a zip top bag
(with minimum air), then chill it overnight. It should pack better
that way.
--Dook
Blaster
>
> Hi all,
> This may be a really dumb question, but how can a bear know if you have
> couple cans of food in the tent with you? Is there a food odor on the cans
> themselves from the processing factory, or the store, or the cupboards at home,
> or what? I was just filling the bear canister for the next trip and as I was
> putting a couple of small cans of peaches and small cans of chicken in, this
> thought hit me. It sure would be nice to have the extra room in there for trail
> if it is:-)
>
> Roger
Yea.. I gotta wonder... folks worry about food and cooking 'smells'
attracting bears. Then they lug around a trash bag (pack it in---pack
it out) filled with empty cans, MRE pouches, food scraps, loaded
diapers, ass wipes, wimin 'things' all over creation. The contents
fermenting in the hot sun and belching forth volumes of rich, ripe
vapours at every bounding step right into the puckering nostrils of a
bear behind the tree now in bear nirvana with eyes rolled back, blinking
and jaw quivering... They say they can smell this stuff for
miles---actually, what they mean is 10's or 100's of square miles!!!
And new to me... they are attracted to peppermint scent... like in
toothpaste... said a lady outdoors type on the radio. YO!!! HEY WAIT A
MINUTE!!! should I get rid of my Dr. Bonner's PEPPERMINT 18-in-1
PURE-CASTILE SOAP??? I guess that's gotta go in the bear cansister
too...
wr...@my-deja.com
shipment and handling. I also suspect that a few scent atoms migrate
through the steel walls enough for them to pick up.
In any event, if they ever spy a can they are going to crunch it open
just to see if there are treats inside. I've had them crunch open fuel
additive cans just to check them out.
walls...@aol.com (WallStridr) wrote:
> Hi all,
> This may be a really dumb question, but how can a bear know if you
have
> couple cans of food in the tent with you? Is there a food odor on the
cans
> themselves from the processing factory, or the store, or the cupboards
at home,
> or what? I was just filling the bear canister for the next trip and as
I was
> putting a couple of small cans of peaches and small cans of chicken
in, this
> thought hit me. It sure would be nice to have the extra room in there
for trail
> mix or whatever. Like I said, this might be a really dumb question, so
toast me
> if it is:-)
>
> Roger
>
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
Toad
cans hidden well away from campers. My brother in law took a couple of
small tuna cans and hid them under some rocks, in a hole, well away(100's of
yards) from our site. He forgot to put them in the hanging bags in our
pre-canister days. When he went to retrieve them the next morning, they had
been found and cleaned out. He was out a couple of days lunch. We were
amazed they were even found, he did an excellent job of hiding them.
Steve
Save a bear and your peace of mind use a canister
http://home.pacbell.net/grzldvt/bearcanintro1.html
"WallStridr" <walls...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000730154704...@ng-fh1.aol.com...
Bob Gross
specifically, Young Lakes. The leader had brought along a
six-pack of beer. Don't ask. He needed to chill it a little, so
he stuck it in the stream water. The bear came by in the evening,
fished the six-pack out of the water, and we watched it happen.
The bear punctured each can with his claws and tasted what leaked
out. I guess he did not like the brand, so he dropped it and
walked off. The six-pack was a loss, so we had to carry the
empties out. Personally, I almost never carry a can of anything
into the backcountry.
---Bob Gross---
Nels Hansen
sit on the roof of a neighbor campers station wagon, fish through a
Coleman cooler chest full of ice and pop, and very neatly hold pop cans
in his paws and bite the end and suck the pop down. The pop was the
only stuff in the cooler. He didn't miss a can!
------------------------------------------
Nels Hansen
in beautiful Central Oregon
------------------------------------------
"Bob Gross" <75013...@CompuServe.COM> wrote in message
news:8m2hhs$ott$1...@sshuraac-i-1.production.compuserve.com...
WallStridr
scent and found the cans that way? I buried a bunch of canned food a little way
out of Little Yosemite Valley last spring (wall food) then dug it up in the
fall.(we didn't do the wall) It had not been distrubed for the entire summer.
That brings to mind all the tuna oil, juice from canned fruit, exploding soda
cans that get all over the portaledge. Then it gets thrown in the trunk of the
car, the car is parked at various locations around the park but never gets
broken into by a bear. So is it scent or sight that we have to worry about
most? How about I Remove the lables, spray the cans with WD-40, (bears don't
like petrolum smells) put them in a zip-lok bag and bury them in a shallow hole
in my camp at Vidette lakes this week and we will see what happens.
mur...@gemstone.com
than sitting in your camp chair watching the sunset and sipping a
nice cold beer - but beers, er bears are not much of a problem in
most areas of the Pacific NW. To each his own, YMMV, etc. As long as
you can get out there.
Murray Z.
In article <8m2hhs$ott$1...@sshuraac-i-1.production.compuserve.com>,
Bob Gross <75013...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
> We backpacked to a standard backpack camp in Yosemite N.P.,
> specifically, Young Lakes. The leader had brought along a
> six-pack of beer. Don't ask. He needed to chill it a little, so
> he stuck it in the stream water. The bear came by in the evening,
> fished the six-pack out of the water, and we watched it happen.
> The bear punctured each can with his claws and tasted what leaked
> out. I guess he did not like the brand, so he dropped it and
> walked off. The six-pack was a loss, so we had to carry the
> empties out. Personally, I almost never carry a can of anything
> into the backcountry.
> ---Bob Gross---
>
Ralph Maughan
Bob Gross wrote:
> We backpacked to a standard backpack camp in Yosemite N.P.,
> specifically, Young Lakes. The leader had brought along a
> six-pack of beer. Don't ask. He needed to chill it a little, so
> he stuck it in the stream water. The bear came by in the evening,
> fished the six-pack out of the water, and we watched it happen.
> The bear punctured each can with his claws and tasted what leaked
> out. I guess he did not like the brand, so he dropped it and
> walked off. The six-pack was a loss, so we had to carry the
> empties out. Personally, I almost never carry a can of anything
> into the backcountry.
> ---Bob Gross---
My guess is that human food conditioned bears will bite into cans. Those
that have never seen cans cannot smell the food inside and will ignore
them.
ralph
Canister_man
the stuff. Still wouldn't keep it in a tent. I usually keep aspirin in the
tent, but it is pretty well buried in my boots with socks piled on top. If
the critter can find that he is welcome to it. I have never had a critter
try to come in, but a friend of mine did. He put on cherry flavored Lip
Balm before he climbed into his bag, not thinking. The bear poked a hole in
his tent with a paw. Talking about somebody going berserk....
So I don't know what the deal is sight, or smell, but I will not keep food
in the tent.
"WallStridr" <walls...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20000731114043...@ng-cn1.aol.com...
Pete Hickey
Bob Gross <75013...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
> The leader had brought along a
>six-pack of beer.
>I guess he did not like the brand, so he dropped it and
>walked off.
Don't leave us hanging, bob!!! What brand of beer was it??
-Pete
--
Pete Hickey | | WELLS Inc.
Communication Services | Pe...@mudhead.uottawa.CA | Makers of fine
University of Ottawa | | time machines
Ottawa,Ont. Canada K1N 6N5| (613) 562-5800x1008 | since 2003.
Bob Gross
>What - you carry bottles? What a man :^).
mean beer. Knowing the leader, I would guess some generic beer,
with the bare label, or it is beer label? Bears don't know what
is in a can, so they just open everything and hope they get
lucky.
I would never bring along anything as weight-ineffective as beer.
Possibly wine or high-proof rum or something. Never beer.
On a six-day X-C ski trip along the Sierra Crest this May, I was
surprised to see some large cans of Guiness show up. That is a
lot of weight!
---Bob Gross---
Bob Gross
>Why "don't ask"? I'm intriqued.
I told you not to ask.
It might be asked why a Sierra Club backpack trip leader was
carrying along a six-pack of beer for himself. If he had carried
along a bottle of wine to share, then nothing would have been
said. Or if he had mixed up a bucket of Tangeroos, then we might
have all enjoyed it. But he had six for himself until the bear
got the beer. I can hardly bear to tell it.
---Bob Gross---
Bruce W.1
will do the job. Their nose can pickup scents 200 times better than a
dog.
Cans pickup food fragrances from being around food, in the factory,
shipping, and the grocery store.
==============================================
Pete Hickey
Bob Gross <75013...@CompuServe.COM> wrote:
>On a six-day X-C ski trip along the Sierra Crest this May, I was
>surprised to see some large cans of Guiness show up. That is a
>lot of weight!
Sure is... Guiness is definately NOT a lite beer.
rick++
bears learn the shape of food containers such as cans,
coolers, RVs, etc. The thousand or so annual bear car breakins
in Yosemite Valley are often based on visual clues.
Glenn Stowe
Less that 300 cals per pint, and very little or no carbonation, so it
goes down as smooth as a beer flavored milkshake :) It just looks
nasty.
--
CubeWerx Inc. | "I would kill everyone in
Glenn Stowe - Senior Developer, | this room for a drop of
gst...@cubewerx.com www.cubewerx.com | sweet beer"
Ph:819-771-8303 x203 Fx:819-771-8388 | -- Homer J. Simpson
Gary S.
>Besides being "super noses",
>bears learn the shape of food containers such as cans,
>coolers, RVs, etc. The thousand or so annual bear car breakins
>in Yosemite Valley are often based on visual clues.
>
Bears can also detect human odor and associate human-handled
containers with food. As above, bears can also recognize bags from the
local grocery, and other potential food containers.
Don't forget, half the bears are smarter than the average bear.
Happy trails,
Gary
------------------------------------------------
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately... HDT
Gary D. Schwartz, Needham, MA, USA
Please reply to: garyDOTschwartzATpoboxDOTcom
dog
> On the contrary. Guiness is one of the lowest calorie beers out there.
> Less that 300 cals per pint, and very little or no carbonation, so it
> goes down as smooth as a beer flavored milkshake :) It just looks
> nasty.
What? Most Beer does not contain more than 300 calories per pint. So, how
can Guiness be one of the lowest? Are you being sarcastic? Guiness is
thick, chunky, good, and full of calories. I had always thought that it
had much more than 300, but if you say so.. that is still 3 times the
calories of most light beer (90-100). Regular American Lager is about 190.