by Hal Lillywhite

Created on: March 07, 2009

Wild animals like to eat and they prefer easy meals. That is no surprise of course. The problem is that careless or ignorant humans can inadvertently provide those easy meals to them. This creates two problems:

First, the humans who provided the easy meal are likely to go hungry, and

Second, the animals who get those easy meals learn to associate humans with food so they will try to find food around camp sites, even camp sites of those who are not so careless.

For those reasons it is important for backpackers to keep their food away from animals. What is required to do this depends on where you are and how "educated" the local animals have become. Local rangers or other knowledgeable people can help you learn just how sophisticated the critters in the area are.

If you are in a true wilderness where the animals have not learned to associate people with food it will be sufficient to hang your food high enough that they cannot reach it (preferably 10 feet or more in bear country) and far enough away from trees that climbing critters cannot reach it from the tree. If the animals are really not used to humans as a source of food it may be enough to hang it from a long tree branch but if they have started to learn they will find a way to get it from that branch.

The next step up is to tie a cord between two trees and hang your food over that cord. For either this or the tree branch method you can either tie one end of the rope holding the food to another tree, or if the critters are more sophisticated, balance it with a rock or another sack of food, making sure it is higher than the animals can reach. Use a stick to reach up and move it to get it down or to equalize it so the animals can't reach it. The disadvantage of tying the food rope to a tree is that some animals have learned to chew it in two so your food falls and they eat it.

In some cases (notably in Yosemite), the bears have learned to climb the tree and chew the rope between the two trees, or to send baby bear up to do the job. Some of the Yosemite bears have Ph.D's in food stealing and there is essentially no way to hang food that they cannot defeat. If you are in such an area there are only two really effective ways to protect your food. The first is a "bear vault." These cost around $50 to $90 in the US and are big enough around that a bear cannot get them in his mouth so cannot bite through them. They have seals that require the manual dexterity of the human hand to open. The latest version has, so far, proved impossible for the critters to open (though some bears have figured out how to open the early models).

The second method depends on the availability of bear-proof storage sites placed in the area. Many popular areas provide these, essentially small closets with their supports covered with metal to make them impossible to climb. We can use ladders to get to them but be careful to remove the ladder when not in use.

Be careful also to never leave food in your tent or pack and to keep food odors away to animals aren't tempted. Even if the bear or raccoon doesn't get your food, you don't want it to destroy your tent or pack as it searches for what you have safely cached.

Don't depend on "odor-proof" containers to keep animals from smelling your food, many have learned to find them and open them. Also, don't think canned food is safe, a bear can bite right through a can.

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