My feeling is that if you don't hang your food pack, and hang it high, it will get eaten if a bear comes into your camp. I have had several food pack experiences with bears, and the best you can hope for when they get into your stuff is that they leave some for you when they are done.
We use a rope between two tall trees and hang the packs using a pulley or block and tackle from the middle of that rope. It has to be 12 feet high and 12 feet from the nearest trees, otherwise those bears will get it. If you go over a branch they will get onto your pack and knock it down and carry it off, or break the branch. Well maybe if it was over a branch 40 feet in the air, but with very heavy food packs you won't find a suitable branch for the job.
I have had bears in my campsites many times on the south shore of Knife Lake, but they have never gotten into our food when hung with the 2 rope method.

I have been interested in a bearproof container until a bear picked up and carried off our full food pack we left on the ground while out for a brief fishing foray. It was carried a quarter mile into the woods where he had a leisurely lunch. We got most of our food back, but not without a serious confrontation. He had it and wanted to keep it, we needed it because we were 4-5 days into the sticks with nothing but a couple lakers. My point being, a bear could grab those bearproof packs by the straps and haul it into the woods where it would surely get into it in a couple hours. It is one thing to go looking for your food pack in the middle of the day, like we had to do, but nobody is going to go looking for it in the middle of the night.
Hang 'em, and hang 'em high. Bring plenty of rope and a pulley, and you won't have a problem. If there isn't an appropriate place to string your packs up, then you need to move on to a campsite where there is. I've had to go home early because a bear got into my food pack before, and it was not a happy experience. Fortunately they don't like coffee, so at least we had a hot cup of mud before setting out for home.

Posted by Dwight on April 18, 2002 at 22:38
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