pine_knot wrote on Apr 21^st, 2009 at 2:09pm:

Is it ridiculous to even think about keeping the food pack in the tent?

Yes.

Losing your food would be bad.  Losing your tent and risking serious injury or death would be worse, IMHO.  Bears aren't real good with zippers.  Can you really find that air-horn that fast out of a dead sleep anyway, presuming that it even works as you intend?  You probably won't know about the bear until your tent's been ripped wide open and he's standing on top of you (quite possibly literally right on top of you  :o).  I think that would be a poor way to test your system.

I do like the air-horn idea, though, as a scare tactic.  I just wouldn't want to put it to use in tight quarters.  No telling what sort of reaction it might provoke if you were within a bear's reach...and in a prone position to boot.