[Lead Dog]

I got to thinking about the subject of hanging your food. How many of you packslingers hang your food, use bear canisters, or just say #%&*^%$ it and sleep with it right next to you in your backpack in your tent? Just curious.

[Backpacker Joe]

Dont bring enough food to worry about it. I eat really basic.... Nope. TB

[kleet]

I always hang my food, though not because of bears...because of mice! I forget where it was but one place I packed in to the little rodents were smarter than I was. I strung a line between two trees and hung my food sack on the line. The meeces did a tighwire act that the Flying Wallendas would have been proud of and gnawed a hole in my food sack and left their calling cards everywhere. GRRRR!

[Slugman]

I use a bear cannister which I own on trips to the Cascades. In the Olympics, where bear wires make hanging easy, I use those. I am as much concerned with mice, etc. eating my food as I am with bears. Addendum: When I use a bear wire, I still put my food into a plastic cannister that originally held dishwasher powder. The handle makes hanging easy, the plastic is mouse-proof, and the container is waterproof. It weighs 3/4 pound, much lighter than the 2 3/4 pound bear cannister.

[Dustin Hoffman]

It's all about plastics. Take a piece of report-cover plastic, put a hole in the middle. String your line through the plastic. Mice crawling down the string step on the plastic... and... zoom!!! I hear it's hilarious to watch, but I've not witnessed it yet.

[Malachai Constant]

I always hang except in the Sierra where a canister is mandatory. By the coast the coons are much worse than bears once they even ate through a box of white wine Mice, voles, lemmings, and snafflehounds are everywhere.

[#19]

I learned early and the hard way. On one of my very first backpacking trips in N Idaho, I brought some gorp into the tent. I woke up screaming like the dude in the THE DEER HUNTER that gets tossed into a Russian roulette holding pen: "There's rats in here"! I came flying out of that tent. The little buggers chewed a hole in the mosquito netting and a silver dollar sized one in my buddies pack outside the tent.

[Backpacker Joe]

I bring freeze dried often. I don't eat much anyway. Some really dense bread. cheese, etc etc. Besides, the little buggers know that I'm armed! I've never had a problem with it, and I get out more than most. TB

[MCaver]

[Backpacker Joe]

Well then they must not like it with me, because Ive never had a porblem! Wise guy! TB

[salish]

Remember Farley Mowatt's book, "Never Cry Wolf"? Just eat the little suckers. Goes great with saltines & Kooteney beer. Four years ago on the south shore of Lake Isobel my buddy and I slept together in a one person tent - because we were attacked by hundreds - if not thousands of mice. It was one of the most amazing things I ever experienced, right out of nowhere, they came out like locust and attacked our packs and gear. After feeling the first mouse run across my face and through my hair we zipped up and weathered the storm. The din was amazing and in the morning our packs had been gone through and everything was shredded and strewn all over camp. Definitely a weird experience. Bear bagging: I'm usually lazy and just throw an old sleeping bag stuff sack containing the food over a limb 50' away and not get too elaborate about it. I have a hiking buddy who brings a mesh onion sack and puts his food in ziplocks, then into the mesh bag, then sinks the bag beneath the surface of a lake or stream, weighs it down with rocks and ties the rope to a rock on shore. He claims there is absolutely no scent this way. I've heard (over on TLB) about guys using 1 gallon aluminum paint cans (unused) as a bear cannister. I may try that one myself. Still another guy I know, a bowhunter, uses a camo fleece bag made with "scent block" material and sprays it with more bowhunter scent block spray, then hangs it in the normal fashion. He claims it hides not only the human scent but also the food scent.

[Slide Alder Slayer]

My Feather River Bear Bag has been a trusted trail companion hanging our trail food for the last five years. With fifty-six feet of strong cord (I had nothing better to do this morning than measure the length, and besides, my cat was toughly entertained) I have never had a problem putting a few stones in the pouch and swinging the line over a tall tree limb. I have added a small REI “toy” carabineer that makes it real easy to attach and remove the food bags, and from lightweight aluminum windscreen material I fashioned ninja mouse deterrent that fits between my line and the food. Having said all that, the number one reason I hang my food is to get the scent off the ground and away from where we camp. Above tree line I would use either a thick Tupperware container or Kevlar type bag (no bears expected) or a bear canister if bruins frequent the area. I also agree that small four legged creatures are far more trouble that bears, but it does depend on the area that you are in. Bears are smart! One story of a camper who tied his food over five feet out on a strong tree limb was astounded when the bear climbed the tree and chewed through the tree limb that the food hung from.

[pappy-]

Interesting stories Salish. I backpacked a couple times with a guy that would put his food under a big pile of rocks. I have burried my food in snow. Probably wouldn't keep a bear from it, but I don't think small animals would dig a foot down in snow??

[Dean]

I used to hang food (in the Sierras where it doesn't work anymore) but in the Cascades I use an Ursack. I've never had a critter be able to get into it (no bears have tried) but it gives me peace of mind. Ursack is running a sale on the model I use: http://www.ursack.com/

[Allison]

I only hang my food when there is a possibility of running into someone who might try to shove their interpretation of the Second Amendment down my throat whilst I am in the BC, which is to say, yes, I always hang my food, or at the very least, do a little 5th class bouldering to make it harder to get to if there are no trees but there are rocks.