Trail pilot, a bearproof container or hanging from a tree works best and I think we can all agree that inside a vehicle is not bearproof. The issue becomes how much food did you bring and can you fit it in a bearproof container or a hang. What ever do not put it in your tent with you either! This "food" also includes such things as chapstick and deodorant that bears smell and might think, Umm, that smells TASTEY!
Bears climb trees... and bears can take stuff out of trees... Speaking form personal experience here... I’m more worried about little critters like Chipmunks and squirrels getting into my foods than I am of bears getting in while dispersed camping. Why? Bears don’t like change... they are curious creatures by nature, but they hate change. Something new shows up in their area and they move in and watch from a distance...
Case in point. I was 12 or 13. My best friend went on a hike up the mountain from my house (about a 5 mile trek in without any trails) and found a beautiful meadow filled with huckleberries... we ate berries until we became lazy and fell a sleep. We woke up with a momma bear on one side of us about 300 yards away at the edge of the meadow. She was watching us sleep wile her two Cubs played another 100 yards away from us. We were directly between Momma and Cubs, the worst place to ever be.
I gently woke my friend and motioned for him to lay still and pointed to the Cubs and then to momma.
We laid there another 15-20 minutes watching the Cubs wrestling before we got uncomfortable. When one of us started to move, momma made a huff and pawed at the ground... then the Cubs took of running to the forest by momma. After the Cubs disappeared into the vegetation, momma slowly walked back into the woods.
We quickly got up and put out packs on in silence and without a word we fallowed the bears. We saw momma 2 more times as she would circle around to check on us to make sure we were just minding our own business.
Second Case in point... we own a cab in about 2 miles as the crow flies from where that bear and her Cubs had been foraging. One spring when getting the cabin ready for the season of use later that year, we found the cabin door about 50 yards down the road from the cabin. The 4 mattresses were torn and shredded and scattered all around the exterior of the cabin. Bear claw marks were all over the walls and huge dents in the steel door to the root cellar. Now there wasn’t any food in the cabin... but since other cabins in the area used to be stocked with emergency rations for lost hunters the bear was hoping we had left food as well.
I’ve seen bears lots of times while dispersed camping but every single time they just look on from a great distance and move on... especially after the fire is lit. Never once have I had them come into my camp.
However while camping in a campground I have had my rig tossed, my bear can ripped from 60’ up in a tree, and my tent torn to shreds.
Now my biggest question from this thread is... how is leaving a cooler in your rig or even in your camp a violation of LNT? If in the event an animal gets into my food (bear or otherwise) I pick the mess up and go about my business... if nothing happens, I’m still not going to leave my cooler behind. I guess I leave a trace no matter where I go because I always seam to be bringing back more than I took with me.
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