Where do you store your food, Is it safe to store it in the car?
- Thread starter theoutbackdream
- Start date
Influencer II
I was just thinking about this, clearly beat me to it ! haha,
I tend to have canned items and boil in bag rice - that usually suits me,
Anything else would depend on where I'm going and how long I'm going for - whether i can get any "fresh" food nearby (cant hunt over here like you can in USA)
I dont have a electric chiller yet but that would be the sensible thing especially if you have raw meats which go off with prolonged heat.. like fish or chicken
Besides.. Everyone loves a bit of Steak right?!
I tend to have canned items and boil in bag rice - that usually suits me,
Anything else would depend on where I'm going and how long I'm going for - whether i can get any "fresh" food nearby (cant hunt over here like you can in USA)
I dont have a electric chiller yet but that would be the sensible thing especially if you have raw meats which go off with prolonged heat.. like fish or chicken
Besides.. Everyone loves a bit of Steak right?!
Best place is to store in the car/truck and camp away from the car. If hiking, use a bear container throw it up a tree, away from your sleeping area. Do not store food under or in RTT's. People are misinformation that RTT protect you from animals. Yea maybe deer. Racoons, Cats, Bears, will climb into a RTT.
Here is a great video on learning how to deal with bears.
Here is a great video on learning how to deal with bears.
Here is a quick note you may use in any area with wildlife bears etc during camp setup if you own a Trasharoo you have the ability to rope it up into a tall tree away from the trunk of the tree it's straps are heavy duty , pack a length of rope 25 or so feet in length a couple carabiners and a pulley that will fit the rope pack these inside the Trasharoo they fit. A backpack will suffice if not available. Simply raise it over About 8 ft and it's safe. There are a couple vendors who handle them on this forum or PM me and I'll lead you in, I'm not in it for profit. Your chances of bears accessing the RTT are slim. But don't store even candy inside none the less.
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Advocate III
We camp with our Black Lab. She sleeps in the tent with us. We've had a couple Black Bears near our camp and she gave a good growl and bark. The bears stayed away and she gave us warning they were near. Without the dog we never would have known how close the bears were. I think dogs can be helpful. They give me an alert if a bear is around and I can do what I need to deter the bear from camp. It's very important to know what type of bears you are dealing with. Black Bears don't care much for confrontation and will usually avoid dogs and you. Grizzly Bears are a different breed altogether. I'd be much more cautious of having my dog in Grizzly country.
So we really like having our dog with us. Dogs do present certain considerations though. A dog has the potential to chase after the bear, but then retreat if the bear attacks. This could bring a charging bear right into your camp if your dog retreats back to you. So you definitely want to keep your dog restrained. If not, she could get hurt and it could bring more trouble than you would have had otherwise.
Member III
Currently I keep my food in the cab if the truck. And I sleep in the back. I've had issues with bears.... But they always go for my tent, which has non food related items in it. Clothing, folding chair, clean pots and pans, hatchet, etc. Now that I have my trailer. Such things will go in there. Tired of replacing tents lol.
Advocate III
In areas of heavy use (designated campsites or national parks) bears have learned to look for food in certain locations. The number of uneducated people who still leave food in their tent is high. So bears still check even if they can't smell the food. Like that guy that always looks at the bottom of the slot machine to see if someone forgot their chips. They will look in cars for coolers and other obvious signs of food. That's why bear lockers are so effective in designated campsites. The idea is to retrain bears to think that designated campsites are no longer food caches. When you're away from these areas, bears don't really know what to look for. That's why keeping heavily scented food secured is your best option. I like the idea of storing your trash in a tree. In heavy-use areas, bears have learned to defeat food-hanging systems, but it's still better than not taking any measures. We camp in a trailer, which means everything we camp with is right under our bed. So we have to be extra careful. And I'd prefer the bear get to the Trasharoo in the tree than mess with my camp.
Member III
Very true, lots of bad campers out there. Luckily I only have black bears to deal with so it's not too bad
Advocate III
Advocate III
I have seen and had encounters with many, many black bears. Recently, We were In Sequoia and had one with cubs cruise right past our tent. They were feeding on berries and paid no attention to our camp. I credit this to the significant efforts of the park managers to educate people and promote safe practices. At least this bear has come to realize camps are a wasted effort and is teaching her cubs to look for natural food sources. They were literally two feet from our tent but paid us no attention. People’ fear of bears is really quite unwarranted. People who get hurt or have a bad experience have usually made a careless or unwitting mistake somewhere in the interaction. Education is key.
Enthusiast III
I typically keep my cooler in the cab. I also keep my trash in there as well. Knock on wood but I haven't had any bear issues here in CA but I think the bears are pretty timid around here.
Member III
aren't really any bad human interactions here, none on record anyway. Last summer I had one curious about my truck and was shaking it a bit, but the second it realized I was inside (just woken up and saw a bear peeking in the window) it took off faster than I could say "hey".
I realized my truck is what was attracting it. The car wash I had used prior to the trip had cherry scented soap! Lesson learned!
It really depends as to where you are. In Baja my coolers stay in my kitchen. All the other food stays in action packers locked up. There is a big problem with mice and rats.
I have lots of bear stories having seen people thinking a car is bear proof. in the 90s the bears were opening miny vans in mineral king because they all food in them. I tend to sleep light and have bear spray and lights.I am very proactive when bears come around. In Grizzly country no idea.
I have lots of bear stories having seen people thinking a car is bear proof. in the 90s the bears were opening miny vans in mineral king because they all food in them. I tend to sleep light and have bear spray and lights.I am very proactive when bears come around. In Grizzly country no idea.
Advocate III
Negative bear encounters usually occur in areas where bears have become very accustomed to humans; National Parks, heavily-used designated campgrounds, etc. The other negative encounters often are with hikers who startle bears on hiking trails. Bears are curious animals. So keeping clean camp and letting them know you are there is key.
Advocate III
This is a good idea. I like the idea of hanging trash in the tree. You video expired so here's a easy description of a pulley system:
Attachments
We abandon this in the 90s when the bears figured out they broke the rope and it all came down. The next idea was to run a rope between 2 trees about 20ft aparts and hung the food with a counter weight, we use a stick to lower one side and lower the other.
Advocate III
This probably is a better method, but from what I've seen, it's much harder to do right. Last time we went backpacking I watched a couple guys spend two hours trying to use this method. They didn't have hard sided containers. In the end their food was in a small stuff sack hanging about 7 feet off the ground. It was pretty sad. But their food was there in the morning. I was kind of surprised. In heavily used areas bears have figured out how to defeat any and all hanging systems. Which is why if you go venturing into those areas, you must have a hard sided container. Food hanging is not allowed. In more remote areas, where bears are not used to people, I think you're much safer. When we go backpacking, I have a hard sided container for food, but hang my trash.
But for people coming to this forum, backpacker solutions are not very realistic. If you are car camping in heavily used areas, then hopefully they have bear boxes installed. if not, it's important to just do the best you can. We have a trailer and all our food is in the trailer. We also sleep on top of that trailer. So food storage is an issue. It's not practical to hang a 12v fridge with a power pack attached. Not gonna happen. So your best option is to keep a very clean camp and secure your food as best you can, and not have any coolers or other items visible. Hanging trash is a decent idea because trash is usually much more heavily scented and harder to secure. So hanging solves that problem. And if the bears get to your trash, all they really do is give you a mess to clean up. If we were going to stay in an area of heavy bear activity and hanging food wasn't an option, I'll bring a bear canister and put my trash in that far away from my camp. Sort of a decoy or red herring method.
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Enthusiast I
Perishables in the refrigerator, dry goods inside the vehicle in storage area. We haven;t had any problems, however in some places it's important to avoid leaving the door(s) open and unattended - baboons are very smart and work in teams. Haven;t had any problems with bears, however we haven't been travelling much in bear country. Our last bear encounters while eating were in British Columbia, and we knew that it was a time when they would be interested in food (waking up after winter) so we kept an eye out and decamped into the vehicle when bears arrived. The only animals which would worry me in terms of being capable and interested in breaking into the vehicle are bears and elephant. In fact we're a lot more concerned about insects and rodents than big animals.
