Cooking in Tent : Bear country

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Hi All,

Where are you cooking when you've packed a camp into grizzly country?

Many guys talk about a cook area inside their canvas tents, but kind of goes against what I've always done with my food/cooking when backpack hunting. Maybe they're not in griz areas...

I know some guys in dense bear country in the Absarokas who didn't worry about their cook tent, but they always had dogs around, which we won't have.

Thanks,

s

 

[GunsAreFun]

No personal experience but I’ll probably be in this situation in a year or two and am strongly considering a portable electric fence.

 

[MTSasquatch]

Always advisable to store, prep, and consume food and other attractants in a spot where you’re not sleeping or hanging out. It may seem like an inconvenience, but if you got mauled because of it I’d bet you’d wished you had.

I deal with numerous bear issues every year because of how food and camps are done by folks for both black and grizzly bears.

If doing all that in your tent, at least keep it clean. Most guys my way will erect bear electric fences around their tents if they’ve packed in with stock. Always eye opening to see how many grizzlies come right up and investigate tents up here once we get snow that shows tracks.

If backpacking, I’d store, prep, and eat food and other attractants away from and downwind from my camp.

Keep in mind, just about all public land in the lower 48 where you can hunt and there’s grizzlies will have a food storage requirement dictating how you must deal with some of this, including food, trash, and attractants. Give those a look for your area if it applies.

Hope that helps.

 

[Pony Soldier]

We always had a cook tent seperate from the sleeping tent. Garbage was always burned in the stoves and used hard panniers for can goods and bread and the like. Meat and perishables were hoisted out of reach. Never had an electric fence ( nice thought) but alloted a differant tree or trees for everyone in camp to pee on giving a scent coverage for camp. It has bought us safety so far but we don't have a lot of bears. It has kept the kittys at bay.

 

[GunsAreFun]

Always advisable to store, prep, and consume food and other attractants in a spot where you’re not sleeping or hanging out. It may seem like an inconvenience, but if you got mauled because of it I’d bet you’d wished you had.

I deal with numerous bear issues every year because of how food and camps are done by folks for both black and grizzly bears.

If doing all that in your tent, at least keep it clean. Most guys my way will erect bear electric fences around their tents if they’ve packed in with stock. Always eye opening to see how many grizzlies come right up and investigate tents up here once we get snow that shows tracks.

If backpacking, I’d store, prep, and eat food and other attractants away from and downwind from my camp.

Keep in mind, just about all public land in the lower 48 where you can hunt and there’s grizzlies will have a food storage requirement dictating how you must deal with some of this, including food, trash, and attractants. Give those a look for your area if it applies.

Hope that helps.

Have the electric fences been effective? Would be especially curious if you have seen tracks leading up to them to prove that they deterred the bear.

 

[Bull_n_heat]

Agreed on all thoughts here. Definitely plan to hang your food and/or meat a good ways from camp, and generally avoid cooking and eating in the same tent you're sleeping in. I've used electric fences to keep stock in but never used one around my tent. The fence is never going to protect you from otherwise being stupid/careless with the recommendations above, but it might deter a bear that we just checking out your camp. Got to be a lot better than nothing and the shock would definitely transmit to the bear (it doesn't shock hollow haired critters like pronghorn).

A last idea is to generally make some noise around camp when going to food/meat caches and when you can't see well. You want to at least avoid surprising a bear. If you are away from camp, some folks think noise helps deter critters... I believe Beau Baty has suggested carrying a little battery powered radio for when he is away from camp.

 

[lifeisgoodsteve]

Thanks guys. Just basic bear principles for the backcountry, like I’ve always been doing backpacking.

Looking at sizing a canvas tent this year and guys always talk about space for sleeping on one end then a small cooking area by entrance, which got me thinking about bears. Suppose they’re not in griz country.

They aren’t thick where I’m at but are slowly moving into the area, so I always practice bear safe camp principles.

Won’t plan for a cook area in the tent, just option to store gear if wet out.

 

[Vadimbrutskiy]

Fallowing

 

[t_carlson]

I have a theory:

If the tent is significantly bigger than the bear, then you're ok. What I mean is, I've never heard of anyone getting ripped out of a large tent and killed. Its always the smaller backpacking tents. Will bears approach big tents? Yes. Will they attack? Not that I've ever heard of.

So, I don't worry about it in big tents. So far, I'm proving my own theory correct, but that could change. Its part of the fun of proving scientific hypotheses.

 

[LFC911]

I have a theory:

If the tent is significantly bigger than the bear, then you're ok. What I mean is, I've never heard of anyone getting ripped out of a large tent and killed. Its always the smaller backpacking tents. Will bears approach big tents? Yes. Will they attack? Not that I've ever heard of.

So, I don't worry about it in big tents. So far, I'm proving my own theory correct, but that could change. Its part of the fun of proving scientific hypotheses.

So if we don't hear from you in Dec, it is a null hypothesis?

 

[t_carlson]

So if we don't hear from you in Dec, it is a null hypothesis?

Yes. Assume I was "Treadwelled" and adjust the hypothesis accordingly.

 

[long hunter]

No experience with ole Hiram but a bit with the blackies, separate cooking area and a clean camp, we also use the different tree for each person in camp as a pee post and a electric bear fence make sure with the electric fence in gets run close to the new guys tree in camp always nice to add a vocal deterrant.