Refrigerators, Iceboxes and Bears

[DMcCam]

Most of the older teardrop designs have permanently installed iceboxes and many of you have done the same with refrigerators. Both of these do not allow for removing them to a 'safe' bear box while camping in bear country. So far I haven't heard of any problems with bears regarding these installations but I wanted to be sure that I ask about it. I would love to hear from those who have done this or are planning to do so.

[jstrubberg]

Hmmm,

Wouldn't closing and locking the hatch be as effective as a bear box?

[GuitarPhotog]

Hmmm,

Wouldn't closing and locking the hatch be as effective as a bear box?

Not on my teardrop it wouldn't. A bear opened the door of a friend's BMW while we were hiking one time. He just ripped the door open by brute force. My aluminum teardrop would be no challenge to that kind of power.

I put my cooler, and all my food, and everything that smells like food, in a bear box whenever necessary.

<Chas>

[bobhenry]

Exerpt fron the California fish and game........

The longer a bear remains in the vicinity of your home or campsite, the more likely a conflict will occur. Try to prevent a conflict by removing or deterring access to attractants (e.g., food, poultry and small livestock, fruits and melons, pet food, etc.). First, clean up residual trash, food, greasy barbecues and anything else causing odors that might tempt a bear. Use basic deterrents, including dogs, radios, house and porch lights (activate lights with motion detectors), moth balls or bowls of ammonia placed outside at doors and windows. Electric fences can be installed around chicken coups, beehives, livestock pens, melon patches and fruit orchards. Always properly secure and store food, including pet and livestock food, e.g., grains. If you have a horse, manure should be frequently cleaned up as bears are known to eat the manure for the residual grain. If you have a cabin in the mountains and it is unoccupied at any time of year, remove all food and trash, clean food preparation areas and leave refrigerator and cabinet doors and drawers open.

While camping, keep your campsite and personal articles as clean as possible. Store food in "bear proof" containers or storage lockers when possible. If "bear proof" containers are not available, clean and seal food storage containers and place in the most secure or inaccessible location practical. Take care to disguise the shape of the container if it looks like an ice chest! Do not leave food in your car at a trail head.

All we have are raccoons thank God ! I have proven to myself that they DO NOT like mothballs.

and yes they know what a cooler looks like and what might be in it :lol:

[Martiangod]

at seasonal camp, the owner dowses the garbage bins with bleach solution This keeps the bears away.
If you kept a spray bottle of bleach solution, would sraying down counters, garbage and such keep them away?

[droid_ca]

just don't want this to happen

might turn your Fruit-O-looms into a fudge factory

[Martiangod]

A customer told of a story of trip through Alaska, pulled off the road on somewhere to sleep for the night in his class C in the middle of nowhere.
Middle of night smashing glass, hit light, Bear commin in the window ,

Jumped out of bed in skivey's, started motorhome and floored it, bear fell out, good thing left keys in ignition,
Don't know if truth in it or he was BS'n, But ya never know

[DMcCam]

Trust me guys, I've done my share of camping in the High Sierra and am very good about keeping a clean campsite. We've been tent camping for 30 plus years now with not an issue. What I'm asking for is what do those of you who have the refrigerators and iceboxes permanently installed in their teardrops do in these cases. Do you take all your food out of them at night and put everything in a cooler then into the bear box? Do you just close the hatch and call it good. Do you even think it's an issue? I've heard about using bleach solution, is it effective in this case?

I'm looking at installing an icebox in my teardrop and want to know what others do.

Cheers,

Dave

[mike_c]

I can't really offer advice except to mention what I'm planning (as my build is still in progress). When tent camping-- as you've already noted-- it's really important to conceal and lock food up at night, i.e. in a bear box or at the very least, inside a closed vehicle. I know, everyone has horror stories about bears ripping the doors off of station wagons, but when your choices are limited, thems your choices. We mostly don't visit grizzly country very often, so it's black bears that are the big problem.

Anyway, we're going to continue that same tradition with the teardrop. We're going to use a cooler rather than a built-in because it's easy to relocate (and replace!). We'll lock the cooler in the tow vehicle at night, just as we do now, as well as any loose food (e.g. un-canned). Sure, the galley kind of LOOKS like a kitchen, but in bear country you need to think like a hungry mama bear, not like a house wife (no disparagement of housewives intended, of course). But with the hatch open, it's no more secure than leaving food on a picnic table or on the ground, and with the hatch closed, the bear need only tear a big gaping hole in your painstakingly built new toy in order to get at the food, and 1/8 in luan isn't even going to give a bear pause.

BTW, we use air tight screw lid "Critter Keeper" pet food containers to hold garbage (which also spends the night in the truck) and I'm thinking about sizing my galley storage to fit a couple of those for food storage. Easy to lift out and stack inside the truck at night, and difficult to get into otherwise without opposable thumbs!

--Mike C.

[Shadow Catcher]

This theme actually bears on one of my concerns in camping near Yosemite (pun intended). We have a Waeco refrigerator which must be plugged in to 12V or 120AC, It rides in the back of the Subaru and is plugged into a line I ran from the battery I can also run an extension from the battery in the tongue box. I suppose I could run an extension cord over to a bear box.
I will be making a Reflectix insulation jacket for the refrigerator which will hopefully make it look a bit less like a cooler.

[mikeschn]

If all you have in your fridge is lettuce, tomatoes, green peas, onions, chick peas, would a bear break in for that?

Mike...

[Martiangod]

If all you have in your fridge is lettuce, tomatoes, green peas, onions, chick peas, would a bear break in for that?

Mike...

No beer???

[mikeschn]

If all you have in your fridge is lettuce, tomatoes, green peas, onions, chick peas, would a bear break in for that?

Mike...

No beer???

Oh, you didn't ask about the beer cooler... chock full of the good stuff!!! Mostly green bottles!

Mike...

[Ratkity]

The rangers in Shenandoah told me that it doesn't matter if the cooler is empty or not, the bears know them on sight and will cause havoc in a campsite. The rangers told me to put empty coolers in your vehicle. BTW, no grizzlies in Shenandoah, just black bears.

I've always emptied trash before bed and kept food in the car. My Little Guy RT doesn't have a hatch or galley. Never had a problem, even with leaving the stove outside on the picnic table (it's clean-ish, but I'm sure there are smells on it).

Hugs,
Ratkity

[wagondude]

Mike, to answer your question, bears are omnivourous (they will eat anything we will eat and then some). If they can smell it, they will get it and they are very smart. The reason for the lockers is that the bears figured out what all those bags hanging in the trees were. For a while, people used dummy bags tied up with white rope as a decoy while the real bag was hung with black rope (bears have poor eyesight and folks thought they would follow the more visible rope). This practice worked for a while, but bears follow their noses and soon figured out where the food was anyway. It bothers me that Boy Scouts still uses this practice at Philmont Scout Ranch. They have had in increase in bear encounters there recently(some with injuries). There is no such thing as a bear proof camper (unless it was an APC in its earlier life).

Bill