Refrigerators, Iceboxes and Bears

[mechmagcn]

There is no such thing as a bear proof camper

Bill

Well if said bear can hang onto my aluminum skinned trailer long enough with the electric fence charger plugged into the inverter, I guess he can have everything in my galley.

[Mukilteo]

Yep. Have had to repair fence the bulls just pushed right thru.
Other times they were fighting and crashed right thru it not even noticing it.

[S. Heisley]

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

The ranger will tell you that bears will even go after soap and lotions. If it smells, enclose it tightly and lock it up. I've even had a bear come up to my tent and smell my dirty clothes!

[Martiangod]

Expensive coolers, but your scrambled eggs will be ready for the pan when you get up in the morning.
One thing I read, caught my attention, don't keep the cloths you cook in in or near your tent or trailer....Hmmm

[kirkman]

Here you go! If you want to leave you food in your tear and you are in Bear country this is what we used in alaska.
http://www.electrobearguard.com/index.html

[doug hodder]

Last summer at a camp out....I put out cups of ammonia all around our camp site every night, Kevin George and I. I slept with the door partially open...and George actually forgot and left food in his truck with the windows down. The bear (black) hit Steve's and Dan's site, cleaned out a cooler and broke a window on Dan's truck cap. Steve was camped close, Dan was on the other end of the camp area so the bear did some traveling in the campsites. They had no ammonia out. Does it work? I dunno...seemed to work for me. Since they rely so much on smell, it seems logical to put out something that doesn't smell so great. Just my experience. A gallon of ammonia is cheap insurance. Doug

[DragonFire]

someone looking to buy my Aristocrat told me about a product called 'Nite Guard'..it's supposedly a flashing light that will deter critters, including bears, from visiting you if easier pickings are found elsewhere. I have not checked into it YET. Phone # for the company is 8-800-238-6647. Just happened to have it on my desk in front of me..it's something I've been planning on checking into..along with ammonia and mothballs.

I'm just thrilled to death that I read this right before bed. I know I'm missing out, but I so far have refused to visit Yellowstone due to bears. I just can't quite get over it. And in Tahoe we had bears go through our camp..food locked up in a National Guard Trailer, but I think we still had 3 huge coolers out. No problems, but scared folks plenty..this was at a scooter rally we hosted a few years back.

I'm going to try it all...just suspenders and a belt...and hope to all heck that it works!! Keep the ideas coming and report back if you have found some other good stuff to add to the bear repellant arsenal!!

[DragonFire]

http://www.niteguard.com/

Hope someone has a positive review of this product!!

[Shadow Catcher]

The prospect of a red blinking light all night Just might be annoying to tent campers. If you want them it might be advisable to buy blinking LED bicycle tail lights. I can see something like this that is motion activated as I think bears will eventually become conditioned to ignore them.

[SteveW]

I wonder if bears like citronella or not. If not, you could just put some citronella oil on top of your cooler in hopes that it would mask the smell of the goodies inside. Or put a couple vials outside the rear hatch of the galley.

[SteveW]

BTW, this thread had me up surfing various websites and watching bear attack/deterrent videos until 4 in the morning. Thanks, OP.

[Martiangod]

BTW, this thread had me up surfing various websites and watching bear attack/deterrent videos until 4 in the morning. Thanks, OP.

Funny how that happens...lol

[SteveW]

I wonder if bears like citronella or not. If not, you could just put some citronella oil on top of your cooler in hopes that it would mask the smell of the goodies inside. Or put a couple vials outside the rear hatch of the galley.

Okay, I was curious and did some (more) reading online. Definitely NOT a good idea to try and use citronella to ward off bears. Apparently they are pretty strongly attracted to it!

[DragonFire]

I'm planning on moth balls and ammonia for sure...still checking onto the flashing light thing for certain situations...it would be a good 'people deterrent' as well..several of the reviews from suburban folks said the neighbors and others thought it was a security device..so if it won't chase bears it might just help keep river rats away from the garage....

Good to know about citronella. Something to leave at home when I'm traveling to bear country!

[SteveW]