Bears and garbage

Bears are attracted by food, garbage, cosmetics and lots of other things. They are curious and smart animals but there are not as many around on the highways going north as a lot of people think. Think clean. Consider how good their noses are.

If you are around salmon streams it is a different story. You cannot escape them.

profdant139 wrote:
When boondocking for several days in bear country, this method has worked for us -- suspend a bag of garbage far above ground, and far from the tree trunk, and far from the branch:


Click For Full-Size Image.

If we did not do that, we'd have a big bag of garbage inside the trailer. Not a great aroma. And we can't put it into the truck bed -- the bears would tear up the truck.

X2
Hang your garbage bag in a tree a 100 feet away from your campsite.

..

lmao

agesilaus wrote:

Ava wrote:
Just dont leave any garbage or organic waste outside your rv or anywhere a bear could get to. There is no such thing as a bear proof container!

If any bears show up take pictures and enjoy the opportunity to see nature up close. Enjoy your trip!

Well of course there is such a thing, but thin aluminum sheet isn't it.

Yep, I made one when I lived in bear country... it was about 500 pounds of steel and bolted to a concrete slab :)

worked perfect but not too practical for mobile use!

Ralph Cramden wrote:

BizmarksMom wrote:
Keep the garbage inside the trailer until you're at a gas station or somewhere with a dumpster. Yosemite bears peel cars open to get at food - a lightweight aluminium thing in the bed of your truck will not work.

If the Yosemite bears peel cars open, I imagine they can have a real field day with some thin fiberglass, two pieces of 1/8" luan plywood, and styrofoam, or .024 or thinner aluminum siding and luan.

I often think of that same thing when I put my grill in a compartment so its not left out for the bears to bother!

I have found it works well to just toss my trash under the neighbor's RV. :B

beemerphile1 wrote:
I have found it works well to just toss my trash under the neighbor's RV. :B

Hahaha. Now we’re getting somewhere.

The bear bell idea has been debunked, if anything tests have shown that bells mildly attracted bear who are curious by nature like most omnivores.

"In the most advanced testing, bear biologist Tom Smith jingled bear bells in varying volumes in front of brown bears in Katmai National Park. Regardless of how vigorously he shook, 15 different sets of bruins ignored the bells. And yet they snapped at attention the second he broke a pencil in half. This isn't 100-percent proof that bears don't respond to bear bells; Katmai bears are known for being relatively non-aggressive. But it means that in this specific case, the bells failed to warn and change my behavior as intended."

Backpacker mag.