Gas grill storage in bear country

I second the suggestion to ask the rangers.

With that, I don't think grills are a problem. Most campgrounds in bear country have cooking grills over the fire pits and there isn't usually an issue. I wouldn't put the grill away each night - then the bear will smell food in an enclosed box and do what it can to get to the food that it can't see. Instead, leave it out and away from your camper - so the bear will be able to check it out and see there is no food. Wipe it out and down after use so there's no residue.

If you're considering a regular campground, I would ask the ranger or staff how to handle it when you're in the planning stage. I would hate to be the guy who draws them in. If you're back country, or at least disbursed and on your own it might be less of an issue. Seems to me a grill is always going to smell like food, but if they don't actually find any, maybe they'll just move on, but I'm not a naturalist, don't play one on tv, and didn't stay at a Holiday Inn, so what do I know?

Back where we've hunted for almost 40 years we've always had some sort of grill out and never put it away. And there's lots of bears out there - have seen as many as ten in one hunt. Have had a bear try to get at the hanging moose meat only once or twice, but have never had a bear get after the grill.

The only time it might be a problem is it depends on how the bears have been "trained". By that I mean you often get garbage bears that learn to get into the garbage cans all of the time. The only thing you can do with them then is either shoot them or transport them a long ways away.

Some campgrounds will have problems with bears. If they do, it's usually well posted to keep everything put away. If you're off boondocking where the bears aren't used to getting into trash, it shouldn't be a problem.

Bill

I think the worst that could happen is you would need a new grill