Critters and Tents and Foods

[greenonion]

Similar to the critters chewing through car parts thread, wondering what folks might successfully be doing to deter various critters from wanting to chew into, through, and beyond… tents and such.
Such as in Chicago Basin, etc

[colingoodman]

The following works well for me:

• I never eat food inside of my tent
• Anything that might smell interesting (including non-edibles like toothpaste) is stored in my bear bag / canister
• If I am using a bear bag instead of a can, I use odor bags
• I usually leave my tent and backpack unzipped slightly to allow animals to explore unimpeded

[E_A_Marcus_949]

Never eat in or near the tent... use hand sanitizer if you just ate / touched food/anything yummy smelling before going into your tent or touching the zippers, rain fly etc. I also hang my pack every night in a large garbage bag or contractor bag. I put my shoes, etc. that go under the rain fly of the tent in a bag as well. Of course hang/scent proof bag your food or in a bear canister.

[cottonmountaineering]

best practice here i feel is to not camp in super established places if possible, even if i have 0 food in my tent often there are still mice cruising around because they think tent = food

[mtree]

Because I generally don't camp more than 2 nights I'm pretty simple.

1) Tent is pitched far away from any fires and others.
2) All my food is pre-prepared. No cooking necessary. I don't even bring a stove anymore. Although other mates might.
3) Stay away of all cooking and campfire (if there is one).
4) Eat away from tent.
5) No smelly or greasy foods. Kinda boring.
6) No odors of any sort. Yes, that includes deodorant and toothpaste. Brush without paste.
7) Day 2 food and trash is sealed and put in plastic trash bag to hang.

Seems I'm always close to a water source so I cleanup in stream before bed. Otherwise rinse off and leave wet towel in a tree overnight.

I close up everything before hiking. Put away sleeping bag. Don't want critters to invade. They might stay the night! Shoes kept in the tent with me. All my gear is kept in the tent. If something wants it that badly it'll have to wake me to get it or raid it while I'm hiking. Most of all, I leave an open jar of peanut butter near my buddy's tent before bed. So far so good.

[seannunn]

I don't cook either. Honestly, I can make it 1-2 nights in a campsite without cooked food.
Peanut butter bagels, nuts, beef jerky, etc., provide enough protein for that length of time.
I don't take anything with any odor (tuna, etc.)
No stove, no cookware, no fuel cannisters, no dish soap, etc. Saves a lot of weight and space.
If I were ever going to do the CO trail or something like that, it would require a different strategy.

All the food I take is either in the original wrappers, or in small ziplocks.
Ziplocks go inside Opsacks (these are cheap and reusable, basically large extra thick ziplocks).
Opsacks go inside my Ursack (pricy but worth it if you are planning on spending lots of nights in the mountains).
Ursack goes inside a drybag with a fold down top, so stuff won't get wet even in a rainstorm (probably overkill but the bag only weighs a few ounces and is much easier to see at 3:30am when you are looking for your food).
Whole things gets hung in a tree, 50 feet or more from the tent. I am not very good at hanging food. A determined bear could get to it pretty easily, but with zero odor coming from the bag, hopefully they won't have any reason to try.
This whole get up would still be insufficient in Yellowstone or someplace like that.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO

[mtree]

Sometimes there aren't trees or they're not big enough to hang a food bag. In those cases I have a line I can string up. The bag can easily be grabbed by a bear, but it keeps the varmints out of reach... I think. I always keep a few extra Cliff-like bars in my day pack just in case. Yes. I've even slept with the food in my tent when nothing else was available!

[greenonion]

I don't cook either. Honestly, I can make it 1-2 nights in a campsite without cooked food.
Peanut butter bagels, nuts, beef jerky, etc., provide enough protein for that length of time.
I don't take anything with any odor (tuna, etc.)
No stove, no cookware, no fuel cannisters, no dish soap, etc. Saves a lot of weight and space.
If I were ever going to do the CO trail or something like that, it would require a different strategy.

All the food I take is either in the original wrappers, or in small ziplocks.
Ziplocks go inside Opsacks (these are cheap and reusable, basically large extra thick ziplocks).
Opsacks go inside my Ursack (pricy but worth it if you are planning on spending lots of nights in the mountains).
Ursack goes inside a drybag with a fold down top, so stuff won't get wet even in a rainstorm (probably overkill but the bag only weighs a few ounces and is much easier to see at 3:30am when you are looking for your food).
Whole things gets hung in a tree, 50 feet or more from the tent. I am not very good at hanging food. A determined bear could get to it pretty easily, but with zero odor coming from the bag, hopefully they won't have any reason to try.
This whole get up would still be insufficient in Yellowstone or someplace like that.

Sean Nunn
Peculiar, MO

Thanks folks. Real good stuff, especially the peanut butter near your neighbor!

Sean, you saved my butt last summer at El Diente when I forgot my cooking pot! Am planning on using your no-cooking strategy in chi basin coming up