Influencer II
Always good to know how the local wildlife are.
I know my area.... But would reach out to locals and get the 411 on any problem bears.
I know my area.... But would reach out to locals and get the 411 on any problem bears.
Bear proofing?
- Thread starter Dcooper
- Start date
This is what I do. I bought a second bear-proof (according to the sticker anyway) cooler that I use for my dry goods, and I stow that away from camp w/ the cold food cooler. So far, it works for the local black bears, raccoons, etc... Not really sure the best approach in grizzly country, those things are very different from black bears.
Influencer II
Yeah, I have ZERO experience with grizzlies and wouldn't know what to do. Lol
I would likely be over cautious...
Enthusiast III
This. A few years ago Montana had a problem Grizzly bear in an area that was purposefully attacking tents. The area was shut down to camping unless you had a hard side trailer. Locals will know and warn of something like this. You may not see the warning that's posted if you are just venturing into public land away from normal camp sites.
Enthusiast III
They are just like black bears except bigger, and they cant climb trees. Could have sworn I'd seen a statistic that said black bears attacked more humans than Grizzlies. Not sure if that was all brown bear species compared to black bears or specifically grizzlies.
Advocate III
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Bear-resistant cases work if you get the right thing.
There is actually an organization called The Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee (IGBC) that has been "coordinating grizzly bear population recovery policy, planning, management and research for over 30 years" that tests and issues certificates for grizzly resistant products. They list them on their site.
Zarges Cases has a K470 series, three of which are certified as bear-resistant by the IGBC. I have had two of the 40810 and one of the 40678 for over two years and keep my food stores in two of them, and electronics in the third.
As someone who is considered a full-timer on the road in all sorts of off-grid situations and scenarios, the cost for their durability, lockability, and bear-resistance is worth it to me. They will outlast me, my kid, and her kid, I have no doubt. Side bonus is they will only look cooler with age and be a nice reminder to descendants of their adventurer father and grandfather.
"Oh yeah, remember ol' Great Grandpa Road? Didn't he get swallowed by a giant alligator in the swamps of Louisiana or something?"
"No, I heard he died of bites from giant mosquitoes in Newfoundland!"
"Uh huh...my Daddy told me it was giant sidewinder rattlers he was keeping for observation in the Chihuahuan Desert!"
"Well, whatever it was, it was freakin' giant, I'll tell ya that!"
Anyway, they're great cases. I've seen a video of a guy with a K470 #40678 (the deeper one) taking it out in a lake and using it for bouyancy to keep himself afloat, they are that strong and tight. I'm going to try that next week.
Here's a vid by the IGBC when testing the K470 cases for certification, with three grizzly bears:
If I'm going up backcountry in BC, the Yukon, Northwest Territories, or Alaska, this is what's going with me, and like others have posted, I'll stash it away from camp if it has food in it or has been used to prepare food on it.
You can see two of mine in the image below, at left end of the counter on top of the ammo boxes. The one under the counter, long and shallow, is also a Zarges case but is not bear-resistant. I use it for storage of containers, cooking gear, wipes, etc. Keep an eye on their clearance page; they often have cases with minor blemishes at greatly reduced prices.
HOME - Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee
K470 Universal Aluminum - Standard Cases | ZARGES USA
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Advocate III
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Yeah, I know folks who were turned away from camping in Yellowstone who did not have hard shell trailers. Don't know if that's still the case or not.
I'd like to see statistics on number of bear-related instances, both attacks and otherwise, for remote areas compared to more tourist-concentrated areas.
Yep, that's the sticker!
Also, I love those Zarges cases, they're great. I'm good with my Action Packers for now, but I'd love to have a nice set of those bad boys some day...
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Advocate III
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Ha, awesome, Billy! Post the name and model of your cooler so others know, too.
Another cool thing about IGBC Certified items is that NP and FS Rangers won't ticket you for leaving them out, when folks who leave regular coolers or plastic storage containers out in bear country may get fined. Rangers in the Smokies routinely passed me over but ticketed others. One would even tell other campers to "go talk to the guy with the wild setup about what cases to get."
It's actually an Ozark Trail Cooler from Walmart... I don't want to go down the complicated and thorny ethical rabbit hole of whether or not anyone should ever buy anything from Walmart, but suffice it to say, I wanted something that met a specific price point, and that was the best option for the size I wanted.
Advocate III
Cool...there was a whole thread on here or somewhere about Ozark Trail and how their gear has improved over the years. The thread had all sorts of positive posts of gear.
It's damned near impossible to stay abreast of which company or corporation is supposed to be okay or not or is being boycotted or not and for what reason. Look hard enough and you'll find a reason not to shop anywhere or be part of any group.
