SectionHiker.com Backpacking Gear Guides, Gear Reviews, and FAQs
What Should You Put in a Bear Bag?
Bear bags are intended to protect your food on backpacking trips and to prevent bears from becoming accustomed to eating human food. “A fed bear is a dead bear”, as the saying goes, and no one wants to see a bear killed because someone was careless and didn’t hang their food in a bear bag or some other bear-proof container, like a bear canister, a Ursack, or a bear-proof cooler.
What should you put in a bear bag or bear-proof storage? Is it limited to food or are there other things that you should store as well? The answer is yes.
Here are the items, I’d recommended hanging in a bear bag or storing in an IGBC approved bear-resistant container.
- All of your food
- Olive or cooking oil
- Toothpaste
- Toothbrush
- Deodorant
- Mouthwash
- Perfume
- Soap
- Sun tan lotion
- Chapstick or lip balm
- Bug dope
- First-aid creams
- Condiments
- Gum
- Scented tobacco
- Trash
Here are some other items, you might consider storing at a distance from your tent even if they have no food value.There’s no point in encouraging a close inspection by an alpha predator at night.
- Pots, pans, and utensils
- Cooking grills
- Water bottles or hydration reservoirs that have had flavorings added to them
- Clothes that you have cooked in
Why take these precautions? Bears have an extremely good sense of smell that’s 100 times more sensitive than humans and 7 times more sensitive than a bloodhound’s. In other words, they can smell things that you’re not even aware have a smell.
Recommended Bear-Proof Containers
The following is a list of the popular bear canisters and Ursack bear-proof bear bags that backpackers and campers use where bear-resistant containers are required.
| Make / Model | Weight in oz. | Cubic In | Days Food | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BearVault BV450 | 33 oz | 440 | 4 | $70 |
| BearVault BV500 | 41 oz | 700 | 7 | $80 |
| Garcia Backpackers Cache | 43.5 oz | 614 | 6 | $75 |
| Frontiersman Insider Bear Safe | 48 oz | 735 | 7 | $80 |
| Wild Ideas Scout | 28 oz | 500 | 5 | $275 |
| Wild Ideas Weekender | 31 oz | 650 | 6-7 | $309 |
| Wild Ideas Blazer | 33 oz | 750 | 7-8 | $333 |
| Wild Ideas Expedition | 36 oz | 900 | 9 | $370 |
| Bare Boxer | 26.3 oz | 275 | 3 | $60 |
| Lighter1 Big Daddy | 43 oz | 650 | 3 | $100 |
| Lighter1 Lil Sami | 28 oz | 300 | 3 | $95 |
| UDAP No-Fed Bear | 38.4 oz | 455 | 4-5 | $60 |
| Counter Assault Bear Keg | 58 oz | 716 | 7 | $80 |
| Ursack Major Bear Bag | 7.6 oz | 650 | 6-7 | $90 |
| Ursack AllMitey Bear and Critter (10L) | 13 oz | 650 | 6-7 | $140 |
| Ursack Major XL | 8.8 oz | 925 | 9 | $100 |
| Ursack Major 2XL (10L) | 15.7 oz | 1830 | 18 | $120 |
| Ursack AllMitey Bear and Critter (30L) | 15.3 | 1850 | 18-19 | $220 |
See Also:
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- putting dishes in bear canister
Does hand sanitizer fall into the soap category?
IMO Yes. When a bear raided our camp while we were eating dinner near our bear hang, about 100 meters away, teeth marks were left in the toilet kit which was on a rock outside the tent. The kit contained toilet paper, hand sanitizer and a shovel. Only 1 of the empty backpacks was searched by the bear, we surmised the bear was attracted to that pack because of a nonscented plastic garbage bag used as a packliner which was still inside the backpack. The scent of plastic garbage bags may also equate to food for a bear.
Does it have a scent?
Geez,
It is so hard convincing people of doing this. I really think it takes a bear coming on thier space. Unfortunately when this happens. It gets reported, they are the ones at fault, and then we have a cannister mandated. It makes it hard for everyone.
I will never understand why people don’t hang their “smellables”. Unless you are above tree line, it should be standard operating procedure. Here in the south bears can sometimes be a problem but usually I hang my food more because of the other smaller varmits.
What about a snoring hiking partner?
…Or should I just stuff a ham sandwich in his pocket and boot him out of the tent for the bear to scare? That should cure the snoring!
I wonder if bears like “Esbit” fuel smell….
Mine goes in my Ursack. I think the point is not that they like it, but they want to investigate. They are very smart animals.
On a recent trip to Yosemite a ranger told us, ” if it goes in your mouth or on your skin it needs to go in your bear canister.” That seems like a pretty easy way to remember.