On past camping trips, I’ve had good results with a BearVault, and with hanging food bags. No surprise, I’ve had good results with The bearvault. And, I’ve never had a problem with hanging, either, but I think some of the time that might really have been luck, because the hanging solutions have not always been text-book. Sometimes, I didn’t find a very good place to hang. I’m now contemplating a two-week trip. The BearVault is way too small for two weeks, and I’m not sure I’ll find hanging spots, so I need a different approach.
The trip will be in arid areas, and I’m not really expecting to run into bears. But there will still be plenty of critters.
An industry-standard solution are the blue barrels favored by many. I’m leaning towards a barrel just for the volume.
When I started canoe tripping I used to carry my “kitchen” and a small amount of food in 5-gallon buckets. Never was the bucket breached by critters, although a former p-netter showed me one that had been chewed through. Has anybody else used 5-gallon buckets for food storage, and with what results?
Currently the kitchen is carried in a small Action Packer tub. Same results, and same question. While I have had to chase off raccoons that started to attack the tub, it’s never been gnawed.
Many canoeist are wanigan enthusiasts. I’ve been at camps with friends that carried a lidded, wooden box, and while one 'coon tried to drag it off, nothing got into it. I expect I could make a wanigan.
What critter-proofing solutions have you used? I’m particularly interested to know if you used any of the solutions I’m thinking of (5-gal bucket, Action Packer, wanigan, blue barrel), and they failed.
TIA~~Chip