@Overstreet said:
A little off topic…At Flamingo in the Everglades the buzzards will roost on your vehicle in the parking lot …
The birds in your photo are Black Vultures, one of two kinds commonly found in Florida.
Before I even heard of a bear proof container, we used to string a line between two trees and hang our food in the center of the line. You did this above the height a bear could reach and a bit of distance away from camp (for obvious reasons - you just don’t want a 600 LB bear standing on your face trying to reach a bag above its reach). You also used a dry bag to contain any aroma.
Never had a problem.
Rick
Since this thread is getting a bit back on topic , I’ll add that I’ve been able to make a bear hang from even the most meager of trees, bushes and rocks available. As a minimum, you need one tall object capable of supporting the loaded rope, and one sturdy anchor point. One of the first things I do before deciding to spend the night somewhere is to have a look around at potential hangs. There are some that I just shake my head and say to myself “Boy, that’s a new one” or “That’s going to take more than two ropes…” But I always take the time and make the effort because I know what I’m doing is in my own and others’ best interest.
It should be noted as well that I try my best to be very gentle to the trees and the areas surrounding them. My go-to system is at least two yellow polypropylene ropes. They slide over branches nicely and are cheap to replace when necessary (though they do last me many years). A longer one (50-150’ or so) and a shorter one (Maybe 30-60’). The long one gets tossed up and over a branch, or both ends through two nearby tree crotches (or other tall objects that aren’t far enough out to prevent reach. On the end of this rope (over one branch), or the middle (between two trees, or a tree and a ground anchor), I secure a lightweight pulley through which the second rope runs. The first rope is pulled taut (no weight on it yet that will cause cutting into the tree’s bark) and the second rope is raised up with the pulley at the top. Then when you’re done supper just attach your food to the end of the second rope and run it up toward the first rope like raising a flag. If you’re spending a few days in camp this is the ideal system because there’s no continuous wear on the tree branches . It’s also good when your packs are heavy because the pulley makes it very easy to raise up. Just make sure you have a good hold when you’re letting them down because they do that VERY easily too.
The only problem I’ve ever had with this is early on when I left some garbage (Clif bar wrapper, maybe?) at the bottom of a dry bag that was hanging in a tree. At night something climbed down the rope onto it and chewed up the bottom to get at the wrapper. Fortunately the rest of the stuff stayed in the bag. I’ve repaired it and still use it. It serves as a good reminder. Although I don’t yet use bear canisters where I can hang food, I do use hard sided containers inside of the bags and NEVER leave anything outside of those containers.
A bit of practice and experience and you’ll be able to make a very good hang just about anywhere.
Of course, this does not apply in areas where there are no naturally occurring tall objects.
“Of course, this does not apply in areas where there are no naturally occurring tall objects.”
Or tall trees like black spruce with spindly limbs that start 30 feet up… Or willows and mangroves of any height…too bendy…
That kind of makes hanging in the boreal forest a problem, and on Northern rivers in NWT and Yukon though sometimes you get lucky.
And the Everglades.
@kayamedic said:
“Of course, this does not apply in areas where there are no naturally occurring tall objects.”
Or tall trees like black spruce with spindly limbs that start 30 feet up… Or willows and mangroves of any height…too bendy…
That kind of makes hanging in the boreal forest a problem, and on Northern rivers in NWT and Yukon though sometimes you get lucky.
And the Everglades.
I’ll admit that I did struggle while in Pukaskwa (North East Lake Superior) for a week last summer. It was a new environment for me and the trees were noticeably less useful for bear hangs. It got me considering other options if I go up that way again. At park established sites there are some facilities for food storage (bear boxes and established hangs) but both were poorly maintained and some worse options than I could find myself. Sad for a national park if you ask me.
It seemed I was always able to find something that worked though. I was surprised to find quite a few birches among the (what I believe were) black spruce that made for suitable hangs along with the copious amounts of heavy driftwood on the beach for an anchor point.
One of those “Well, this is new” moments was actually in Pukaskwa. I had the choice of a hang location that was almost right above where I was going to put my tent (a no, no for sure) or just around the beach standing in a foot of water to toss, raise, and lower the ropes.
But yes, I acknowledge that there are plenty of places in the world where this method just plain isn’t feasible. I haven’t found myself in those places yet.
@Monkeyhead said:
One thing I’ve done successfully on fresh water is to anchor the boat offshore. My makeshift anchor system consisted of a rock tied to a length of rope, then balance precariously on the aft deck. With a tow rope attached to the bow, I pushed the boat offshore and when the rope pulled tight, slight yank caused the anchor rock to fall off the aft deck and hold the boat offshore.
Yes, I realize that bears and raccoons can swim, but I didn’t have any issues with them doing so. It would also be relatively easy to devise a better anchor system, but I haven’t had the need for one.
@Sparky961 said:
It should be noted as well that I try my best to be very gentle to the trees and the areas surrounding them. My go-to system is at least two yellow polypropylene ropes. They slide over branches nicely and are cheap to replace when necessary (though they do last me many years). A longer one (50-150’ or so) and a shorter one (Maybe 30-60’). The long one gets tossed up and over a branch, or both ends through two nearby tree crotches (or other tall objects that aren’t far enough out to prevent reach. On the end of this rope (over one branch), or the middle (between two trees, or a tree and a ground anchor), I secure a lightweight pulley through which the second rope runs. The first rope is pulled taut (no weight on it yet that will cause cutting into the tree’s bark) and the second rope is raised up with the pulley at the top. Then when you’re done supper just attach your food to the end of the second rope and run it up toward the first rope like raising a flag. If you’re spending a few days in camp this is the ideal system because there’s no continuous wear on the tree branches . It’s also good when your packs are heavy because the pulley makes it very easy to raise up. Just make sure you have a good hold when you’re letting them down because they do that VERY easily too.
Sparky961’s pulley system will help you get heavy food bags high in a tree. But a tip about using it: after you lower your food, don’t try to pull the pulley up over the branch. You’re likely to snag the pulley on the branch and lose the pulley and most of the rope attached to it. Instead, grab the doubled rope your food bag was attached to and use it to pull the pulley and its rope down out of the tree.
One of the entertaining aspects of hanging food from a tree branch is finding a suitable branch. In some areas, the trees are not very cooperative, and I spend a long time wandering around camp looking for a suitable branch. Another source of entertainment is getting a rope over the branch. First I find a long narrow rock, which can be hard to find, and tie it to the end of the rope. Then I try to throw the rock over the branch. I am not particularly athletically gifted, and sometimes it takes many tries before the rock makes it over the branch. Yet another source of entertainment is getting the food bag high in the tree without Sparky961’s convenient pulley system. I have a companion throw the food bag(s) as high as possible while I run back pulling on the rope.
In areas with no trees, you can occasionally climb to the top of a relatively vertical cliff, lower a rope and pull the food bag part of the way up the cliff, and then pull the bag away from the cliff with a second rope tied to a rock or bush at the bottom of the cliff. You don’t often find situations where you can use this technique.
On the Grand Canyon of the Colorado you sometimes encounter ring tailed cats, which are sort of like raccoons, but skinnier and cuter. On an unsupported kayak trip down the Grand Canyon, to protect my food against mice and ring tailed cats, a couple of times I put it in front of my kayak’s foot brace bulkhead, and then stood the kayak on its stern leaning against a tamarisk bush. The vertical plastic kept the varmints out of my food. I wouldn’t use this technique in an area with bears, because a bear might try to claw its way into my kayak.
When camping on gravel bars on rivers up north, I have sometimes been able to rig a rope over a tree trunk which was sticking up out of a snarl of logs at the head of the gravel bar. But you can rarely get food very high from a log jam.
In areas without trees or other things from which you can hang food, bear proof containers are the way to go. They are easy to use and reliably protect your food against animals, both big and small…
a National Park in Canada is not the same as a US National Park… NP in Canada are to preserve and study a specific ecosystem.
There are not the amenities we expect here. Puk is a wilderness park… There often are no facilities and where there are ( bear bins at Oiseau Bay and White River for example) it is because of heavy use… Not to be expected at all campsites. Most do not have thunderboxes either. I find it far from “sad”
The purpose of a hang is merely to separate yourself from your food… Safety… There are other ways to do that as in dispersal away from camp
Hangs are being discouraged in some areas now…
@kayamedic said:
a National Park in Canada is not the same as a US National Park… NP in Canada are to preserve and study a specific ecosystem.
There are not the amenities we expect here. Puk is a wilderness park… There often are no facilities and where there are ( bear bins at Oiseau Bay and White River for example) it is because of heavy use… Not to be expected at all campsites. Most do not have thunderboxes either. I find it far from “sad”
From my recent experience, I have to disagree. The sites with no facilities are just that. No facilities. I actually prefer these ones, and make a significant effort to minimize my impact while there. On the sites that were “maintained”, there were pretty luxurious pit toilets with a roof, walls, door, and usually stocked with toilet paper!. A true out house, not merely a thunder box. I found that these were actually in better repair than the bear bins on many sites I visited. That’s the part I think is sad.
I’ve never been to a US National Park, but I suspect that there are many I wouldn’t care for due to overuse, over-development, and destruction.
I’d rather there be no facilities and that they limit the number of people to a sustainable level that doesn’t require those facilities. I’d also rather there be a very difficult test people must pass to ensure that they can travel and camp in a “Leave Minimal Trace” way. But that’s not going to happen, so it’s not worth getting worked up over. 
The purpose of a hang is merely to separate yourself from your food… Safety… There are other ways to do that as in dispersal away from camp
It is also very importantly to separate the food from the animals. This is more for their safety than ours, but in reality it is both.
Hangs are being discouraged in some areas now…
I have yet to visit one of those areas, but be assured that when I do I will do my best to follow the best practices based on the best available evidence. I will also speculate that the reason for this is that most people’s bear hangs are pathetically inadequate. They are too low to the ground, too close to the tree trunk or other branches, cause damage to the trees, and are often hung on the nearest branch right in the middle of camp. In that case, yes - please discourage these “hangs”.
@pmmpete said:
Sparky961’s pulley system will help you get heavy food bags high in a tree. But a tip about using it: after you lower your food, don’t try to pull the pulley up over the branch. You’re likely to snag the pulley on the branch and loose the pulley and most of the rope attached to it. Instead, grab the doubled rope your food bag was attached to and use it to pull the pulley and its rope down out of the tree.
A very good addition. It goes for knots, kinks, loops, pulleys, and carabiners as well. And even then pull the ends over the branches slowly and smoothly to avoid them slingshotting over an adjacent branch and getting tangled. I’ve “rescued” quite a bit of gear out of trees from bear hangs gone wrong. I can only remember one time that I got one stuck myself. I was in a hurry, and I still feel guilty about the rope I had to leave behind.
One of the entertaining aspects of hanging food from a tree branch is finding a suitable branch. In some areas, the trees are not very cooperative, and I spend a long time wandering around camp looking for a suitable branch.
Oh yes, memories… Most of them as you’ve described. But then there’s that very rare day when daylight is dwindling quickly, it’s raining, and you just want to turn in for the night but haven’t put up your food yet. You look at the spot you want your rope to go… wind up… LOOSE … and WOO HOO! First attempt!
If you add a pulley to your system, your choices increase exponentially. Any tree with a decent crotch or even small branch close to the tree is quite strong enough. Your rope forms a triangle with a ground anchor (rock, bush, root, tree trunk, etc), the point in the tree and the bottom of the tree. You can actually adjust the height of the pulley on the fly too. I’ve been surprised not to see this used more often because it’s far easier than finding a long stout branch on a tree in the right location.