Welllll…
When Things Go Bump In the Night
I was talkin’ to a raccoon
and his eyes did hold a glint,
as he smiled rather wryly
revealin’ breath of a fresh mint.
Now it mighta been Vela
though it coulda been a Certs,
‘n when I caught his second wind
it sure was fishy how it hurts,
to be listenin’ to his woe
how those peanuts had too much salt,
how milk sucked in substitute for beer,
least, that’s what experience taught.
I was beginnin’ to think this bandit,
full of our food and self was caddy,
‘specially when little paws tossed to the ground
crumpled foil of a York patty!
So he’s tastin’ the sensation,
and he’s now eye’n up my beer,
and I’m feelin’ kinda of woozy
hopin’ from PFD he’d stayed clear.
I’m relieved to find my stash
untouched by nocturnal bother,
and as I shovel sugar in he asks,
“How do you eat that Canuck fodder?”
So as I’m crawlin’ back in tent
bear stumbles into camp from out of night,
as bear of campmate rolls through his flaps
and I now toss-n-turn from that last sight,
of a raccoon and a bear
and my campmate - It’s plain damn scary! -
How they all sat round the campfire
passin’ fifth of Sailor Jerry!
Maybe to end these frightnin’ nocturnal discourses with woodland (and campmate) denizens, and spare the Canada mints, you should leave out some Famous Doscher’s French Chew?
Tom
I can relate…
I can relate to the tale of a coon attempting to carry off a 20 to 30 pound food box.........
A coon attempted to drag off my very large, Coleman, 5 day, stainless steel, cooler, one night on a gravel bar. There is "no way in the world" that the cooler & it's contents weighed less than 35 pounds. He was most definitely making progress with it when I got out of the tent.
Earlier in the evening he successfully climbed a huge sycamore tree, and moved out onto a limb that was at least 30 feet off the ground. He then climbed down a minimum of 15 feet of a single strand of parachute cord, which had our trash bag attached to it. He was hanging onto the parachute cord(upside down)with his back paws, and attempting to tear open the bottom of the bag with his front paws to get to some corn cobs.
The only reason he didn't successfully tear open the bag, or get the cooler into the wood was an accurate flurry of 3 to 5 pound rocks. He was NOT happy, but luckily "for him", he did not push the issue, or he'd have met a flurry of more than rocks. I do admire their strength & agility. I have a much lower opinion of the "river dorks" who trash the gravel bars, and entice the coons into doing their nightly gravel bar foraging.
BOB
I wouldn’t leave mints outside
Wow, that seems very risky in New England—invitation to bears.
I have a similar problem, especially in the fall when it gets dark early and you have to eat supper early. I try to load up on protein for supper to maintain blood sugar.
If you’re being careful, as you should, with all food, toothpaste, lip balm, and anything else that has the slightest odor, it doesn’t make sense to leave mints outside.
Bears eat toothpaste
Also, just because 10 campers didn’t have any trouble in a spot is no guarantee the 11th won’t either. Bears and raccoons are intelligent and adaptable. That’s why hanging things from trees is no longer an accepted practice - like locking food in your car, it doesn’t work any more.
Nowadays there are no truly remote areas where it’s safe to assume humans are rare. You may be the first to use your isolated pristine campsite, but dollars to doughnuts other folks have camped near enough to contribute to the local critter learning curve.
The examples given in this thread also show that critters are losing their natural fear of humans. What’s inconvenient with a bold raccoon might turn into a deadly confrontation if it’s a bear. And bears that threaten humans usually end up exterminated. So while it may be inconvenient to use bear canisters, by protecting our food, mints, toothpaste, beer, etc., we may protect a bear’s life as well.
Hey RR I hear ya on the insulin
I’m testing 10 + times daily. Getting hard to find spots that will still bleed!
You are right I should have cut back my basal while I was out. I’ve been running a bit high otherwise and I was wondering if the first few lows were a pattern or an aberation. By the time I had it down we were heading back to civilization. I’m sure you know how it goes.
talk to your
endocrinologist rather than these folks…
dasage and type of insulin is VERY inportant when you are engaging in much more physical activity than your day to day routine.
having been insulin dependant for 48 years, I may know a little…
Mini-bear – Espresso Can
Trilliumlake makes a good point.
As to the OPs issue, I was going to suggest recycling an Illy espresso can. http://www.1stincoffee.com/illy-489.htm It’s not in all stores but I’ve seen it in two grocery stores in my area. These cans have a screw on top with a plastic gasket. I’m guessing they are air tight, since that’s the point of a coffee storage container. About 3.5" round and 6" high.
The can’s are not heavy gauge metal, so a bear could probably tear it open, but it would defy most critters. It should effectively stifle the scent, so long as you keep it clean on the outside, so maybe the bear wouldn’t mess with it in the first place.
At least in the east, I’d trust my mints to this can. If you are cohabitating with polar bears or grizzlies, I’d want a real bear can. Don’t blame me if your mints take on a coffee flavor.
~~Chip
your doctor knows best
yes it is always better to consult your doctor but sometimes you need to put the bug in his/her ear. Sliding scale insulin injetions are quite common in the world of Diabetes and people on sliding scales seem to have good control since it is based off their bld glucose readings, food intake and excersice.
Back to the food in the tent. I think keeping anything with a smell on it in the tent should be avoided. However with Diabetes you do need quick access to carbohydrates/food in the middle of the night. Trying to get a food barrel down in the night could be more hazardous. I think if you put some kind of food/candy bar in a plastic bag and kept it in your sleeping bag at night you’d be ok. Maybe a different story in Grizzly territory. Just check your sugars before bed and maybe increase your food intake before sleep. You can work this out with a dietician and your doctor/ diabetic health team. You can actually get it quite refined.
RR
Insulin adjustments
I’m running MDI Novalog and Lantus. A 1:10 I:C ratio and a 1:40 correction. 22u of lantus before bed for my basal.
As RR mentioned above the basal is the culprit when my exercise goes up and the nighttime lows kick in.
You guy have been dealing with this a bit longer than me so you must know that you need to be cautious when adjusting your basal. Small changes can make big differences.
But I sure don’t need my Dr.s permision to do it. Never met a Dr. yet who had time to really look at my daily numbers and tell me anything I didn’t already know. I generaly see the patterns long before they do. Unfortunately what I mostly see is random noise
I was out just long enough to realize that I had to adjust my basal for the exercise. I don’t feel that three lows in one week, all easily self treated, is cause for alarm.
I just want to resolve the “No food near the tent but I need to have snacks handy” dilema. I can’t see that going away any time soon.
"It should effectively stifle the scent"
I don’t think so! If a bear can smell a tiny tube of toothpaste in your trunk and is willing to tear up your car to get to it, I don’t think a coffee can is going to be an effect odor barrier.
A bear’s sense of smell is 7 times better than a bloodhound’s—that’s 2100 times better than a human! Polar bears can detect food 40 miles away.
Everything I’ve read has empashized that food should never be left in kayak hatches in bear country. Imgaine how easy it would be for a bear to break into your kayak, when they’re so adept at destroying a car to get a small amount of food. To have a bear not only steal your food but destroy your kayak in the process could be life threatening.
Unfortunately I think there are situations where a bear canister is not possible or practical. Here’s a good way to make a bear bag that is waterproof and odor resistant: http://sectionhiker.com/2009/07/16/assembling-an-ultralight-bear-bag-system/
raccoons, bears, snacks for IDDM
I appreciate all the suggestions given so far but I will keep my suggestion simple: bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister, bear cannister. Happy paddling!
any particular bear canister you like?
and, bear canister 100’ (or is it yards?) away from tent in the dark and me whacked out hypo (think, a case of beer stoned). Doesn’t sound promising.
Gotta get out of the tent. Find it. Get it open. Eat. Get my head together. Get it closed up and stashed again. Dry off before hypothermia sets in.
Oh boy.
But it still might be the best available option.
Hmmmm…
Glucose Product
Have you looked into the glucose tablet type of product? Comes in a few different forms that may have a minimal scent as they are sealed air tight in the package to preserve integrity. Get them at most drug stores.
Tom
Among millions of things I don’t know,
Will scent penetrate through and airtight metal can? I sort of think not, since helium and oxygen are compressed and stored in metal containers, albeit sturdier than a food product can. Whatever molecules carry the scent are almost certainly much much larger than helium or oxygen, two elements on the single-digit end of the atomic scale, that is, they are small atoms.
No matter how sensitive sense of smell an animal has, it can only smell what gets into the air and is carried to its nostrils. So if you can keep the smell inside the can, you should avoid attracting animals. What happens when the sleepy camper awakes and ingests the goodies in the can? Mint on the breath may be a greater danger than what escapes the can.
I’d really like to know the answer to the smelling through metal question. Please post if you know. I’ve read about dogs smelling drugs inside scuba tanks. I always figured the smell was on the outside of the tanks, the logic being the same as above, oxygen and nitrogen are small atoms, and drug molecules are huge and unlikely to pass through the walls of a container meant to house small atoms. As to the tube of toothpaste in the car trunk, it’s probably not a valid comparison. We don’t know what was previously stored in that trunk, and whether the outside of the toothpaste container was surgically clean.
This is way of OP’s original topic, sorry to digress, but I have always wondered if the gas escapes through metal like helium does through a kids balloon.
Some links about canned food
"Even canned foods must be removed from your car."
http://www.nps.gov/yose/planyourvisit/bears.htm
“you are required to store ALL food, including canned food and beverages”
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/flathead/wildlife/grizzly_bears_index.shtml
“Bears can even smell canned food kept inside the trunk of a vehicle.”
http://faculty.deanza.edu/donahuemary/stories/storyReader$310
Well, I doubt those quotes meet the level of proof you’re looking for. I offer that the labels on canned food might be impregnated with odors from the food factory.
Looking for those links and reading about bears sure spooked me. Glad I don’t live in grizzly country. Some things we don’t usually think about as we’re hanging our food, that bears are interested in:
– The clothes you were wearing while making supper.
– Sweaty clothing
– Leather boots
– The backpack you were carrying food in
– Your tent that was packed next to the food
– Your dinner in your stomach??? Seriously, if a bear can smell bacon cooking inside a house, why wouldn’t he be able to smell it in your tummy as you sleep in your tent?
– Anything with an odor that you applied to yourself late in the day: sunscreen, soap, lip balm, toothpaste
Found one story about a guy who didn’t wash his face after dinner and was awakened by a bear licking his face.
Wow, there’s a lot to get paranoid about when it comes to bears. Since they can smell minute quantities of everything, maybe it’s a question of minimizing the odors so the bear figures, “Aw heck, there’s not enough there to make a meal.”
I’ve never considered it necessary to change my clothes after food preparation and hang the smelly clothes in the food bag. Not in the Northeast. Do people actually do that in the East?
subtlety?
Just a thought Tommy: Mints or what ever you need in a small jar, that put in a larger jar with aCamphour balls or some other chemical that would over whelm the smell of taht mints.
aI recall some one who used an old chemical container as a dry box and found the smell discouraged the critters. It might have been a bleech container from a pool, if I am accurate in mmy recollection…
What attracts bears?
Hmmmm…makes me wonder if Beano would be a good thing to carry in bear country…when we went camping when I was growing up, you could smell my brother’s farts a lot farther than 40 miles…
And I thought that was bear repellant
No beano. Bears don’t like methane/sulpher any more than we do (I hope!)
I have this totally irrational theory that snoring keeps the bears away. Since the many of guys I trip with, including me snore pretty hard we all have our own tent’s. I find the late night snorefest strangely comforting.
Since my bearphobia is largely irrational that actually makes sense.
Its bear hunting season in Maine
and mints are not in the list of bear bait ingredients. Natural food is most attractive to bears.
Any bear thinking of self survival is hiding and won't go near humans.
Apply this thinking to out West and the reasoning goes right out the window. Bears there are plain curious.
Did you read about Yellow Yellow? For that reason ( I paddle in the ADKS but havent hiked in the High Peaks for a few years) I have a Counter Assault container.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/nyregion/25bear.html
Bear Season
We saw the signs that folks were bear hunting while we were up there.
I was wondering how aware the bears are of that and if they indeed might lay low until the season was through?
Chuck has a Bear Vault and it looked pretty good to me but if one bear has learned to get in others can’t be too far behind.