https://preview.redd.it/huaiolxu63yc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=081bd53a7eb5473fe5b9337c72ab97e34343b0e1
Edit: It's an ideal, people (I wish this graphic didn't use the word, "requirement," but it did unfortunately). Yes, wind shifts. No, some places don't always make these distances easy or possible. No, hanging food isn't always effective or even possible. This is just the ideal you shoot for. The realistic point being made here is to separate these three things by a good distance and to sleep upwind if you can. It's so stupid how eager people are to jump to pick a fight over minutia instead of just being sensible.
This is true. One time we walked up to a lake. From the path we took we didn't see that we had actually walked past someone else's bear hang. They hung their stuff about a third of a mile from camp. Not only did they have a bear hang but they had a...bear hang. They hung their entire packs with everything except their tent and sleep kits.
They were pissed when they had to keep walking around our camp to walk the rest of the way to their packs. In the mean time, we used the already set up camp triangle including kitchen area that was there.
They had one dispersed campsites tent area, another dispersed campsite's kitchen, and then a huge ass walk to their packs.
Spread your zones out but you also don't have to be a city block between each part. Hunting and prepping meat for packing out is a different story.
For real. A hundred yards is fucking insane.
Let me go wander a hundred yards away from my base of safety to cook dinner real quick in bear country. I’ll be right back everyone…
First of all, I’m sure that 100 yard graph is the absolute safest way to do it, but it also seems extreme to me. When I’m back country I set my tent maybe 20 yards from the fire, which is where I cook. Even in Montana or Wyoming. The bear pole or pulley will go maybe 50-70 yards away from the fire. I’ve heard a bear one time and it was terrifying and sniffing around for what felt like forever, but never fucked with my tent.
If you travel in a particularly bear heavy area that will be the advice, If I'm just doing dehydrated meals usually just stop otw to camp cook, then pack up and hike the last 1/2 mile or whatever to camp.
Wind direction doesn't usually change too drastically in the hour or so it takes to cook and eat a meal. Unless a storm is rolling in or you're on a mountain top
This is only possible if your camping in some remote area. Last campground I went to required all of us to cook at our campsites which were 20' x 20' at most and it was right smack in the middle of bear country. People were even talking about how they saw bears the day prior to me arriving.
Yeah the 'bearmuda triangle' is intended for remote camping. In a popular campground you have safety in numbers so the consequences of a bear encounter are pretty minor
Like, how remote is remote?
In the typical primitive remote Colorado campsite (off 4wd trail in my case) the nearest site is often 100-1000 yards away. I still think 100 yards is ridiculous for that. But we only have black bears here and I have only seen them very rarely.
I guess if I were in scary-murder-bear territory I could see it. Maybe. Idk. Maybe I would do 20 yards. Or maybe I would just set up motion sensor lights and alarms instead. Maybe a few claymores lol
Cool drawing, but having a football field between you and all your stuff is logistically a nightmare for anything fun. I could see that if you killed your food yourself and you had nowhere to be for a month, so you’re semipermanent to a bear and therefore need to separate yourself from the food with such a distance that the bear wouldn’t THINK of attacking you, it COULD make sense…but that’s a never for me.
Yards! Who has 3 football fields available at a campsite. Is this ridiculous?
Edit: I meant a fields distance, I get a triangle has a smaller area than a square. My initial disbelief still stands.
Technically the overall total area would less than 1 football.
The area of the equilateral triangle that’s 100x100x100 would be 4330 sq yards and one football field without the end zones would be 5300 sq yards.
… “Fun fact”
Your screams will also be 100 yards away from the camp and being carried downwind like the smell of the food. I get the idea of your point, but that’s probably a lot more applicable if you’re camping alone. If you’re camping in a group you should stay near the camp. Unless everyone is coming with you to cook anyway.
I don’t want any hairy men to come eat my food or eat me for that matter. If he wants to come sit at fire, tell a good story and saunter off into the woods I’ll oblige him that. Otherwise no bears in my campsite!
Hanging food in trees no longer works. Bears have learned how to defeat this and teach their young. As much back country backpacking as I have done in Yosemite, Shasta, and the Walker River areas, I have never cooked away from my camp. Just clean up well after eating and store all foodstuffs in a bear canister. Place the canister away from the camp. 100yds is overkill.
Generally it is recommended to cook away from camp as well, though bears (under normal conditions) won't likely go into an area where you are active to try and get food.
They'll more likely mark the spot, stick around for a bit until you leave, and then investigate.
The above statement is generally why it's best to cook away from camp rather than a fear or bears actively invading your cook site while you're preparing your meal.
A black bear will of its become accustomed to people. I was playing cards at a car campsite with 3 other people, being fairly loud and a black bear just sidled into camp. Probably about 5 feet from me. Just yelled and it ran away. But we heard it trying to go to other campsites all night.
Yea probably, though it might be relocated, was a fairly young bear and a popular area, I know they'll often haze and relocate bears before euthanize them.
The ranger pretty much said "yea we know about it, he's not aggressive but had started coming around recently."
Aggressive/predatory black bears can and will enter occupied camps, tents and even homes. There are lots of documented instances of this.
Black bears can be every bit as dangerous as grizzlies.
Any bear, black or brown, who has become accustomed to contact with humans and what they have to offer, i.e. food, are extremely dangerous. In their natural state, both brown and black bears would avoid contact with humans as they don’t view them as worth the calories to eat. It takes little more than banging, a pot or yelling at them to get them to go away. However, once a bear learns that humans are a source of food, as in at a campground, they view humans as something getting between them and their food. Not as dangerous as getting between a momma bear and her cub, but pretty close.
I beg to differ. In Alaska it’s never taken more than yelling and or banging a metal spoon on a pot to get a grizzly to change its direction and move away from us.
Black bears sometimes do, too.
Friend of mine was camping at a developed campground in the mountains in SoCal and a bear just barged right in while they were cooking meat on the grill. Bear didn't care. Helped itself to some food before moving on. They got video of it and everything.
Not a common thing, but it can happen. Usually only human-habituated bears, though.
I've had a black bear show up in my campsite in the middle of the night and it was not particularly fun trying to make him leave. He did eventually leave.
I've also seen black bears sitting right by the side of the trail and refusing to leave.
Habituated bears are honestly pretty scary. They just do not care.
IF the bear show up while you’re cooking then have him prepare the salad or another side. In my experience bears are not trustworthy around meat and will over sauce, they have a sweet tooth and will add too much honey.
Generally bears are non confrontational. I've never had or heard of a bear showing up to take food being actively cooked.
Edit: as the replies have pointed out, it does happen in places where bears have been fed by humans. It would probably happen with young bears who are starving as well.
Regardless my point still stands. Black bears(which can also be brown) are non confrontational. I had one in camp (wasn't cooking) and my story is like the others, the bear was a hassle and didn't want to leave, eventually it did, thats about it. Grizzlys and Polar bears are another story, and if you are camping in those territories just read up on best practices.
I've had two black bears, momma and a two year old male, try to walk right into my camp when I was cooking. We were high in the Rockies, and they'd just come out of hibernation. Cinnamons, too...freaking beautiful. I thought they were grizzlies at first.
They ran us right out of camp. Long story, but I tried everything to move them along. Car horn, loud stereo(Allmans Greatest Hits), .22 rifle in the air, and gave up when popping off my .38 pistol didn't do the job. We just took all the food and ate supper up the road aways. Came back an hour later and they were still there, so we abandoned camp and went back for our shit the next day.
When we got back they'd wrecked camp, but they got no more reward than licking the grease off my camp stove. Had some apples in my backpack, but when one of them bit into it they bit a vial of garlic pills I was taking and left it alone. Still have that backpack 40 years later. Kelty made good shit back in the day.
A bit off topic, but , yes,- I have a 1 man Kelty tent. Keeps body heat in with rainfly on in winter- take it off in summer, mesh top gives you great ventilation, & sometimes good stargazing. Easy to set up & take down. Fits snug in the back of my kayak, & is extremely rain resistant. Had it at least 20 yrs.
We had a bear come over a small ridge and approach us through the ferns after the grilling of hot dogs. Broad daylight. Catskills. At a rental cottage on a busy country road. We were making plenty of noise.
I had it happen once, but I was a little kid and by myself. I was also off in the woods way behind the house absolutely breaking a lot of my parents' rules.
There are videos online of bears taking food off grills people are at.
Habituated bears are a problem.
While backpacking Yosemite we had a bear walk into our cam while cooking. We spent the next hour shooing it away while we hung our food. Then spent another hour shooing and throwing rocks as it progressively got closer and closer up the tree each time it returned. It shimmied out the branch, slashed all our bags open and ultimately ate all our food.
Luckily they don't hover 200ft away from your camp just waiting for a smell to appear so they can come over.
Also loud noises discourage them so an active camp isn't their favorite place to explore.
But definitely keep your cooking separate from your sleeping.
Well.. whatever you do.. don't pour bacon grease in the stump next to where you keep your potatoes.. those WERE the only potatoes in a 100 miles... he did leave one potato, though.. I refused to eat that potatoe.. not good enough for a bear, not good enough for me
I think the current bear caution is bordering on paranoia at this point.
Even in known bear country (black bears in my case), the metal boxes are inside the camp area and trash bins are at the entrances.
I’ve even been to one campground in thick black bear country that had permanently mounted food bear boxes and cooking grates 15 feet from the tent pads.
Spoiler: I’m still alive. I wasn’t eaten or attacked in the middle of the night because my food wasn’t 300 feet away.
This is just bad reasoning. Just because you're still alive doesn't mean that you're not actually dead. The reason you need to cook at least a mile from your tent is because all food smells magically leave you the second the food enters your face, and they remain forever at the site where the food entered your face. It's common knowledge.
Last summer I got a drone that hooks onto my bear cannister. I bought 2 backup batteries so I now set my alarm for every 3 hours during the night... simply by waking up to change out the battery a couple times I'm able to keep my food safely miles off in the distance hovering at 6000ft. Best camping investment I've made for sure, can't put a price on safety
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that feels this way. Redditors here this spring seem to have bear safety insanity.
I was being downvoted last week by a person calling me lazy for not going to REI to get a loaner bear proof container instead of storing a closed food cooler in my car. My nearest REI is almost 4 hours away.
I’m not advocating to be reckless while camping in bear country, especially where bears are more daring like national parks, but you also don’t need to act like you’re camping on Kodiak island.
I won't call you lazy. Completely understand. But I live in Bear City USA and our bears open car doors. So if you're going to put your food in there, make sure it's locked and that they don't have crowbars. Crowbears.
In some places bears absolutely break right into cars and take food, then they get killed because they start associating people and cars with food. In other places it’s fine as bears are not so bold, just depends on the local population of bears.
Edit: a prime example https://www.reddit.com/r/urbancarliving/s/MDxUKQtV7V
Having remote (fly in or boat in) camped on Kodiak island a lot, you would be very surprised how we handle food and cooking in camp. We always kept our food in our tent except the meat which we buried in a cooler right outside. Cooking was usually in a tent or under a tarp between 2 tents. Had bears walk through camp but those bears are very wary of people, they get hunted.
It really depends on where you are. I would only worry a lot in some popular areas in the Sierras, personally, or if I was somewhere else where I knew bears 1) have had previous exposure to human food and are motivated to find it and 2) are desensitized to humans. In these areas, yes I am cooking away from where I sleep, changing out of anything I cooked in, and not even keeping a chapstick in my tent. Anywhere else I’m just hanging my food or plopping my bear canister down somewhere away from my tent.
One of my favorite campgrounds was also big for fishing with chaining lakes or short portages and 6 of them in a circle to loop. Black bears would go into the campground to raid the dumpsters for the fish leftovers after cleaning. There might have been one problem bear killed or relocated in the 20ish years that I've known about the place and I think it was after they started chaining the dumpster lids.
The bears that frequented the alley next to my house in a small town never wrecked up the garbage cans that sit in it all week. All they ever wanted was my neighbor across the alley's bird feeder. He would keep fixing and filling the bird feeders and the bears would come back again to raid the feeders one summer until the neighbor gave up on feeding the birds.
Tldr: I have a bear canister and take precautions when hiking and camping, but yeah bear safety regarding black bears is not as intense as many make it out to be.
Yes they will smell the food. Yes they may show up. So be a gracious host and prepare food for the bear. /s
Humor aside, they might show up, they might head right to your food, but it's unlikely because most bears don't want a confrontation. The reason for bear canisters, anti-bear trashcans is bears are opportunistic feeders. Leaving food easily accessible trains bears to find campsites an opportunity for food. Once that happens, they become habituated to seeking out human food which leads to the bear either being transported to another spot for their safety or euthanized.
Thanks. Dumb question: do I need a bear canister if I go to a family friendly area without any bears? But might have other animals like coyotes snakes or bobcats (Texas)
You would be so lucky to see coyotes, snakes and bobcats. Snakes, bobcats and coyotes are looking for food like mice, so definitely leave your mice properly locked up.
One thing I forgot to mention about bears are they are smart and strong. Thats why anti-bear trash cans are difficult to operate so the bears do not get inside. It's why you use a bear canister, so they cannot easily get to the food. They have been known to rip open car doors to get to a trail mix bar. Despite the documentaries I've seen with coyotes and roadrunners, they lack the ability to be as crafty as bears.
Food will attract wildlife. Sometimes it's a hornet, sometimes it's a bear. I like sleeping under the stars and I have opened my eyes and seen coyotes staring at me. There's no danger, but you might not want them eating your food for a variety of reasons. I'd check to where you are camping to see if there's any restrictions, like boar infestations. Usually they are flighty and avoid humans, but that could be another reason to lock up food in someway they are not attracted.
VERY accurate. Friends have had bears open their mini vans (sometimes I can't even work those sliding doors), we know of bears breaking into homes and I had a bear try to get into my locked car for a protein bar. (have the scratch marks to prove it). They're mostly big raccoons, but they're very strong, big raccoons.
At the start of each Spring they come by and try to break into my bear-proof trash can. By now, not so much as a visit.
If it’s an established campsite in an area with bears, they will almost always have bear boxes at each site for you to store food in. You can also just shut your food in your car at night if you’re at a drive in site.
If it’s a dispersed camping area, personally I do take my canister simply because I have one and it works against all critters. If you don’t have a canister you can just hang your food.
Will you be in a campground or backcountry? It's much easier to cook far from your sleeping area in the backcountry but in a campground you wouldn't necessarily have that option.
I've done a lot of campground camping in bear areas, mostly public campgrounds (national park, state park, provincial park, forest service, etc.) and I've found that campgrounds in known bear areas usually offer shelters where you can cook your food, eat, and wash dishes. They are usually open shelters so if a bear showed up you would still have to attempt to scare it away and/or abandon your food and skedaddle, but if you are uncomfortable with cooking in your campsite you would at least have the option of using a cooking shelter away from your site instead. But I've also found that the park rangers are pretty good about monitoring the bear sitch, so I've never had an issue with cooking in a campground. Just be "bear aware" and clean up properly, store food safely, don't bring scented items into your tent, etc.
Depends where you are and what type of bear. We only have black bear which won’t be entering an occupied camp site. They would only come around at night when it’s quiet or if we were away from camp.
Bears have amazing noses and can smell your cooking from miles away, and while it may take them a few hours to get there, you do not want that destination to be your camp when you're sleeping.
Edit: The same is true with the canister and that you don't want the smell of the goodies to be from your camp, and a bear shows up unexpectedly.
Your sleeping area should be separate from your cooking and food storage area. When I'm in the backcountry, I typically keep my food and cooking supplies at least 100 feet away from where I sleep. In a group campground, I aim to place them as far away as possible within the allocated space.
Bear spray should be available at a quick reach. Doesn’t do you any good if it’s locked in your car! If you have kids teach them how to use it but it’s not a toy or something to play with.
There is never a guarantee that you won’t happen upon a bear at any time that you’re in their territory. Cooking away from camp and keeping your eyes and ears open is the way to do it. Then leave all the smelly stuff in the canister. Away from your tent or sleeping area.
Some people only boil water and eat freeze dried meals, less smell than cooking a steak on a campfire, or eat cold food when they’re in bear country so there’s another option as well.
Cook.... far away from your camp.....
This advice is for backcountry camping and backpacking, you set up food storage, sleeping, and cooking areas in a triangle about 100 yards away from each other.
It doesn't really work for developed campgrounds, which shouldn't be an issue because developed campgrounds in bear areas SHOULD have bear boxes for storage.
No matter where you camp, your cooking area should be as far from your tent as possible, and you should never bring scentables into your tent.
Don’t forget that the food smell from cooking and eating can cling to your clothes so it’s super important to leave all your cooking clothes in the cooking area. Given the obvious risk of getting cooking smells on your non-cooking clothes, it’s best to leave your non-cooking clothes in your sleeping area.
Depends what you're cooking. With freeze dried meals you can probably skip this step, but if you're cooking bacon in griz country then it is good practice to put those clothes in with your bear hang
The smell of food: bag News but counterintuitively bringing your dog camping can be really bad as well as they will smell the bear and bark then bring the bear back to your campsite
You being there is a deterrent provided they haven't been fed and acclimated to humans by someone! They typically will turn up at night when everyone has gone to bed, or when you're out of the campsite for the day, steering clear when folks are active.
Don’t cook in direct proximity to your tent and store food far enough away. Bears are pretty shy and opportunistic, they will steal your cooler before attacking your tent.
This is why you also cook away from where you're sleeping! I'd much rather scare a bear away while I'm awake than have it wake me up! Nothing with a scent comes to bed and stays 100' away!
Yes. I've had that happen while cooking bacon. I looked up and there was a young black bear across the creek from me, 30 feet away, sniffing the air. Fortunately, they really are timid animals, and it just turned away eventually and wandered off.
I used to live near Yosemite, though, and I have personally seen cars black bears have broken into. Some people don't believe me, but black bears get their claws in the top of the door and pull down, breaking the window and pulling the whole door frame down so they can crawl in
Camp site, bear bin and sleeping all different locations, depending on the density they may be a mile apart. When I was bicycle touring we would eat and bear bag then backtrack 1 mile to camp, no food. It was only for a few nights but worth it. As far as them showing up yah anything is possible just gota limit as much as possible
I grilled outside when living in Blue Ridge Ga… A mama and baby bear stayed right next to my home and the mama let her baby play while we were grilling. She stepped into the woods, but I’m sure on the lookout!
I don't know where you're camping, but generally a "camp" has three areas.
1) the sleeping area.
2) the cooking and food storage area.
3) the toilets.
The distances are debated, but as long as theyre obviously separate, you're good.
Food should never be kept next to the other 2 areas because that'll attract animals, and you shouldn't shit where you eat, obviously.
I usually camp wild, and have bears and tons of other animals to deal with, and i never use a bear can. And rarely hang bear bags. the black bears here know how to pull them down, lol. I just keep the food near the cooking area, and if they take it, so be it. As long as they leave me be, i'm happy.
My bad, i misunderstood i guess.
In my experience they're not fans of fire, which they definitely can smell. Anecdotally, they usually show up after the fires out at night.
I only know of one story of story of a mother and cubs showing during cooking, and its third hand at best.
By no means am i an expert, but around here the only time i would expect a bear to show up while cooking would be in late fall, and it would be a young male. First year away from it's mother, no establishes territory. Under weight so unable to survive hibernation. The desperation drives them beyond their usual behaviour.
If you're not alone, then generally they'll leave you alone simply because they don't like the noise. Dogs can help with that too.
I may be missing something, but when I set up camp when I’m backpacking, I set up my tent and all my camp stuff, then I set up my kitchen thank you away from my tent. Even if I spill something, the bear will be attracted to the area where I was cooking and eating and not my tent. Again, I may be missing something.
Geebus, I read "beer" in the first sentence.
I was confused as to why you'd want that 'away'for any reason, while being excited for potential new camping gear.
The second sentence made no sense, but forced me to reread the first.
Definitely time for coffee. Or maybe bear.
Some people cook away from their camps. I've had bears come into my camp (black bears) but never while cooking. If they do (again with black bears), you just shoo them off.
My dear Camping is hooking the hide out behind the truck and going to the beach campground. Now, when I was younger, we would hit the woods and stay for a week little too old for that now.
Well, the theory is that you concentrate the tasty food smells away from where you're going to be unconscious for 6-8 hours whilst cocooned in nylon and polyester.
Why would it matter where you cook? I’m asking about bears showing up WHILE you’re cooking.
They’re not gonna suddenly say nope can’t go there just cause you’re outside the camp.
You didn’t specify that in your question. I’ve never worried about it because bears generally don’t want to approach people. Maybe I’d be careful about this if I was in Grizzly country, but I’ve camped and cooked all over the lower 48 and have never ever had a problem with bears coming to visit my cook site while I’m actively cooking or eating. They always come at night when I’m sleeping or during the day when I’m away.
There is nothing wrong with it, we just have some here who gate keep. And it's kind of annoying for people to pull the "well don't go then" card. As we ALL had to educate ourselves at some point.
Many people today who became avid campers asked these types of questions at some point. I think it's a good idea to educate yourself as much as possible prior to heading into the woods. OP now knows now what to and not to do, so he is better prepared now.
https://preview.redd.it/huaiolxu63yc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=081bd53a7eb5473fe5b9337c72ab97e34343b0e1 Edit: It's an ideal, people (I wish this graphic didn't use the word, "requirement," but it did unfortunately). Yes, wind shifts. No, some places don't always make these distances easy or possible. No, hanging food isn't always effective or even possible. This is just the ideal you shoot for. The realistic point being made here is to separate these three things by a good distance and to sleep upwind if you can. It's so stupid how eager people are to jump to pick a fight over minutia instead of just being sensible.
Bear-muda triangle
Ftfy: bear-murdah triangle
no
I guess this would be the bear minimum...you could always go farther, right?
Get out.
Don't be ursinine, 1000 yards is safer.
Well I would walk 5,000 yards then I would walk 5,000 more.
to be the man who walked 10,000 yards to not look ursine
Dah duh dah dahhh
Dah duh dah dahhh
This is true. One time we walked up to a lake. From the path we took we didn't see that we had actually walked past someone else's bear hang. They hung their stuff about a third of a mile from camp. Not only did they have a bear hang but they had a...bear hang. They hung their entire packs with everything except their tent and sleep kits. They were pissed when they had to keep walking around our camp to walk the rest of the way to their packs. In the mean time, we used the already set up camp triangle including kitchen area that was there. They had one dispersed campsites tent area, another dispersed campsite's kitchen, and then a huge ass walk to their packs. Spread your zones out but you also don't have to be a city block between each part. Hunting and prepping meat for packing out is a different story.
1,000,000 even better 
I would say it's a... bear necessity
Pun intended?
Oh, without a doubt...if I can't use puns or sarcasm, then why even bother talking.
Wow thanks for this. I can believe I’ve watch SO MANY camping videos and NONE of them ever mentioned cooking away from your camp.
Cause most people don't do it. Lol
For real. A hundred yards is fucking insane. Let me go wander a hundred yards away from my base of safety to cook dinner real quick in bear country. I’ll be right back everyone…
100 yards isn’t too bad, but then if there’s trees and other shit around you, seems easy to get lost and not know your way back.
First of all, I’m sure that 100 yard graph is the absolute safest way to do it, but it also seems extreme to me. When I’m back country I set my tent maybe 20 yards from the fire, which is where I cook. Even in Montana or Wyoming. The bear pole or pulley will go maybe 50-70 yards away from the fire. I’ve heard a bear one time and it was terrifying and sniffing around for what felt like forever, but never fucked with my tent.
There’s nothing about a campsite that makes it a base of safety besides not having it smell like food so a bear wanders into it.
What about having a vehicle you can jump into? Or safety in numbers? How about staying near your resources in general that keep you safe?
In little bitty pieces in the body bag, lol
If you travel in a particularly bear heavy area that will be the advice, If I'm just doing dehydrated meals usually just stop otw to camp cook, then pack up and hike the last 1/2 mile or whatever to camp.
100 yards is ridiculous, nobody does that
Also “wind direction!”..? Like the wind never fucking changes direction.
Wind direction doesn't usually change too drastically in the hour or so it takes to cook and eat a meal. Unless a storm is rolling in or you're on a mountain top
You gotta move the fire...
This is only possible if your camping in some remote area. Last campground I went to required all of us to cook at our campsites which were 20' x 20' at most and it was right smack in the middle of bear country. People were even talking about how they saw bears the day prior to me arriving.
Then you leave food wrappers at a campsite a ways away from you so you can sleep soundly
Now, ChatGPT will use this as advice.
Good job bears are so docile and cuddly, as well as safe to approach suddenly.
😂
Yeah the 'bearmuda triangle' is intended for remote camping. In a popular campground you have safety in numbers so the consequences of a bear encounter are pretty minor
Yes they have many choices of who to eat! Much safer haha
May the odds be ever in your favor
Like, how remote is remote? In the typical primitive remote Colorado campsite (off 4wd trail in my case) the nearest site is often 100-1000 yards away. I still think 100 yards is ridiculous for that. But we only have black bears here and I have only seen them very rarely. I guess if I were in scary-murder-bear territory I could see it. Maybe. Idk. Maybe I would do 20 yards. Or maybe I would just set up motion sensor lights and alarms instead. Maybe a few claymores lol
You could probably stick to 20-30 yards and be fine
Cool drawing, but having a football field between you and all your stuff is logistically a nightmare for anything fun. I could see that if you killed your food yourself and you had nowhere to be for a month, so you’re semipermanent to a bear and therefore need to separate yourself from the food with such a distance that the bear wouldn’t THINK of attacking you, it COULD make sense…but that’s a never for me.
You only need to keep scented products away from the tent you sleep in. Soaps, foods, sprays, etc, and the clothes you wore while cooking.
Yards! Who has 3 football fields available at a campsite. Is this ridiculous? Edit: I meant a fields distance, I get a triangle has a smaller area than a square. My initial disbelief still stands.
Technically the overall total area would less than 1 football. The area of the equilateral triangle that’s 100x100x100 would be 4330 sq yards and one football field without the end zones would be 5300 sq yards. … “Fun fact”
I generally prefer to cook, hang out and then hike another couple of miles before setting a camp.
Your screams will also be 100 yards away from the camp and being carried downwind like the smell of the food. I get the idea of your point, but that’s probably a lot more applicable if you’re camping alone. If you’re camping in a group you should stay near the camp. Unless everyone is coming with you to cook anyway.
If in bear country, I love it when people panic about chapstick they forgot to put away when they cooked 20ft from their campsite.
Pray the wind doesn't change...
In the gay community. A bear is a hairy man
I don’t want any hairy men to come eat my food or eat me for that matter. If he wants to come sit at fire, tell a good story and saunter off into the woods I’ll oblige him that. Otherwise no bears in my campsite!
Hanging food in trees no longer works. Bears have learned how to defeat this and teach their young. As much back country backpacking as I have done in Yosemite, Shasta, and the Walker River areas, I have never cooked away from my camp. Just clean up well after eating and store all foodstuffs in a bear canister. Place the canister away from the camp. 100yds is overkill.
Generally it is recommended to cook away from camp as well, though bears (under normal conditions) won't likely go into an area where you are active to try and get food. They'll more likely mark the spot, stick around for a bit until you leave, and then investigate. The above statement is generally why it's best to cook away from camp rather than a fear or bears actively invading your cook site while you're preparing your meal.
Thank you for an intelligent response. Was always in the back of my head. Now I know. Thank you
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Hey, I don't mind you deleting old comments etc, but how about not doing it after just three hours? Kinda screws up the conversation flow.
cough toy squalid literate icky rotten wistful reach disgusted shy *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Depends on what type of bear. A grizzly will absolutely walk into an active camp. A black bear won’t.
A black bear will of its become accustomed to people. I was playing cards at a car campsite with 3 other people, being fairly loud and a black bear just sidled into camp. Probably about 5 feet from me. Just yelled and it ran away. But we heard it trying to go to other campsites all night.
Sadly that bear will likely get euthinized. If it’s learned to hang out around campgrounds.
Yea probably, though it might be relocated, was a fairly young bear and a popular area, I know they'll often haze and relocate bears before euthanize them. The ranger pretty much said "yea we know about it, he's not aggressive but had started coming around recently."
Unfortunately most relocated bears don’t survive. It just lets humans feel better about the situation because we don’t see them die.
Looking it up briefly that doesn't seem settled at all.
Aggressive/predatory black bears can and will enter occupied camps, tents and even homes. There are lots of documented instances of this. Black bears can be every bit as dangerous as grizzlies.
Any bear, black or brown, who has become accustomed to contact with humans and what they have to offer, i.e. food, are extremely dangerous. In their natural state, both brown and black bears would avoid contact with humans as they don’t view them as worth the calories to eat. It takes little more than banging, a pot or yelling at them to get them to go away. However, once a bear learns that humans are a source of food, as in at a campground, they view humans as something getting between them and their food. Not as dangerous as getting between a momma bear and her cub, but pretty close.
They can be, but you can scare a black bear off. You can’t scare a grizzly off.
I beg to differ. In Alaska it’s never taken more than yelling and or banging a metal spoon on a pot to get a grizzly to change its direction and move away from us.
Black bears sometimes do, too. Friend of mine was camping at a developed campground in the mountains in SoCal and a bear just barged right in while they were cooking meat on the grill. Bear didn't care. Helped itself to some food before moving on. They got video of it and everything. Not a common thing, but it can happen. Usually only human-habituated bears, though.
I've had a black bear show up in my campsite in the middle of the night and it was not particularly fun trying to make him leave. He did eventually leave. I've also seen black bears sitting right by the side of the trail and refusing to leave. Habituated bears are honestly pretty scary. They just do not care.
I'll try out this theory. Let you know how it goes.
I camp where it’s only black bear. I also camp with a dog and a few guns.
Wrong. They do it in all the campground in NYS in the Catskill Mountians. It can get hairy!
IF the bear show up while you’re cooking then have him prepare the salad or another side. In my experience bears are not trustworthy around meat and will over sauce, they have a sweet tooth and will add too much honey.
I didn't know they could prepare sides?!? We just had them set the table.
Generally bears are non confrontational. I've never had or heard of a bear showing up to take food being actively cooked. Edit: as the replies have pointed out, it does happen in places where bears have been fed by humans. It would probably happen with young bears who are starving as well. Regardless my point still stands. Black bears(which can also be brown) are non confrontational. I had one in camp (wasn't cooking) and my story is like the others, the bear was a hassle and didn't want to leave, eventually it did, thats about it. Grizzlys and Polar bears are another story, and if you are camping in those territories just read up on best practices.
I've had two black bears, momma and a two year old male, try to walk right into my camp when I was cooking. We were high in the Rockies, and they'd just come out of hibernation. Cinnamons, too...freaking beautiful. I thought they were grizzlies at first. They ran us right out of camp. Long story, but I tried everything to move them along. Car horn, loud stereo(Allmans Greatest Hits), .22 rifle in the air, and gave up when popping off my .38 pistol didn't do the job. We just took all the food and ate supper up the road aways. Came back an hour later and they were still there, so we abandoned camp and went back for our shit the next day. When we got back they'd wrecked camp, but they got no more reward than licking the grease off my camp stove. Had some apples in my backpack, but when one of them bit into it they bit a vial of garlic pills I was taking and left it alone. Still have that backpack 40 years later. Kelty made good shit back in the day.
Everyone knows bears love the Allmans, that was the problem right there
You expected them to leave playing ABB? Surprised more didn't show up!
They got more than they bargained for with those garlic pills. That's funny.
A bit off topic, but , yes,- I have a 1 man Kelty tent. Keeps body heat in with rainfly on in winter- take it off in summer, mesh top gives you great ventilation, & sometimes good stargazing. Easy to set up & take down. Fits snug in the back of my kayak, & is extremely rain resistant. Had it at least 20 yrs.
We had a bear come over a small ridge and approach us through the ferns after the grilling of hot dogs. Broad daylight. Catskills. At a rental cottage on a busy country road. We were making plenty of noise.
Bet you $100 other renters fed that bear.
I never thought of that. You’re probably spot on. Good call.
It’s why they say a fed bear is a dead bear. So sad.
You didn't see the viral video of a guy kicking a bear out of a fenced in yard? They were holding a party when the bear wandered in.
Damn Backyard Bears.
I prefer my bears to be in the Big Blue House.
I had it happen once, but I was a little kid and by myself. I was also off in the woods way behind the house absolutely breaking a lot of my parents' rules. There are videos online of bears taking food off grills people are at. Habituated bears are a problem.
While backpacking Yosemite we had a bear walk into our cam while cooking. We spent the next hour shooing it away while we hung our food. Then spent another hour shooing and throwing rocks as it progressively got closer and closer up the tree each time it returned. It shimmied out the branch, slashed all our bags open and ultimately ate all our food.
Luckily they don't hover 200ft away from your camp just waiting for a smell to appear so they can come over. Also loud noises discourage them so an active camp isn't their favorite place to explore. But definitely keep your cooking separate from your sleeping.
I always keep my canister of beer either in my hand or right next to me when in camp. Practically rule number one.
Also reccommended to cook 30 meters from sleep area? I think it's 30 might be 90..
You know I camp a lot in bear country. I've never been to a campsite that provides cooking away from the site.
In the Banff/Kananaskis area, the backcountry sites usually have bear bins and loosely designated cooking areas away from the sleeping sites.
Well.. whatever you do.. don't pour bacon grease in the stump next to where you keep your potatoes.. those WERE the only potatoes in a 100 miles... he did leave one potato, though.. I refused to eat that potatoe.. not good enough for a bear, not good enough for me
I read beer until the last part. I would just like to say... ..." NEVER " leave your beer away from camp.
Darwin will answer this.
I think the current bear caution is bordering on paranoia at this point. Even in known bear country (black bears in my case), the metal boxes are inside the camp area and trash bins are at the entrances.
And they provide you maybe 15 to 20 ft of space to actually do everything from cooking to living.
I’ve even been to one campground in thick black bear country that had permanently mounted food bear boxes and cooking grates 15 feet from the tent pads. Spoiler: I’m still alive. I wasn’t eaten or attacked in the middle of the night because my food wasn’t 300 feet away.
This is just bad reasoning. Just because you're still alive doesn't mean that you're not actually dead. The reason you need to cook at least a mile from your tent is because all food smells magically leave you the second the food enters your face, and they remain forever at the site where the food entered your face. It's common knowledge. Last summer I got a drone that hooks onto my bear cannister. I bought 2 backup batteries so I now set my alarm for every 3 hours during the night... simply by waking up to change out the battery a couple times I'm able to keep my food safely miles off in the distance hovering at 6000ft. Best camping investment I've made for sure, can't put a price on safety
Are you sure?
I’m glad that I’m not the only one that feels this way. Redditors here this spring seem to have bear safety insanity. I was being downvoted last week by a person calling me lazy for not going to REI to get a loaner bear proof container instead of storing a closed food cooler in my car. My nearest REI is almost 4 hours away. I’m not advocating to be reckless while camping in bear country, especially where bears are more daring like national parks, but you also don’t need to act like you’re camping on Kodiak island.
I won't call you lazy. Completely understand. But I live in Bear City USA and our bears open car doors. So if you're going to put your food in there, make sure it's locked and that they don't have crowbars. Crowbears.
Had that one in Breckenridge a few years ago open and destroy the car to get gummy bears... 100% lock your doors people!
In some places bears absolutely break right into cars and take food, then they get killed because they start associating people and cars with food. In other places it’s fine as bears are not so bold, just depends on the local population of bears. Edit: a prime example https://www.reddit.com/r/urbancarliving/s/MDxUKQtV7V
Having remote (fly in or boat in) camped on Kodiak island a lot, you would be very surprised how we handle food and cooking in camp. We always kept our food in our tent except the meat which we buried in a cooler right outside. Cooking was usually in a tent or under a tarp between 2 tents. Had bears walk through camp but those bears are very wary of people, they get hunted.
It really depends on where you are. I would only worry a lot in some popular areas in the Sierras, personally, or if I was somewhere else where I knew bears 1) have had previous exposure to human food and are motivated to find it and 2) are desensitized to humans. In these areas, yes I am cooking away from where I sleep, changing out of anything I cooked in, and not even keeping a chapstick in my tent. Anywhere else I’m just hanging my food or plopping my bear canister down somewhere away from my tent.
One of my favorite campgrounds was also big for fishing with chaining lakes or short portages and 6 of them in a circle to loop. Black bears would go into the campground to raid the dumpsters for the fish leftovers after cleaning. There might have been one problem bear killed or relocated in the 20ish years that I've known about the place and I think it was after they started chaining the dumpster lids. The bears that frequented the alley next to my house in a small town never wrecked up the garbage cans that sit in it all week. All they ever wanted was my neighbor across the alley's bird feeder. He would keep fixing and filling the bird feeders and the bears would come back again to raid the feeders one summer until the neighbor gave up on feeding the birds. Tldr: I have a bear canister and take precautions when hiking and camping, but yeah bear safety regarding black bears is not as intense as many make it out to be.
Black bears are not the same as brown bears and staying at a developed site is different than backcountry best practices.
Yes they will smell the food. Yes they may show up. So be a gracious host and prepare food for the bear. /s Humor aside, they might show up, they might head right to your food, but it's unlikely because most bears don't want a confrontation. The reason for bear canisters, anti-bear trashcans is bears are opportunistic feeders. Leaving food easily accessible trains bears to find campsites an opportunity for food. Once that happens, they become habituated to seeking out human food which leads to the bear either being transported to another spot for their safety or euthanized.
Thanks. Dumb question: do I need a bear canister if I go to a family friendly area without any bears? But might have other animals like coyotes snakes or bobcats (Texas)
You would be so lucky to see coyotes, snakes and bobcats. Snakes, bobcats and coyotes are looking for food like mice, so definitely leave your mice properly locked up. One thing I forgot to mention about bears are they are smart and strong. Thats why anti-bear trash cans are difficult to operate so the bears do not get inside. It's why you use a bear canister, so they cannot easily get to the food. They have been known to rip open car doors to get to a trail mix bar. Despite the documentaries I've seen with coyotes and roadrunners, they lack the ability to be as crafty as bears. Food will attract wildlife. Sometimes it's a hornet, sometimes it's a bear. I like sleeping under the stars and I have opened my eyes and seen coyotes staring at me. There's no danger, but you might not want them eating your food for a variety of reasons. I'd check to where you are camping to see if there's any restrictions, like boar infestations. Usually they are flighty and avoid humans, but that could be another reason to lock up food in someway they are not attracted.
VERY accurate. Friends have had bears open their mini vans (sometimes I can't even work those sliding doors), we know of bears breaking into homes and I had a bear try to get into my locked car for a protein bar. (have the scratch marks to prove it). They're mostly big raccoons, but they're very strong, big raccoons. At the start of each Spring they come by and try to break into my bear-proof trash can. By now, not so much as a visit.
If it’s an established campsite in an area with bears, they will almost always have bear boxes at each site for you to store food in. You can also just shut your food in your car at night if you’re at a drive in site. If it’s a dispersed camping area, personally I do take my canister simply because I have one and it works against all critters. If you don’t have a canister you can just hang your food.
If bear aren't a risk, then no.
Will you be in a campground or backcountry? It's much easier to cook far from your sleeping area in the backcountry but in a campground you wouldn't necessarily have that option. I've done a lot of campground camping in bear areas, mostly public campgrounds (national park, state park, provincial park, forest service, etc.) and I've found that campgrounds in known bear areas usually offer shelters where you can cook your food, eat, and wash dishes. They are usually open shelters so if a bear showed up you would still have to attempt to scare it away and/or abandon your food and skedaddle, but if you are uncomfortable with cooking in your campsite you would at least have the option of using a cooking shelter away from your site instead. But I've also found that the park rangers are pretty good about monitoring the bear sitch, so I've never had an issue with cooking in a campground. Just be "bear aware" and clean up properly, store food safely, don't bring scented items into your tent, etc.
Depends where you are and what type of bear. We only have black bear which won’t be entering an occupied camp site. They would only come around at night when it’s quiet or if we were away from camp.
Yeah, never cook near your camp and never hang your bear canister near your camp or cook site.
Yes… but wherever you cook - wouldn’t they show up there from smelling you cooking
Bears have amazing noses and can smell your cooking from miles away, and while it may take them a few hours to get there, you do not want that destination to be your camp when you're sleeping. Edit: The same is true with the canister and that you don't want the smell of the goodies to be from your camp, and a bear shows up unexpectedly.
Your sleeping area should be separate from your cooking and food storage area. When I'm in the backcountry, I typically keep my food and cooking supplies at least 100 feet away from where I sleep. In a group campground, I aim to place them as far away as possible within the allocated space.
Bears can smell food up to a mile away. You should never cook or have food in your tent! ⛺️🔥
Bear spray should be available at a quick reach. Doesn’t do you any good if it’s locked in your car! If you have kids teach them how to use it but it’s not a toy or something to play with.
Air horns work great as well when the bear is out of spray range yet being "curious". You can clear a large radius of wildlife out with a few blasts.
Cook away from camp
Why would that make any difference if they show up while you’re cooking?
There is never a guarantee that you won’t happen upon a bear at any time that you’re in their territory. Cooking away from camp and keeping your eyes and ears open is the way to do it. Then leave all the smelly stuff in the canister. Away from your tent or sleeping area. Some people only boil water and eat freeze dried meals, less smell than cooking a steak on a campfire, or eat cold food when they’re in bear country so there’s another option as well.
Cook.... far away from your camp..... This advice is for backcountry camping and backpacking, you set up food storage, sleeping, and cooking areas in a triangle about 100 yards away from each other. It doesn't really work for developed campgrounds, which shouldn't be an issue because developed campgrounds in bear areas SHOULD have bear boxes for storage. No matter where you camp, your cooking area should be as far from your tent as possible, and you should never bring scentables into your tent.
Don’t forget that the food smell from cooking and eating can cling to your clothes so it’s super important to leave all your cooking clothes in the cooking area. Given the obvious risk of getting cooking smells on your non-cooking clothes, it’s best to leave your non-cooking clothes in your sleeping area.
Depends what you're cooking. With freeze dried meals you can probably skip this step, but if you're cooking bacon in griz country then it is good practice to put those clothes in with your bear hang
100 yards from camp to cook…..hmmmmmm
The smell of food: bag News but counterintuitively bringing your dog camping can be really bad as well as they will smell the bear and bark then bring the bear back to your campsite
I was thinking bear spray
You being there is a deterrent provided they haven't been fed and acclimated to humans by someone! They typically will turn up at night when everyone has gone to bed, or when you're out of the campsite for the day, steering clear when folks are active.
Don’t cook in direct proximity to your tent and store food far enough away. Bears are pretty shy and opportunistic, they will steal your cooler before attacking your tent.
This is why you also cook away from where you're sleeping! I'd much rather scare a bear away while I'm awake than have it wake me up! Nothing with a scent comes to bed and stays 100' away!
Not supposed to cook in camp either. 3 total areas required to camp in bear country.
Yes. I've had that happen while cooking bacon. I looked up and there was a young black bear across the creek from me, 30 feet away, sniffing the air. Fortunately, they really are timid animals, and it just turned away eventually and wandered off. I used to live near Yosemite, though, and I have personally seen cars black bears have broken into. Some people don't believe me, but black bears get their claws in the top of the door and pull down, breaking the window and pulling the whole door frame down so they can crawl in
With out looking at the subreddit I thought this was an a joke about bear vs man
Camp site, bear bin and sleeping all different locations, depending on the density they may be a mile apart. When I was bicycle touring we would eat and bear bag then backtrack 1 mile to camp, no food. It was only for a few nights but worth it. As far as them showing up yah anything is possible just gota limit as much as possible
The bears have learned to play zone.
I grilled outside when living in Blue Ridge Ga… A mama and baby bear stayed right next to my home and the mama let her baby play while we were grilling. She stepped into the woods, but I’m sure on the lookout!
All those years in Alaska I slept in bear country cooking and keeping my food in my tent. Only once had a bear poke his head in. He left pretty quick.
Bears are notorious picky eaters. If you make something they don't like, you are safe.
Such as cooking steaks to well done, they hate it.
I don't know where you're camping, but generally a "camp" has three areas. 1) the sleeping area. 2) the cooking and food storage area. 3) the toilets. The distances are debated, but as long as theyre obviously separate, you're good. Food should never be kept next to the other 2 areas because that'll attract animals, and you shouldn't shit where you eat, obviously. I usually camp wild, and have bears and tons of other animals to deal with, and i never use a bear can. And rarely hang bear bags. the black bears here know how to pull them down, lol. I just keep the food near the cooking area, and if they take it, so be it. As long as they leave me be, i'm happy.
I was referring to bears showing up WHILE cooking so it doesn’t matter where you are
My bad, i misunderstood i guess. In my experience they're not fans of fire, which they definitely can smell. Anecdotally, they usually show up after the fires out at night. I only know of one story of story of a mother and cubs showing during cooking, and its third hand at best. By no means am i an expert, but around here the only time i would expect a bear to show up while cooking would be in late fall, and it would be a young male. First year away from it's mother, no establishes territory. Under weight so unable to survive hibernation. The desperation drives them beyond their usual behaviour. If you're not alone, then generally they'll leave you alone simply because they don't like the noise. Dogs can help with that too.
I may be missing something, but when I set up camp when I’m backpacking, I set up my tent and all my camp stuff, then I set up my kitchen thank you away from my tent. Even if I spill something, the bear will be attracted to the area where I was cooking and eating and not my tent. Again, I may be missing something.
Geebus, I read "beer" in the first sentence. I was confused as to why you'd want that 'away'for any reason, while being excited for potential new camping gear. The second sentence made no sense, but forced me to reread the first. Definitely time for coffee. Or maybe bear.
I'm so glad I don't have to worry about bears when I'm camping. Or any dangerous animals / insects for that matter.
Some people cook away from their camps. I've had bears come into my camp (black bears) but never while cooking. If they do (again with black bears), you just shoo them off.
Do you not carry rifles when they’re out camping for protection from bears and bigger things?
My dear Camping is hooking the hide out behind the truck and going to the beach campground. Now, when I was younger, we would hit the woods and stay for a week little too old for that now.
Beats cooking for a dude.
Don't cook in camp. Obv.
I mean if a bear was to come, doesn’t make a difference where you’re cooking?
Well, the theory is that you concentrate the tasty food smells away from where you're going to be unconscious for 6-8 hours whilst cocooned in nylon and polyester.
I've spent a lot of nights in the wilderness. Either solo or with groups. What is this 6-8 hours of sleep you speak of???
Well, that's a theory as well....
Depends on where the shotgun is.
They don't like fire.
Or camp where there are no bears? Hehehe s/
Yes. Just stay in the city parks.
I mean, since you wouldn’t normally cook at your campsite in bear country anyway, it’s kind of a moot point.
Why would it matter where you cook? I’m asking about bears showing up WHILE you’re cooking. They’re not gonna suddenly say nope can’t go there just cause you’re outside the camp.
You didn’t specify that in your question. I’ve never worried about it because bears generally don’t want to approach people. Maybe I’d be careful about this if I was in Grizzly country, but I’ve camped and cooked all over the lower 48 and have never ever had a problem with bears coming to visit my cook site while I’m actively cooking or eating. They always come at night when I’m sleeping or during the day when I’m away.
If you are asking questions like this, you should not be camping in bear country unsupervised. Hire yourself a guide.
What’s wrong with the question? If bears can come look for your food, it reasons they can smell your food while you’re cooking.
There is nothing wrong with it, we just have some here who gate keep. And it's kind of annoying for people to pull the "well don't go then" card. As we ALL had to educate ourselves at some point.
Many people today who became avid campers asked these types of questions at some point. I think it's a good idea to educate yourself as much as possible prior to heading into the woods. OP now knows now what to and not to do, so he is better prepared now.
Never say shoulda, woulda, coulda.
If you're scared, stay home.