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Ursack Minor Compromised
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May 9, 2011 at 7:22 pm #1273565
… in a riparian environment in Grand Gulch, UtahThis was tied off but sitting ON a limb. I think that provided a stable opportunity for someone to work it over. I was out of camp for about 10 hours.
Lesson Learned: Suspend it from a branch to make it less "available" and less stable.
I have had about 30 nights out in canyon environments without so much as a nick.
The good folks at Ursack are replacing it. A "first", they said.May 9, 2011 at 10:09 pm #1734858Get a swab sample done on that hole, then get a DNA test run on it to determine the culprit's species.
–B.G.–
May 10, 2011 at 3:54 am #1734896It looks like it was caused by the desert mice that you see in southern UT. They have tiny razor sharp teeth that after some time, will saw through about anything. They seem to enjoy the challenge.
The bags that use stainless steel mesh may have been better in this case.I had a pack of coyotes take turns on my hanging standard Ursack. There were many teeth impressions, but none penetrated and no food damaged.
I should have hung it higher, but there were no tall trees in the area.
May 10, 2011 at 5:34 am #1734915"I had a pack of coyotes take turns on my hanging standard Ursack. There were many teeth impressions, but none penetrated and no food damaged."
Last summer I had a black bear give a go at my standard ursack, but it was not hanging, there were no trees. I also had many tooth impressions, with only a few actually puncturing the ursack. We were sleeping in a campground, so we had no choice but to tie our ursacks together and hope for the best. I woke up to a bear beside my head thrashing the ursack around. For the amount of time and energy the bear spent trying to get into it I'm pretty impressed that there were only a few tiny holes.
May 10, 2011 at 6:50 am #1734939May 10, 2011 at 8:02 am #1734958The contents of my Ursack Minor were Not in an OP sack.
May 10, 2011 at 8:23 am #1734966Hey Randy,
I do use an Opsak, but more to keep the food dry than anything.
I gave up on trying to hide smell as I find it is hard not to get some smell on the outside of the Opsack when you are handling food opening and closing it.You'd have to wash your hands every time you handled the bag or you end up getting some sent on it.
Also, some critters have learned what food bags are from hanging around campgrounds. Anything human, means food to these critters.
May 10, 2011 at 9:47 am #1734992I use a metal mesh bag in the Canyons. Weighs 4oz and will fit 4-5 days of food. I don't bother hanging it — I used to until I woke up one night and saw what looked like a huge mouse Christmas ornament. I also noticed that some ziplock bags put directly in the sack had little teeth marks, so I made a silnylon stuff sack the same size as the mesh bag. Keeps food dry and the mice can't seem to get at the slippery fabric at all.
May 10, 2011 at 2:44 pm #1735095Forgive my ignorance here, but how do you identify the animal from its chew marks?
A big animal with big teeth will bite and then rip a bag. A tiny animal can only chew a hole. Can you tell a coyote chew from a raccoon chew? I know marmots are bad. They can chew straight through a heavy cordura nylon, and they just love to chew up leather patches and wool shirts.
–B.G.–
May 10, 2011 at 3:17 pm #1735106Re: how do you identify the animal from its chew marks?
The size of the marks, shape of the marks and the location where it happened.
In my case(and most others) the animals were caught in the act:-)
May 10, 2011 at 4:17 pm #1735136I think the Ursack probably works excellent if you
1] Use an Aluminum liner
2] Hang the Ursack
3] Use an Upsak inside the UrsackThe third item isn't so important if you do the first two. I just bought the white Ursack and probably will plan to perform all three tasks in cases where I expect to be away from a base camp for several hours, however, if not then I will probably just stick with 2 and 3 and save the weight of the liner.
May 10, 2011 at 4:43 pm #1735149"In my case(and most others) the animals were caught in the act:-)"
Rodentia in flagrante delicto.
The culprit deserves to meet its demise in a stew pot.
–B.G.–
May 10, 2011 at 6:46 pm #1735194edit
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