Food protection in the Ozarks

Just hang your food bag in a tree. Ideally it should be something like 15-20 feet off the ground and 6 feet away from the tree trunk (somebody please correct me if I got those numbers wrong). The idea is that neither a bear standing up beneath it or a bear hanging from the tree trunk at the same height as the food bag would be able to reach it. Also, make sure it's a hundred feet or so downwind of your campsite. The bears in the Ozarks are pretty shy and not as used to getting food from hikers as the bears in the Appalachians or in parts of the Sierras, so you probably won't have any problems no matter what. As an extra safeguard, you could get a couple of the Aloksak odor proof bags and put your food in those. As for what kind of bags you should use to hang, just use a silnylon stuffsack, or two or three, depending on how much food you have. Or, if you are willing to take the time to look for a tall enough tree, just put all your food in your backpack and hang up your backpack.

Bear vaults are great when you don't know if there will be trees suitable for hanging a food bag (for instance, near treeline where all the trees are narrow firs with no overhanging branches), but are pretty unnecessary in someplace like the Ozarks.

I do not have any experience hiking in the Ozarks. I do have experience hiking in the Sierra. The Sierra, at the elevations I usually hike, 6000' to 10,000', do not have many trees that meet the requirements for proper bear bagging. In fact, in the more than 40 years since I first backpacked, I have only seen one tree that did. It has since fallen into the lake. My experience with Sierra bears has been that, with the exception of "campground" bears, they are very wary of people and are not a problem. I typically sleep with my food. Though I do not leave food in my camp if I'm not present.

It is my "opinion only" that the area of the Ozark mountains is more heavily populated and therefore the bears may be more likely to view people as a food source. If those of the posters to BPL have specific experience in the Ozark region you will get more accurate information.

I have seen the "electric" bear canister of which you wrote, and certainly think it would deter a bear very well. And, it is certainly lighter than most any bear canister except the Ursack. Due to the long distance between supply points, and depending on your expected mileage, you may need to carry more than one.

As to tying any type of soft sack to any tree, etc., Bears are incredibly strong and, if they can reach it, could readily rip the sack free. I'm not sure how stout the Ursack might be but if a bear can get "purchase" I would think it could possibly damage the material. I believe I've read of bears puncturing the Ursack with their teeth. That would ruin any food I typically carry.

You would best find local information regarding just how much of a threat bears really are. Typically you should respect bears but, in my experience, you don't need to fear them.

I hope you publish a trip report of your hike. I have a son who lives in the eastern U.S. and I have thought of planning a trip with him in the Ozarks. The photos I've seen show a really beautiful area.

I live in Missouri and have backpacked extensively in the Missouri Ozarks. I've also done my fair share of backpacking in Arkansas. The Arkansas Ozarks (where the Ozark Highlands Trail is) is a very similar ecosystem as is in Missouri. It is mostly below 2000' (though the highest point in the state is about 2700'), mixed hardwood and conifer forest, lots of rolling hills and lots of streams. Although Missouri has few bears, Arkansas has some. I have never encountered a bear while backpacking in either state.

From the Arkansas Game and Fish website: "Arkansas’ black bear population, historically distributed statewide, was nearly extirpated by the early 1900's because of over exploitation from unregulated hunting and habitat loss caused by human population expansion. In 1951, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission reported that only 40-50 bears remained in the state. Between 1958 and 1968 approximately 254 bears were introduced to Arkansas."

Bear hunting has been allowed in the state since 1980. From my own experience, bears tend to be more fearful of humans in areas where they are hunted.

>As to tying any type of soft sack to any tree, etc., Bears
>are incredibly strong and, if they can reach it, could
>readily rip the sack free.

If you hang it out of their reach, then they can't readily reach it. Not that complicated of a problem. The comparison really shouldn't be made, but when compared to the Sierras, the Ozarks is much more like a lowland plateau than a mountain range. It is, in fact, a mountain range. Just that it's a very, very old one that's been eroded over billions of years.

I did 27 miles in the Ouachitas (also in Arkansas) last weekend. I saw some bear scat and tracks, but no bears. I just put my food bag in my vestibule, so nothing would try to come in my tent after it. :)

I spend a lot of my free time in Arkansas. I'll see what my friends up there have to say and get back to you.

Would it be possible to cache your food ahead of time in a location only known to you? This way you wouldn't have to carry so much food. One thought is to use your Bear vault as a cache container, so your first part of the hike is using the bag hanging method and then the second half would be carrying the bear vault, or once in town ship it home.

Many thanks for all the replies. As always, the members of this site are very knowledgeable and informative.

Donna – I will be flying into Arkansas and then using a mixture of public transport and private shuttles to get to and from the trailheads so it will be very difficult for me to cache food in advance, although it is a great idea and would be perfect if I lived closer.

Denis – I will certainly take many pictures and will post my trail log when I return. I am really excited about the prospect of this trail as it is the most adventurous thing I have ever done in my entire life.

Art – You have given me some fantastic advice and I thank you for this. I am not overly worried about the bears but I am wary of them which is probably the best way to be. As I don't have much experience with them (only since I came to the States and began backpacking again), I am probably more wary than people that have been around them all their lives, although I am learning all the time.

Roman – many thanks for your post and I look forward to hearing back from you.

I guess that I am going to be visiting a lot of trees in the near future and learning how to hang a bear bag properly. I will probably have to wear a crash helmet the first few times I try it!!

JimC

There's a few slightly different methods, but the easiest one to describe goes like this: tie a rock to the end of your bear bagging line (50' length of light line is usually enough). Find a tree that has a branch hanging at least 18-20 feet off the ground and ten or so feet away from the tree trunk. Throw the rock over the branch. Your line will hopefully now be draping over the desired branch. If not, take it down and try again. When it's positioned right, haul the food bag up one end of the line and tie the other end of the line to a tree trunk.

The above method is how I do it. Another method is counter balancing, which basically involves two stuffsacks full of food that are balanced on a single line, and a long stick to get them both out of reach of an upright bear.

I also live in Missouri and never even knew there were bears in the state until I started talking to a lot of seasoned hikers. From what I've heard, there's plenty of bears in Arkansas, but they're all black bears so you shouldn't have to worry about them bothering you. Black bears can be annoyingly curious, but are rarely confrontational so long as you keep your food away from where you sleep. Every bear attack I've read about has involved somebody keeping food in their tent. Occasionally black bears will wander into campgrounds, and in some very populated national parks in the western United Staes, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, they've been known to break into cars because they smelled some piece of food, or saw a cooler or grocery bag through the window. However, as has been mentioned, bears that know hunters tend to be much less bold than bears that are protected from hunting (anywhere in a national park, for instance).

Most of my hiking has been in Arkansas. Many times I have seen bear scat, but never a bear. I generally just do the simple bear bag method of tying a rock to a line and throwing it over a branch. Make sure it's away from your camp and downwind, and everything should be fine.

Sounds like a great hike; one I would like to do soon as well.