Squirrel problems

I’ve had holes in three Ursack Majors and two Ursack Minors.  Read the fine print on the website.  They acknowledge the problem.

Any experience with the ursack allmitey?

perhaps this would help. [Ratsack]

The reviews of the “critter” kevlar bags without stainless steel are conflicting, so I must have just been lucky a few times.  At all other times, have hung the kevlar bag, and had no problems.

Adding steel mesh to the kevlar bags, the bag alone gets pretty heavy, more than what I’d want for backpacking light.

You could try Opsacks, but to be effective they require double bagging and clips over the closures.  That is still a lighter alternative than steel mesh, though, and using a light green spectra bag (similar to Dyneema, and Ursack no longer makes them) for an outer, and hanging them up high, they have withstood over a week used as caches.  That would be a lighter option than the ones with steel mesh.

But for just overnight, I’ve never had the kevlar bag broken into, even when there were bears prowling around; but note that the bags were hung on a branch several feet from the tree, and lowered a few feet below the branch.   Squirrels are pretty acrobatic, but not on the professional level.  Have been battling to keep them out of the house for years, and finally had to put on a new roof to stop them.  Hanging is not such a pain when you get used to it.  No trees?  Guess it might have to be the steel mesh.

Have to agree with the steel mesh not being light. The Large is 10.5-12 oz alone. REI is conflicting, it says both. Of course the next best thing is a Bearikade Scout at 29.81 oz

^^^

If you are worried only about squirrels and ravens, and have less than 6 days of food, a popcorn tin from walmart works fine.

Describing your trip location and duration would help getting specific answers.

The rat-sack is still lighter than the Allmitey (and cheaper).  My large weighs 12 oz but it’s huge, almost 4x of Almitey.  Use it for week-long trips to Grand Canyon for 2 people and have room to spare.  It has fended off many of sharp-toothed mice.

If you’ve got the pack volume, the tins that flavored popcorn or Danish butter cookies come in are decently light for their volume, totally squirrel- and raven-proof and lighter than bear canisters.

$10 with lots of popcorn inside, $1 empty at any thrift store, or free around the office during the holidays.

The one I have is 10-inch diameter at the top, 9-inch diameter at the bottom and 7.5″ tall so 531 cubic inches = 2.3 gallons = 8.7 liters and weighs 19 ounces.

Not so good weight-per-volume, but smaller in a pack are clean, empty gallon paint cans (at Home Depot or any paint store).

Ratsack. It’s what I’ve used in the Grand Canyon where the squirrels and ravens are extremely aggressive. It’s that or a cookie tin and the ratsack is easier to pack.

I buy our Royal Canin cat food in 15-pound bags.  It’s a pretty heavy plastic-coated (on the outside) aluminum foil bag with a great ziplock seal.  Each time I throw one away I wonder if I should clean one out and save it as a food storage bag.  Has anyone used something like this with any success (or failure)?

It would certainly be lighter than a popcorn tin and a lot easier to pack as there was less in it as the trip went on, but we wouldn’t want it to be lighter because a critter got into it and took (or worse, “sampled”) all of our food.