Ursack failure

Some poor bear is gonna die now.

Some bears have figured out how to get into bear canisters too.

“Some bears have figured out how to get into bear canisters too.”

Yes, of course. My post wasn’t trying to say ursaks bad, canisters good. I still own and still plan to use ursaks on my trips.

I was just really taken aback at how shredded the ursak was, I hadn’t seen something like that  before.

What a complete surprise!!

Watch for more spin from the Ursack CEO about how the backpackers were at fault for not securing the bag as directed.

There are more reports of  Ursack failure in that same thread……

I hike in black bear territory in Pennsylvania so I’ve never had a need for an Ursack, but we do use the PCT method to hang our food at night.  I saw that the Ursack in the photo was tied to a tree…

For you Ursack users, if you can hang it out of reach (and I’m not suggesting that the hiker in the link could have), do you?  It seems to me that the bear might have been initially attracted by the smells but would have given up if they couldn’t reach it rather than “taking all night to shred it.”

This goes to show why all methods are “bear resistant”. I am curious about this later comment “…one of which was also hung 15 feet before being ripped down and ripped open.” I’m curious how they hang the Ursacks; traditional hanging (like Yellowstone NP) or the PCT method.

-Barry

My buds were camping in Panthertown Valley, NC last fall and had a similar Ursak event. More people in the woods equal more bear encounters. Maybe Skurka was right about sleeping with food.

Bear slobber is disgusting. I really don’t want to eat out of sack full of chewed up mush with slobber on the outside.

Hanging an Ursack sot of defeats the purpose,doesn’t it? if the bear can get to it, he or she will drag it off and you’re unlikely to find it, I think. Or at least that could happen. And then the bear could work on it at its leisure.

I suppose Ursacks are good protection from rodents and marmots and such.

So the the bear spent the whole night working on it? I wonder whether they tried to persuade it to discontinue? Make a noise, throw rocks etc?

…. so a  Ur$ack will survive at least a 6 minute attack.

But CT bears, given lots of time, seem to have found a weak spot.  Just like Yosemite bears learned about food decades ago.

With a little more motivation and time this bear

(jump to the 10 minute mark)

… probably could have started shredding the bag.

Am I going to get up and throw rocks at a bear that obviously wants that food? All night long?

Seems a bit risky to me.

nm

on the TV news, there were a couple bears going into grocery stores

one ate candy bars, one ate produce, the TV announcers made a few jokes about that

I saw a human slapping the rear of one of the bears.  The bears did not run away from humans at all.

Those are the two bears I’m worried about.  Human injuries seem inevitable.  Attempts to chase off or relocate will probably be futile.

Use the liner

^^^

Pretty sad when Ursack doesn’t know the difference between thickness versus gauge:

It’s a thickness of 0.025 inches or 22 gauge.

Looking at the pictures, I’m not sure it would have made a difference.  It looks like the fabric was “raked” until it failed.  A hard backing might have helped the bear.

Sounds from the discussion like there are a lot of problems in that area with bears and human food. That’s the first step in solving the problem – and now it’s a bigger one.

I like my Bearikade. It might not be failsafe, but it won’t be easy for a bear to crack. Peace of mind.

@ngatel I have only see some BV failure, never a Garcia can though.

My Bearikade has never failed. I think the only way it would is if the bear knocked it off a cliff and then went down to eat the spilled food.

I once had a notorious bear thief tip over my Bearikade. Nothing more. I think she hoped the lid was loose. I knew it was a bear because she gnawed on the medicine bag that I’d stupidly left out, thinking a bear would have no interest.

to my mind, bear canisters are still the gold standard. There may be some few engineer types with wicked arms that can pinpoint a stone 50 feet up a tree and then triangulate an unbeatable hang that can still be retrieved the next morning.
That won’t work above tree line.

Another solution to this problem is simply to avoid these through-hiking ant-trail highways. After roughly 500 nights in the Colorado mountains, I’ve never had problems with a bear. They have probably all converged on the CT (kidding, I know how to recognize bear scat). A bonus is that you won’t see five people every hour.

Hard shell bear resistant containers have been required in Yosemite for years. No soft ones of any kind are permitted.

The pictures show the Ursack tied around the trunk of the tree. Instruction say it should be fixed up around a strong branch.

“Another solution to this problem is simply to avoid these through-hiking ant-trail highways.”

+1

“The pictures show the Ursack tied around the trunk of the tree. Instruction say it should be fixed up around a strong branch.”

The OP of that article was asked about that, and since the OP didn’t tie the opsak, they didn’t know whether it was tied up further on the trunk of the tree and slid down or whether whoever in the party did tie it up did so near the ground.

I was told a group in Alaska had bears testing various containers. All failed eventually except the UDAP one (I think). A big enough bear could push down on a can till the lid popped off.

When I bought my Ursack, the instructions suggested tying it to a stout branch rather than a tree trunk, making it harder for a bear to get a good grip.  I also think that the aluminum insert might have prevented the OP’s problem.  It would be helpful to know how many Ursack failures have happened while the insert was actually being used.

I think the jury is still out regarding the odor “proof ” bags.  Every one I have used has developed holes and tears  from freeze dried food packaging and ultimately had the ziplock closure fail.  They might work while new, but not for multiple trips or for a long period.   All that being said, I have used the Ursack with insert in CO for 5 years now and have never had a problem.   The sheer numbers of people now hiking and backpacking in the state in this Age of Covid have surely contributed to more bear encounters, and many of those folks do not keep clean camps,  or they end up camping where previous campers did not exercise good bear protocol.   Yeah, we’re probably going to see more dead bears.

Oder proof bags were tested in a BPL article using drug stiffing dogs as “bears.” The bags failed miserably.

I do put my food in plastic to minimize odors. But “odor proof” is a stretch.