Bears and the Casita trailer

[Ice-breaker]

Originally Posted by Stephen_Albers

My thought is that bears probably would be put off by a porch light coming on over the refrigerator. I'm swapping out the anemic one from Castia and fitting a floodlight - one for the front too.

The only thing that the lights would do is make it easier for the bear to see what he is breaking into!

I would keep my food in the fridge and keep the bear spray and bear bangers handy.

[Bing M.]

Don't know but would moth balls in the area behind the fridge mask food smells or deter bears from trying to get in. Just wondering, or any one tried?
I know for certain that if a bear can see in, it will go in. So close all your curtains. Speaking from experience.

[jerrybob]

We camped in the Eastern Sierras for over 35 years.....tents...trailers....saw lots of bears and really stupid people around bears. Never heard of one messing with the back of a fridge. Food inside should be fine in my opinion. Have seen bears destroy the top of comvertables.....people left food or toothpaste inside. Saw a grandma put her granddaughter near a cub with the mother bear about tenty feet away......she wanted a picture. I pulled the kid away....told the grandma to not be so stupid......just stupid city folks not knowing what they're doing.....probaly thought it was like Disneyland. In any event......bears will leave you alone if you leave them alone and properly store food. BTW....fished every lake up there.....coaught lots of trout.....miss the Sierras.

[RockyBob]

Even though bear spray is always recommended, I think an air horn is much, much more effective. In the book "Bear Attack", as I remember, the author described a team of researchers counting salmon in Alaska. Because the location for counting would be a natural for brown bears, every day the team blew air horns as they approached the river. All summer they saw no bears, so one time they experimented and didn't use the horn. The place was full of bears.
I asked a Yosemite park ranger if an air horn was more effective than spray. "Sure, but you're really going to annoy your neighbors!" Duh!

[Romerohiker]

Originally Posted by Steve Outlaw

Crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle.

Thanks to Gary Larson's Farside for putting a finer point on this...

[Robert Reighter]

Originally Posted by Bluemoon53

Hi there -
Just got back from a trip to the Big Pine area in the Eastern Sierra, and we had an encounter with a bear in the Casita. Woke to a scratching sound and realized a bear was trying to get into the refrigerator from the outside vent panel. Has anyone else ever experienced this? Luckily, I opened the door and scared it away, and there was no damage. But I guess from now on in bear country I will store food in the bear box as recommended. I thought I was a little safer in the hard-sided trailer, but I guess not! Bears do have an incredible sense of smell, and they can smell the food through the outside vents - so beware!!

Thank you for this reminder.

[4cornersjohn]

Jann Todds post.

[sandunes123]

We had a bear visit and I told him my Casita is your Casita and we had breakfast together LOL!

[EllPea in CA]

Originally Posted by Iowa Dave

Buy a cylinder of bear spray and a holster to carry it. Make sure it’s available and easily deployed. Understand how to use it.
Review the lyrics to “Tie me Kangaroo down”
Pay attention to the line “So we tanned his hide when he died, Clyde and that’s it hanging in the shed. Use the bear boxes, Camp near the host and ask them if they have been having any problems with bears. Camp away from sloppy campers. Bears can smell strawberry jelly and bacon grease from long distances. Make your teenagers sleep in the camper, not a tent with a loaf of bread for a pillow. Don’t get between a sow and a cub. They don’t poop in the woods if they can find a clearing.
Iowa Dave

EXCELLENT ADVICE!

[robf]

My dad was a conservation officer for his whole life (in Ontario, Canada). He said bears are just like people - 95% of them are just fine characters. Avoid the rest. :-)

[CalCop]

Originally Posted by robf

My dad was a conservation officer for his whole life (in Ontario, Canada). He said bears are just like people - 95% of them are just fine characters. Avoid the rest. :-)

The hard part is determining which bears are the 5%

[robf]

Originally Posted by CalCop

The hard part is determining which bears are the 5%

Yeah, that's the joke - you need to be cautious and respectful with all of them.

[Speedbump]

I have heard what I thought was a bear scrounging around outside my Casita one nite while boondocking. I reached over and grabbed my key fob and hit the PANIC button to activate my truck horn. It must have startled him pretty bad. I heard a crash outside and then all was quiet. I went outside the next morning and one end of the picnic table had moved about 3’ from where it was ! My lantern didn’t fare so well !

[kontiki]

Originally Posted by New Orleans John

In bear country; I would bring one of those. Or both !

I have no clue what either of these are. Please explain more than just photos.

[New Orleans John]

Originally Posted by kontiki

I have no clue what either of these are. Please explain more than just photos.

One is a portable electric fence energizer. Used when you are boondocking in deep bear country. Very effective. My friend Bob sleeps in the Clam. The other is a sound & light deterrent. Can be placed in front of fridge's vent louvers. It will startle anything moving by.

[Melissa T]

Interesting. I know as a tent camper to NEVER have food in tent...not even gum! I also know when cooking outdoors, change clothes before going into tent.
I did learn from a ranger program to avoid bear bells. These tinkle long distances and sound like a critter to bear. I mention this because someone mentioned children and that often is what we would resort to for protection.

[South Coast Stu]

Originally Posted by Jann Todd

So you are expected to unload your fridge and put it in lockers to get warm and spoil. That is insane. You can't unload all food from your trailer if you are traveling for a long time and put it in a locker. For us it would take 2-3 lockers most likely. If in a tent yes food into the locker as well as an ice chest if not inside. Food in a fridge should not smell outside if it is covered. We've camped all over Canada and the northern US with bears around and have not had any problems. I've never heard of emptying your RV of food.

Emptying your fridge sounds crazy to me too. I've got an electric fence for backpacking in bear country https://www.udap.com/mm5/category/bear-electric-fences Might be worth setting up around the trailer in this situation?

[Mike_L]

About emptying the fridge?
We boondock in bear country all the time and often leave our unit unattended with no problems.
I may be wrong on this but I don't think my fridge is vented directly to the outside?
The condenser is located in an air plenum to dissipate heat but this is isolated from the internal compartment(s). Heated air within this plenum rises, drawing air IN through the lower vent and expelling it through an upper vent, usually on the roof.
While a bear would be able to smell any odors present, it would likely have difficulty locating the source, which would be its primary goal. Bears don't usually bother things that don't smell like food.

[South Coast Stu]

Most (including mine) have a drain line that goes from inside the fridge to outside. That's all a bear's nose needs to know there are vittles inside

[Mike_L]

Originally Posted by South Coast Stu

Most (including mine) have a drain line that goes from inside the fridge to outside. That's all a bear's nose needs to know there are vittles inside

Stu, you're absolutely right. I'm going to take another look just in case