For those that take ursacks, how do you portage them? I assume you toss them in a separate backpack. How many ursacks do you usually take? Do you just keep them in camp? Do you use an opsack liner?

For those who use vaults is there a harness or pack made to carry them? Or do you just put them in your other packs? In camp do you ever tie them to a tree so they don’t get rolled into the woods? How many do you usually take? I imagine I’d need at least 1 just for the dog food.

I can't speak to the ursack yet, but will be getting one this year in an attempt to lighten up the load. I will use it just for the dried goods and then continue to use one bearvault for the wet food and some fragile equipment. I can get 4-5 days into a vault and 2 vaults ride nicely in a CCS rucksack

4keys: "For those that take ursacks, how do you portage them? I assume you toss them in a separate backpack. How many ursacks do you usually take? Do you just keep them in camp? Do you use an opsack liner?

For those who use vaults is there a harness or pack made to carry them? Or do you just put them in your other packs? In camp do you ever tie them to a tree so they don’t get rolled into the woods? How many do you usually take? I imagine I’d need at least 1 just for the dog food.

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I’ve used an ursack last two trips, just a single XL for a 5 day trip for two and a solo. I just carry it in my portage pack, strap it to a tree as directed at night. I use “smelly proof” liners, work great.

I pack my BearVault 500 in my pack or strapped to my pack.

One of these is good for one person for 4-7 days depending on your style of eating. Maybe more is all is dehydrated meals and moderate portions.

I've been using canisters and then Ursacks since the early 2000's. No separate pack - I'm usually solo without a dog. I take one or two depending on the length of the trip (I've taken trips up to 17 days). If taking two I'd usually put one in each of the 2 packs I take.

The canisters and original (smaller) Ursack are about 10.5-11.5 liters capacity. Ursacks now come in larger sizes - an XL at 15 liters and a 2XL at 30 liters. Even the largest are considerably smaller than a typical pack - a CCS Guide pack is about 93 liters.

I use Opsacks and Smelly proof bags in both canisters and Ursacks. I follow the instructions for use on the Ursack website. I take them outside of camp at least some distance, depending on the options. I have not normally tied the vaults to a tree but have been careful about where I place them outside of camp.

To give you more information on volume:
Since the first times I have condensed my food (and packaging) into dehydrated dinners, cold cereals, bars and nuts (no liquids) to fit more into the canisters and Ursacks. I can get 8-9 person-days of food in a smaller one. For me a day of food is typically 16-18 ounces (packaged) and about 2200 calories. This food is compact and low odor.

4keys: "For those who use vaults is there a harness or pack made to carry them? Or do you just put them in your other packs? In camp do you ever tie them to a tree so they don’t get rolled into the woods? How many do you usually take? I imagine I’d need at least 1 just for the dog food.
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I just pack my bear vault into my gear pack with all of my other stuff. For an 8-9 day solo trip or shorter, I just take one bear vault (BV500 size for 6-9 day trips and BV450 for trips 5 days or shorter). For a trip longer than 9 days, I take both the BV500 and BV450. Last year on my longer solo trip (17 days) I used a BV500 and a Bear Keg, which is about the same size as the BV500. On that trip, due to the weight of the additional food and space taken by the Bear Keg, I brought a second pack in which I carried the things that went into my tent (clothes, sleeping quilt, pad, etc).

I own several bear resistant canisters. I prefer the Counter Assault Bear Keg for its capacity, durability and closure system. One Bear Keg holds about 7 days of food. I do not secure the canister to any object in camp, I just place it outside of camp where it is not likely to roll into the water if investigated by an animal. I single portage and use an internal frame backpacking style pack with the food canister attached to the front of the shoulder straps. There are straps and cases sold to aid in carrying a canister or you can place them inside an appropriate sized pack.

My system may be cumbersome for some people, but it works pretty well for me. My trips have been solo and with either one or two dogs, and I tend to carry more food in the fall when it's colder. I do not single portage.

I have a 10 and a 30 liter Ursack and a BV500. I have put the 10 liter Ursack in one of my two packs with other gear, but usually I do not. Mostly I use waterproof Sealine type pack that coincidently used to be my food pack when I was hanging my food. I don't recall the size, but when I switched to a 30 liter barrel I could fit it inside the old food pack for carrying. Mostly now I put the BV in the bottom sideways, the the two Ursacks on top of it usually side by side. When I leave it on portages I sometimes use a carabiner to clip it to my canoe so if a bear tries to run off with it, it's going to have a hard time and make noise.

I typically use the BV for my smellier foods like dry sausage or cheeses, and my more vulnerable foods that would be poorly defended in the Ursacks like a tube of oil for frying, a tube of peanut butter, and a tube of maple syrup. I usually have 1-2 days dog food just in case, and my toiletries. I usually look for a spot just out of camp where there is a down tree or log or something to make it a bit harder to roll away. I have sometimes found cracked rocks and put it in the gap making it nearly impossible for a bear to get it out. My concern is so many campsites are basically round granite domes and a bear might knock it around and have it roll into the water. I have only heard of one case in the BWCA where a bear canister was rolled out of camp. I think it was a Garcia but may be wrong. The bear may not have opened it, but it was not scene again that I know of. That was reported on this site. I also try to find a spot where it will not easily tip over in case rain comes. They are not tightly sealed when closed, and I have twice had them get water inside.

In my Ursacks I will have some dog food and my food in each, trying make sure everything it there can take a little abuse like commercial freeze dried or my own dehydrated foods - things that are not going to get punctured and leak. Both my dog food and my people food will go in their own Opsac to try to reduce the odors, then I put both of these inside another supposedly scent-resistant bag that also just helps keep everything dry if it rains. I don't know how scent-resistant the outer bags really are, but they probably help some.

For my dog food, I have usually liked to use a food sealer to bag a day's portion to further help reduce scent. I would open one in the morning, travel, the use the rest in the evening so I could put the opened bag in the trash with its dog food smell. This is less efficient space-wise however. When packing for a 21 day trip, I could only get about 8 1-liter bags in the 10 liter Ursack. I found putting the dog food in bulk in Opsak was more space efficient. I tie them to trees not too far apart just outside of camp, hopefully dangling from a strong branch just away from the trunk to give a bear less leverage.

I used a Ursack many times. It just goes in my backpack. I'm a solo single portage tripper.I only use a CCS Pioneer pack for everything. My trips are usually 5 days long

I have used Ursacks for a few years now. I pack the food into odor reducing bags inside the ursack. The opsacks don't hold up so I buy "Smelly Proof" brand bags and have also used the gallon size mylar vacuum storage bags I can buy online (opaque silver ziplocks). I can reuse these odor reducing bags for multiple trips (I wash with soap and water when I get home just to get rid of any food smells they may have picked up).

On solo trips, I carry everything in a single pack so the Ursack is just another stuff sack alongside my gear.

On group trips, it depends. If we end up needing to take our 50 L EarthPack, then I usually pack as many of the Ursacks in there as will fit. That way, once most of the food is eaten, we can just tuck that pack inside another one and have fewer items to haul over a portage. Otherwise, if we are only taking 110L Seallines, I just mix the Ursacks in amongst the other gear.

We mostly carry dehydrated food items. But when I bring liquids (oil, cream, syrup, etc.) I bring along a bear canister for those.

I use the quick release carabiner hanging method in this video: Ursack Quick Release method

Super easy hang method and I use color coded carabiners for different meal categories.

I hang them a little ways from camp (away from cooking area) and away from paths but close enough that I would probably hear if a bear was messing with so I could yell and swear. If we go on a day trip or out fishing with no one in camp, I bring our Ursacks along.

I travel with 3 Ursack. I think they are XL models with 15 liter capacity. I carry 2 backpacks (40-55L volume) and a daypack. One goes in each. This provides plenty of room for a 17-20 day solo that I typically take. I double or triple portage.
They are stored tied to trees in 3 locations separated by ~200 ft. Although I have not had a problem with bears (yet) I feel this gives me the advantage of not losing all my food during a single ‘raid’ if such would occur.

I take two sacks for a two week trip. I keep my food in my regular food pack and at night I stuff and hang the sacks.

When I used to single portage on solo trips I would put the bear vault in my 1 portage pack with everything else. Now I double portage on solo trips and tandem trips with one of my kids so it goes in my daypack which is a ccs wanderer (smaller version of the rucksack). It fits nicely with room for my rain gear and a few other things in there like water bottles, saw, first aid kit etc. 2 Bear vaults would fit nicely in a ccs rucksack. I like it in the daypack so I can get to snacks or lunch while on a traveling day or on a day trip.

I stash back in the woods away from trails.

We use bear vaults and put them in our packs lined with waterproof pack liners when paddling and portaging. In camp when not cooking/eating we stash them away from camp and I try to keep them off any steep hills where they can roll away easily. Haven’t tied them to a tree or anything. All our food inside is vacuum sealed or in plastic to help waterproof it and try to reduce smells. I don’t find them difficult to use or pack. We use 2 bear vaults and an bear resistant container of a different brand. Holds enough for our family of 5 for a 4-5 day trip. We ended up with an ursack randomly last fall but haven’t tried it out yet.

All my gear goes into one pack, including the ursack. If i'm paddling a solo, I use a hiking style pack as it fits in the boat better. In a tandem a #3 Frost River.

I have a BearVault BV500-Journey. It is carried under the brain of my pack (the brain of my pack converts to a day bag for in town or for day/side trail hikes which is why I bring it) with only that day's food and other items, like my water filter's cleaning tools, rain poncho, extra dry socks in a ziplock because eww worn socks loose in my food canister, paper map, cook set but not the fuel (that goes in a pocket), sunscreen (again in a ziplock incase it leaks), etc that I might need during that day and don't want to dig through my pack for.

The rest of my food goes in my pack during the day in separate smellproof bags.

I've squeezed 10 days of food into it by repackaging almost everything, and leaving some things like wrapped candies and flavour/coffee/sugar packets loose to fill the gaps. It definitely tested my Tetris skills!

At night, my food, other smellables, and the ziplock of food related trash all fit without worry.

It is worth the weight for the convenience of not having to precisely place everything in it (when only carrying 3-7 days of food), and it's a taller camp seat than the smaller BVs.

I carry it like this during the day for a couple of reasons; the food inside the pack during the day for balance, so there is not as much weight in the top part of my pack.

The other is so I don't have to dig it out of my pack if I want to use it as a quick seat for meals or other types of breaks; those 12.7 inches make a big difference to my knees when sitting because they can be slightly bent vs the full drop to the ground which makes getting back up, for me anyway, a lot more difficult.

I use a URSack, and a BV-500 canister, both with OPSack smell-proof bags inside. 2 guys for a week and it's more than enough food storage. Hang the bag and tie the BV to a tree with some braided paracord. Use a stick to push in on the tabs on the BV when opening cuz that can be a pain in the a44.

We base-camp, so everything is stored in our "waterproof" packs until we arrive at our camp. I suppose it does not matter too much if your bags/vault get wet if you are using OPsacks since they are "waterproof" anyway. I also bring dehydrated meals; so, meals inside vacuum-sealed bags inside OPsacks inside the BearVault inside my waterproof pack. Soaked food shouldn't be an issue... shouldn't...

I use 1 BV500 for 5 days solos, I single portage. I made a simple harness that clips to the front of my pack. I take off the harness in camp and stash it back in the woods, in a slight depression if I can find one.

My buddy and I bring two BV 500's for our 5-6 day trips and all the food fits into those. I typically stash mine in the woods around camp, looking for a depression where a large tree has been uprooted. Bonus points if there is a tree trunk lying partially across it.

On one trip this stump was at the edge of camp and I just couldn't resist using it for my Bear Vault at night - a perfect fit. Usually put something over the top of it at night. It was a little challenging for me to get it out of there in the morning so I think it would be very difficult for a bear - maybe not. Anyways it worked and was awfully convenient.