I have read many posts about these. Which is best and so on.
In one match's coffee thread someone wrote about a bear dragging off their breakfast food barrel and the barrel being ripped apart by a bear. I have read other posts stating a bear has shredded a barrel.

I have to ask. What's the point of the barrels if they get shredded?
Are these barrels being shredded by bears being left on the ground? Is that the main purpose of them - so you don't have to hang it?
Has anyone had a barrel attacked by a bear and had the barrel survive?

They seem like such a grand idea except I see photos and read stories about them being destroyed. All I can figure is people must leave them on the ground.

I have no barrel but hang all food high between two trees and far from the trees if possible. Only once (last August) that I recall have I not had the food bag way up high. That was due to many shorter, branchless trees. I usually have the food separated in heavy Ziplocks as well to prevent odors that may attract a bear.

There are smaller bear canisters that ARE impervious to a bear (for the most part) and are approved for example for use in backcountry places where bears (including grizzlies) are an issue.

So my "Bear Vault" canisters should indeed withstand a bear attempting to get my food (except one New England bear who is too smart and can actually open this type of can).

There are other brands as well...

Blue barrels or olive barrels, etc. will mask odors to some degree and prevent rodents from chewing into food, but if a bear WANTS in, I think they can GET in...

Blue barrels are not bear proof. they may stop smells from escaping, but if a bear wants in a bear will get in. no problem.

Bear Vaults, Bear Kegs are others are bear tested and approved for use in national parks and places with bear problems. apart from one bear in New England that has figured the Bear Vaults out, I do not know of any other bear that has ever gotten into them.

Blue barrels were first used by those folks taking far north trips, sub-arctic stuff, where ther are no trees to hang food from. They need somthing scent/waterproof so the real bears wouldnt find it and them. Olive barrels were popular also before the blue barrels. The blues were used as shipping containers inside large cargo containers on ships, then repurposed. The use has made its way down here to us.
As said they were never advertised as "bear proof".
I have been hiding food packs for years,wrapped in plastc bags, down the shore back in the wood.
If a bear has learned to come to a campsite for food dont you think he knows what tree everybody uses to hang food from and that packs contain that food? We dont hang or hide any food anywhere close to camp. Its a big forest out there for them to look in if its not in camp.
CB

IMHO there is no end all perfect solution.

But, for my $ they (barrels) seem to be the best option? For many years I have always left mine sealed on the ground with my food also in sealed bags inside. I leave my pots & pans on top to scare away any animal if they tip it over & to alert me to their presence. NEVER had a problem. And personally know of no one who has had a problem with a barrel in the BWCAW.

Not saying it can't happen? But I think the odds of it happening are comfortably astronomical.

IMHO it's more important to keep a clean camp & not leave food scraps laying about or grease in/on the firegrate than what type of pack/barrel you use for storing your food anyways.

I think people read a handful of stories about it happening and forget that there have been millions of people who have visited the BWCAW over the years. Those are pretty good odds!

quote Cedarboy: "If a bear has learned to come to a campsite for food dont you think he knows what tree everybody uses to hang food from and that packs contain that food? CB
"

If everyone is walking 50 - 100 yards from camp to hang or stash, I would think that not everyone is finding the same tree. With some exceptions of course.

Thanks for the info above thus far.

Alright, I understand they are not "bear proof". So is there anything other than keeping food odors in that makes purchasing one worth while as opposed to just hanging as I and many other have done and continue to do.

Also, are people using this and leaving them on the ground thinking it is good, or do you still hang it?

This is your opportunity to talk me into buying something!

I have a 60L “blue” barrel and harness that I got from Suko here on the board when I purchased my canoe from him. It also came with a custom barrel harness that Peter made. Need to do a review on it one of these days. Pete knows a thing or two when it comes to humping a pack around. There is a picture of it in his photos.

I bought a $5 bicycle locking cable at Wally World to “lock” it up to a tree. Not going to stop someone else from taking it as a wrote the combination on the side of the barrel.

All of my food was vacuumed packed and placed in the barrel and stashed this last year. Part of the time it was not placed real deep in the woods.

We had one night this last May that in the morning I almost stepped in bear s@#t about 10” from the barrel, but it was sitting just as we had left it the night before.

I am thinking about getting an Ursack for soloing, but will continue to use the barrel for most of my trips…..at least until this system fails.

Yes I do know that Ursack is not 100% either.

We use a 5 gallon bucket w/gamma seal lid on top to make it airtight & scentproof. This year we stashed the bucket away from camp and hung a bag that had all of the 'smellables' that we couldn't fit into the bucket.

If you have access to the buckets, gamma seal lids are cheap - about $10/ea after shipping, give or take.

Due to overflow issues on both trips so far I think we're going to pick up a second bucket w/lid for future trips.

I use a bear keg (the yellow one) for backpack camping. It fits into my pack, is relatively small and light, and it is bear-proof from what I hear. Never had it bear tested.

For canoe camping, I have been using the "blue barrel" now for the past 5 years. Like KevinL, I keep mine cable locked to a tree so that it can't easily be walked off with. Also like KevinL, we've had a bear in camp (Insula) and it walked right past the blue barrel. Didn't touch it.

In your post you mention you've seen photos of shredded barrels. I have yet to see one with the type of blue barrel I use. The picture of the shredded barrel that fishguts often posts is not the same barrel I have.

This...





...is not the same barrel as...



...this

quote mc2mens: " This...






...is not the same barrel as...




...this"

Exactly!

Most black bears would have a very tough time cracking into one of these. (2nd picture)

Jeff I have stated before the blue barrels are a connivance thing not bear proof at all. I strap my barrel to a tree and you guys are gonna laugh at this but I'm going to put a cheap alarm on it. Bear Scare Figure if I'm sleeping it will wake me. If I'm out fishing it will alert me to the problem either way it should be loud enough to scare the bear away. Sorry if I bother anyone out in the area but if it comes down to me losing my food on day 2 of a 10 day'er I'll take the heat.


JB

Nuts! The pictures aren't opening. Will try later.
I think the example barrel at the Tofte ranger station is a blue barrel. I have seen some different ones online from time to time.

I like the idea of an alarm JB. I looked it up. The remote is a good idea in case you see or hear a bear in camp before it gets to the food. I currently have a couple bells on my bag.

My food bag is an old Navy sea bag that will have a 5 gallon or smaller igloo drink cooler in the bottom and food on top in the dry bags. It isn't too easy to hang!

Seems like they would be a good way to go if everything is sealed inside and it would save time by just locking it to a tree instead of screwing around with ropes and hoisting a bag.

This gamma seal must be sort of like a V-band clamp? I have read about them here and will look that up. I think I would prefer to go with a five gallon bucket. Chaining that to a tree wouldn't be so easy as I assume a bear could bust the bucket handle off quite easily.

Thanks everyone. Your input is appreciated.

I've never had any problems with my Ursack.

We had a bear in camp one night on a small island in the Albemarle Sound. It got into everything (even tore my PFD off a line next to my hammock) but the Ursack. That, it left alone.

quote jb in the wild: "Jeff I have stated before the blue barrels are a connivance thing not bear proof at all. I strap my barrel to a tree and you guys are gonna laugh at this but I'm going to put a cheap alarm on it. Bear Scare Figure if I'm sleeping it will wake me. If I'm out fishing it will alert me to the problem either way it should be loud enough to scare the bear away. Sorry if I bother anyone out in the area but if it comes down to me losing my food on day 2 of a 10 day'er I'll take the heat.



JB"

damn that looks like that would be annoying to the whole lake!! What's wrong with pots and pans???

Thing is, to me, if you're gonna stash anyway (my approach since 2005), then the barrel only adds weight and rodent proofing, yes? I've not had any rodent issues (ever) and if I'm gonna add weight, I'm choosing to add weight of Bear Vault. It would be my luck to be the first bwca.com member to personally own a "shredded" blue barrel, ha!

Now, the Bear Vaults have only made one trip so far and they seemed to add a HUGE amount of weight (3lbs each? but felt like 10) PLUS were a PITA to get at exactly the food you wanted when you wanted it and hard to pack in a cylinder shape. So, I'm not sure that I'm ready to claim them as my "final" solution... but it sure was nice to just leave them sitting out in camp during a daytime nap (yes, I know I risked Ms Bear rolling them into the lake), and to stash them closer to camp than I have previously with my lined food pack.

quote jb in the wild: "Jeff I have stated before the blue barrels are a connivance thing not bear proof at all. I strap my barrel to a tree and you guys are gonna laugh at this but I'm going to put a cheap alarm on it. Bear Scare Figure if I'm sleeping it will wake me. If I'm out fishing it will alert me to the problem either way it should be loud enough to scare the bear away. Sorry if I bother anyone out in the area but if it comes down to me losing my food on day 2 of a 10 day'er I'll take the heat.



JB"

I like the bear scare idea.

Fleet farm sells Gamma lids. Call ahead, because they do sell out of them. I think your better off with a Blue Barrel.

Jrlatt

Check this video out!
Check out this bear on Knife Lake trying to get into a blue barrel that was tied up between two trees. It is amazing!

Mike

We've used a few things.

60 L Blue Barrel
Pros: We use it mainly for areas where there is white water. If we should dump, we know everything will stay waterproof. Seemed to fit more than our Cooke Custom Sewing food pack.

Cons: Uncomfortable to haul, even with harness. Curve of barrel digs into your pack. It has no give like our CCS food pack. Harness system also seems to be made for a guys body and I could never get it tight enough.

Hooligan $60/Kondos Harness $78

CCS Deluxe Food Pack
Pros: Comfortable strapping system makes for a custom, fit snug to your back, preventing fatigue. Insulated sides keep it open and stuff cooler.

Cons: Water-resistant, not waterproof unless you add liner, and then there is no guarantee.

CCS $300

For my money the CCS wins for design/comfort. But I know we'll likely interchange both depending on the kind of trip we're doing. We also never hang our food, we always cache and haven't had problems from it. We use loksaks OPsacks inside our CCS food sacks to help keep out odor. We went in on the CCS pack with another couple to cut costs. It's worked really well.

quote plainspaddler: " Check this video out!
Check out this bear on Knife Lake trying to get into a blue barrel that was tied up between two trees. It is amazing!


Mike"

That's a great video. Thanks for posting it. I think the bears have become conditioned to finding food in packs that hang from trees. The campers who hung that barrel would be better off cabling it to a tree on the ground. It's interesting to see that the bear didn't try to break into the barrel once it had it torn from the harness.

I use both a blue barrel and a yellow Bear Keg for food. I clearly mark the blue barrel that contains the food so the bear doesn't wreak my gear barrel by mistake. The Minnesota Vikings will win a Super Bowl before a bear would get into the Bear Keg in my opinion.

The link to the video reinforces my preference for the BearVaults. Each weighs in around 2.5lbs each so it is kind of a pain knowing I'm carrying 5lbs for food storage...but then I REALLY like not having to find good pack hanging trees, or worrying whether a bear could actually get into them.

When I'm in camp I do keep the vaults handy around the cooking area, but then stash them a couple hundred feet away at night (usually in a depression or between rocks/downed trees).

In the video I know the sow had her cubs with her, but still seems like the guy should have tried to scare them off. Was it best just to let the bear carry-on or try and scare it off????

great info! great people! Thanks!

Fitgers, I was the guy in the coffee post. I agree completely that there is a difference among the blue barrels as stated above. We were a group of 8, out for 8 days, so we had a total of 4- 30 liter barrels with harnesses. We had enough food with us that it didn't effect our trip, except to maybe enhance it because of a good story to tell back home. Our barrels, as pictured below, have recessed handles and a "squarish" shape. This gives Booboo lots of recesses and places to hook a claw in. My barrels are being replaced with the ones shown above that have external handles and a round shape.



PS, Does anyone have a good source for the round barrel with the heavier lock ring?

quote campcook184: "Fitgers, I was the guy in the coffee post. I agree completely that there is a difference among the blue barrels as stated above. We were a group of 8, out for 8 days, so we had a total of 4- 30 liter barrels with harnesses. We had enough food with us that it didn't effect our trip, except to maybe enhance it because of a good story to tell back home. Our barrels, as pictured below, have recessed handles and a "squarish" shape. This gives Booboo lots of recesses and places to hook a claw in. My barrels are being replaced with the ones shown above that have external handles and a round shape.





PS, Does anyone have a good source for the round barrel with the heavier lock ring?"

In the Twin Cities, you can get them at Northwest Canoe or Midwest Mountaineering. I think Piragis carries them in Ely.

quote Zulu: "I use both a blue barrel and a yellow Bear Keg for food. I clearly mark the blue barrel that contains the food so the bear doesn't wreak my gear barrel by mistake. The Minnesota Vikings will win a Super Bowl before a bear would get into the Bear Keg in my opinion.
"

So there is a bear in New England that can open the barrels and the bears in Minnesota can read the barrels.
Sweet.

I used the Bear Vaults myself. I carry two or three depending on length of trip. I keep hoping a bear would check one out so I can see how well they work. I don't see the need for locking a barrel to a tree with a paddlelock. I would think a light cable with a clasp would be good... the kind that screws shut.

quote campcook184: "PS, Does anyone have a good source for the round barrel with the heavier lock ring?"

I haven't priced them, but based on the low price of the Bear Vault at the NA Bear Center in Ely, I would guess their barrel prices are competetive (they sell two styles).

quote BWPaddler: "

quote campcook184: "PS, Does anyone have a good source for the round barrel with the heavier lock ring?"

I haven't priced them, but based on the low price of the Bear Vault at the NA Bear Center in Ely, I would guess their barrel prices are competetive (they sell two styles)."

I took a look as that is one of the gear items I am still shopping for... could only find one style of vault on NA bear center website so compared those.

NA Bear center: $62.95 Bear Vault BV500

Backcountry Gear: 20% sale so now $63.96 Bear Vault BV500

e-OMC (never shopped with them?): $59.95/free shipping Bear Vault BV500

quote plainspaddler: " Check this video out!
Check out this bear on Knife Lake trying to get into a blue barrel that was tied up between two trees. It is amazing!


Mike"

That was a cool video. I did notice the safty pin that he had on could have been pulled off. It came unclipped. I am going to start looking for another safty pin idea.

Jrlatt

quote mc2mens: "

quote plainspaddler: " Check this video out!
Check out this bear on Knife Lake trying to get into a blue barrel that was tied up between two trees. It is amazing!



Mike"

That's a great video. Thanks for posting it. I think the bears have become conditioned to finding food in packs that hang from trees. The campers who hung that barrel would be better off cabling it to a tree on the ground. It's interesting to see that the bear didn't try to break into the barrel once it had it torn from the harness."

Here's the original post that will answer your questions Post of Knife Lake Bears

quote luft: "

quote BWPaddler: "

quote campcook184: "PS, Does anyone have a good source for the round barrel with the heavier lock ring?"

I haven't priced them, but based on the low price of the Bear Vault at the NA Bear Center in Ely, I would guess their barrel prices are competetive (they sell two styles)."

I took a look as that is one of the gear items I am still shopping for... could only find one style of vault on NA bear center website so compared those.


NA Bear center: $62.95 Bear Vault BV500


Backcountry Gear: 20% sale so now $63.96 Bear Vault BV500



I have these. I get 8 days of food in one for a solo trip. Total weight for food and barrel is 11#.

Anyone know where you find the "BLUE Barrels" that are Yellow?
I have seen them in several folks pics and was curious?
SunCatcher

Bear Keg

google is a wonderful thing.

whiteh20 I bow in reverance. For three people four days we filled two vaults and needed a portion of a third.

quote serenityseeker: " Bear Keg


google is a wonderful thing. "

I like the bear keg. It opens and closes easier than the bear vault. The yellow color is easier to see in the event that a bear does get to it and tosses it about in the woods. It has a reflective band on it that makes it easy to see at night with the headlamp on. And it is thick as a brick. Downsides - it's kinda heavy and the top is not flat.

quote serenityseeker: "

quote jb in the wild: "Jeff I have stated before the blue barrels are a connivance thing not bear proof at all. I strap my barrel to a tree and you guys are gonna laugh at this but I'm going to put a cheap alarm on it. Bear Scare Figure if I'm sleeping it will wake me. If I'm out fishing it will alert me to the problem either way it should be loud enough to scare the bear away. Sorry if I bother anyone out in the area but if it comes down to me losing my food on day 2 of a 10 day'er I'll take the heat.



JB"

damn that looks like that would be annoying to the whole lake!! What's wrong with pots and pans???"

What if I'm not there, they show up when they want to. Fishing or walking a trail.

JB

quote Jonesy: "The link to the video reinforces my preference for the BearVaults. Each weighs in around 2.5lbs each so it is kind of a pain knowing I'm carrying 5lbs for food storage...but then I REALLY like not having to find good pack hanging trees, or worrying whether a bear could actually get into them.


When I'm in camp I do keep the vaults handy around the cooking area, but then stash them a couple hundred feet away at night (usually in a depression or between rocks/downed trees).


In the video I know the sow had her cubs with her, but still seems like the guy should have tried to scare them off. Was it best just to let the bear carry-on or try and scare it off????


"

Another generation taught to get into food at the campsites.

JB