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09/28/2025 08:37PM |
Z4K: "Minnesotian: "... a blue barrel 30L or the 60L version, and then filling that up with Ursacks of food. "
I was under the impression that the Ursacks needed to be tied to a tree/rock etc in order to meet the requirement but I can't find anything from IGBC about it, there's no * next to it on their list of approved products that I can find, the only place I see the extra instructions is at Ursack's website Ursack How-to-use
IGBC Approved Products List "
Yeah, and that How-to-use link states "No trees? Try hiding your Ursack under a pile of rocks."
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09/29/2025 05:45AM |
Minnesotian: "No trees? Try hiding your Ursack under a pile of rocks."
Wow, I hadn't realized, that is ridiculous.
So this is approved? I can just fill my blue barrel up with Ursacks?
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10/04/2025 11:35AM |
Minnesotian: "
If I was regularly bringing in groups of 4 or more people, and fresh food such as steaks, eggs, etc. was on the menu, I would look at getting a blue barrel 30L or the 60L version, and then filling that up with Ursacks of food. No need to hang, and everything is still following regulation.
High intial cost for all the equipment, but considering I have had my Ursack going on 10 years plus and it still looks brand new, I think it will last for a good long time.
Good luck, but I don't think those requirements are going away. "
we dont have the requirements across the border that you all have, but if we did, and i needed a fair amount of food and kitchen gear, i think this is what i would do.
i already use light dry bags for my food. so i would just drop those in sperate ursacks (maybe break them up into breakfast, lunch, dinner??), then drop them all in the barrel.
whats the downside besides the cost?
smells are kept to a minimum, the sacks ensure you are compliant, the barrel keeps everything organized / together, no need to hang it (just tie to a tree at camp or when unattended on a portage), makes it easy to transport, protects it from weather and other smaller critters.
sounds good to me.
not budget friendly for a solo or anyone who might only use it once in awhile, but a group could split the cost. and anyone planning to be doing this long term will have it probably for life.
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09/30/2025 03:08PM |
Tying a Ursack to a tree so the bear can smash everything inside also doesnt make any sense to me so Ive never understood these Ursacks.
Hanging Giant food packs for groups of 6 or 8 people also makes no sense for the damage to trees and the amount of work.
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09/24/2025 03:57PM |
My blue barrel is the 60L variety which holds enough food and camp kitchen gear for 4 people for a week and can be quite heavy depending on the menu. With some practice and a rope and pulley setup, hanging is much more manageable. Finding an appropriate spot and getting our rope and pulley system up is one of the first things we do once we arrive at a campsite. You can still take the food pack with you while fishing or exploring, but at least the hang system is in place for after dark.
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09/24/2025 12:28PM |
We did a trip in early June and hung for the 1st time. We never had before, we always used the canoe method of putting packs under at night. (and never had an issue in over 50 combined trips). This was an 8 day 7 night trip in the ottertrack/knife area.
We hung as instructed and used 2 bear barrels that we placed back in the woods.
We were only a group of 2 for the 1st time ever, our groups normally are 4-8 people.
No bear issues.
My overall feelings about hanging:
It was difficult.
It took a lot of time.
Hanging after dark when we got back from fishing was very difficult and dangerous to a point. Tripping and falling in the woods in the dark with headlamps wasnt great. We could have hung it before we left but we feel better about having our food with us.
We even took less comfort food to keep the pack we hung lighter. We took 1 bear barrel for each of us. That was a minimum amount of food for us. We ate pretty much everything by the last night. Luckily we ate fish for 4 dinners (which is more than we like to kill on a trip) but needed the protein since we couldnt bring in more because our 1 hang pack was filled to the brim.
We had 2 days of rain and hanging and lowering the hang pack was a very wet adventure each time.
Next time we will take a bright small tarp to put over the bear barrels because water got in during the previously mentioned days.
Finding adequate spots at 3 of our campsites was difficult. Many of the trees just didnt have branches strong enough for our pack...and our hang pack was actually pretty small, half the size of a normal food pack.
We could see branches broken at most of our sites that looked like a typical attempt of a hang that didnt go well.
If we were a larger group that had more food to hang or heavier packs, it would have been a REAL pain and expensive because we found that 1 barrel was barely enough food for 1 person for 8 days. So if we took a group of 6 next year, we have to buy 4 more barrels at $90 each. That really ups the cost.
Hanging bigger and heavier packs would NOT be fun and lead to more broken branches and be a huge time waste.
I hope they review the rule and get rid of it. Seems like a waste of time and much higher cost to a trip. We felt like it made an already difficult trip that much harder dealing with it each night.
How do other feel about it and how did it go for you on your trips?
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09/29/2025 06:09AM |
Z4K: "Minnesotian: "No trees? Try hiding your Ursack under a pile of rocks."
Wow, I hadn't realized, that is ridiculous.
So this is approved? I can just fill my blue barrel up with Ursacks?"
Below is copy and pasted from the SNF website and FAQ under the food storage rule.
Can you use your Blue Barrel and put an IGBC approved container inside the barrel.
Yes you can.
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09/26/2025 10:15AM |
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09/25/2025 06:35AM |
timatkn: "Per other comments Bear Vaults ARE NOT waterproof. If you do a long trip, move a lot, have a lot of rain it’s pretty easy for water to get in there so double bag food, waterproof your portage packs.
T"
I admit I've never had to deal with a lot of rain in the time I've been using Bear vaults, but I don't understand how water can get into them unless they're sitting on their side or upside down. If you keep them upright I can't imagine any way water gets inside unless they're literally submerged. Has anyone ever had water get into one while it was upright with the lid screwed on tightly?
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10/02/2025 12:56PM |
Despite the permit vendor/distributor's (Piragis) spirited admonition, I did not bring up an Ursack, blue barrel, bear barrel, or any other hardened piece of equipment. Yes, I know that is against the rules. I'm not trying to posture myself as some kind of BWCA rebel, but I do use the Cliff Jacobson method that he taught me when I tripped with him over 40 years ago. It's working for me.
I do the time-honored Sierra cup/small saucepan early warning system: I fill a pan or similar with a few pebbles or small rocks, then tie or BDB the pan to the pack that has my food. Up until August, and over 50 trips, this alarm has never sounded in the middle of the night. However, during my solo trip in August on Wood Lake, the alarm did sound, and startled me awake in a way I have never experienced. (The pack with my food was under my tarp, not more than 50 feet away. I should have stashed it more in the woods as the Jacobson method suggests.) I immediately loudly yelled something to the effect of "hey, get out of here" or something similar. I did not hear anything that sounded like an animal exiting the area. I moved the pack so I could see it from my tent. I was up for about 90 minutes, and all was still.
Night was quiet until sunrise, when I heard it again. Again I yelled, and I looked and again no sight or sounds of an animal exiting the area. I came to the conclusion that a rodent or squirrel or chipmunk had actually climbed into the pan, disrupting the pebbles, triggering the "alarm." There was no bear sign, no bear sounds (as in crunching his way through the woods), so that's what I figured.
I have had bears in camp on two occasions: once on Devils Elbow Lake while we were cooking a meal (I can't remember if it was breakfast or dinner); and another time on the northwest site on Little Trout Lake. We were having coffee and pop tarts, and the bear saunters into the periphery of our camp. I think the bear came for the prodigious crop of raspberries that took up most of the hillside to the north of the camp. Anyway, he scooted away with no further problems.
Thanks for listening to my rambling and decidedly stream-of-consciousness reminiscing.
Mike
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10/02/2025 12:56PM |
Double post
Mike
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10/02/2025 05:01PM |
MarshallPrime: "I dont see the point of the Ursack inside a blue bear barrel. Neither is smell resistant right? Putting the Ursack inside seems redundant to me.
"
Correct, it is redundant, but the practice of an Ursack in a blue barrel aligns with the regulations while also having the convenience of using a blue barrel, and not having to hang it to meet regulations.
Tying a Ursack to a tree so the bear can smash everything inside also doesnt make any sense to me so Ive never understood these Ursacks.
"
As I said earlier in the year to you here, the intent of an Ursack is not to save the food for YOU, but to prevent an easy meal for the BEAR. By preventing the bear from getting an easy meal, you are not creating a habitual bear that sees humans as an easy meal target.
Hanging Giant food packs for groups of 6 or 8 people also makes no sense for the damage to trees and the amount of work.
"
Then if you don't want to use a blue barrel with Ursacks, or try hanging something, you are left with using Bear Resistant Products approved by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, which the Forest Service relies on for testing and approval of bear resistant products. A complete list of approved IGBC products (for the 3rd time in this thread) is located here:
https://igbconline.org/programs/bear-resistant-products/
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09/24/2025 09:46PM |
2024 bear encounters were down significantly in the BWCAW. I don’t believe those numbers at all as there were more reports of Bear issues on the website than what the FS reported :) smells like someone is cooking the books…but that further solidifies my thoughts the rules are here to stay.
2025 should be out soon and by all reports food was more abundant the number of encounters should be down naturally.
So the deck is stacked against ya.
Per other comments Bear Vaults ARE NOT waterproof. If you do a long trip, move a lot, have a lot of rain it’s pretty easy for water to get in there so double bag food, waterproof your portage packs.
T
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09/25/2025 07:15AM |
These are what we used. We liked them quite a bit really. People complained on reviews about how hard they are to get into but we had no issues. Just follow the directions. I will have to buy 2 more, though. Really, 1 per person per 7 nights PLUS a bag (we used a medium sized soft sided cooler that fit down inside the portage pack perfectly) with all our fresh steaks, brats, eggs, cheese and such.
I guess for me it was more about cutting out some good fresh food because we wanted our hang pack to be as small as possible but that was for a group of 2. Next year it looks like my family of 4 so we will need double the food. 2 of which have never been.
It was just much more difficult. I wish they would recommend it but not require it.
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09/25/2025 07:41AM |
NEIowapaddler: "timatkn: "Per other comments Bear Vaults ARE NOT waterproof. If you do a long trip, move a lot, have a lot of rain it’s pretty easy for water to get in there so double bag food, waterproof your portage packs.
T"
I admit I've never had to deal with a lot of rain in the time I've been using Bear vaults, but I don't understand how water can get into them unless they're sitting on their side or upside down. If you keep them upright I can't imagine any way water gets inside unless they're literally submerged. Has anyone ever had water get into one while it was upright with the lid screwed on tightly? "
I don’t understand how but once I left it perfectly upright, I got water in so I started leaving it on the side and I’ve not had water on it since and I’ve had much rain on my trips
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09/25/2025 09:19AM |
MarshallPrime: "
These are what we used. We liked them quite a bit really. People complained on reviews about how hard they are to get into but we had no issues. Just follow the directions. I will have to buy 2 more, though. Really, 1 per person per 7 nights PLUS a bag (we used a medium sized soft sided cooler that fit down inside the portage pack perfectly) with all our fresh steaks, brats, eggs, cheese and such.
I guess for me it was more about cutting out some good fresh food because we wanted our hang pack to be as small as possible but that was for a group of 2. Next year it looks like my family of 4 so we will need double the food. 2 of which have never been.
It was just much more difficult. I wish they would recommend it but not require it."
I bought one of these as well. I liked it well enough. I'm afraid to put it on the bottom of the pack though since I think it might crack if I set the pack down hard on a rock. Not like the blue barrel that I used previously. I'll have to rethink how I pack the kitchen pack. My buddy bought an Ursack and combined the 2 have enough storage for the trip, but they don't fit as nicely in the barrel pack as the barrel did.
The buttons to open were easy to use and tool free. I have heard that you want to be careful with sand and dust through since if can cause the lid to bind if it works into the threads. The 3 piece design means I can downsize it as we go through the food, or just pack for a smaller trip. Overall I like the bear canister, but not as much as I liked having the blue barrel and the barrel pack.
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09/25/2025 01:32PM |
EmmaMorgan: "Yes, more than once I have had water get into my BearVault, which was standing upright, lid side up, screwed on tight, in moderate rain. I don’t understand at all how it happens."
That is very strange. Guess I'll have to keep that in mind when dealing with rain in the future. I always have my food in plastic bags of course, but typically not double bagged like I would if I expected it to get wet. That's precisely the reason I stopped using Ursacks; I found trying to keep them from getting soaked when it rained was too much aggravation for my tastes.
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09/25/2025 11:31AM |
NEIowapaddler: "timatkn: "Per other comments Bear Vaults ARE NOT waterproof. If you do a long trip, move a lot, have a lot of rain it’s pretty easy for water to get in there so double bag food, waterproof your portage packs.
T"
I admit I've never had to deal with a lot of rain in the time I've been using Bear vaults, but I don't understand how water can get into them unless they're sitting on their side or upside down. If you keep them upright I can't imagine any way water gets inside unless they're literally submerged. Has anyone ever had water get into one while it was upright with the lid screwed on tightly? "
Yes, more than once I have had water get into my BearVault, which was standing upright, lid side up, screwed on tight, in moderate rain. I don’t understand at all how it happens.
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09/26/2025 07:23AM |
If I was regularly bringing in groups of 4 or more people, and fresh food such as steaks, eggs, etc. was on the menu, I would look at getting a blue barrel 30L or the 60L version, and then filling that up with Ursacks of food. No need to hang, and everything is still following regulation.
High intial cost for all the equipment, but considering I have had my Ursack going on 10 years plus and it still looks brand new, I think it will last for a good long time.
Good luck, but I don't think those requirements are going away.
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10/05/2025 12:11PM |
Ausable: "MarshallPrime: "I'm not excited about the additional cost of a Ursack which is HIGH, it does seem like it would be similar to the canoe at night. Thanks for helping me think it through everyone.
This board is great.
"
To reduce the price of an Ursack, go to the company's website and sign up for email notifications. You won't get many, but you will receive notifications when they hold their fall and spring sales (typically 25%off)."
They were just on sale last week for 25% off. Seem to have sales 2-3 times per year. Best I saw was 30% off.
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10/03/2025 12:08PM |
As I said earlier in the year to you here, the intent of an Ursack is not to save the food for YOU, but to prevent an easy meal for the BEAR. By preventing the bear from getting an easy meal, you are not creating a habitual bear that sees humans as an easy meal target.
Yes, I know we discussed it last May but I wanted to bring it up to see what new information was out there or fish for any new ideas that worked.
Also, clearly Im hoping they do not renew the mandate and make it more of a strongly recommended guideline.
Also, I have been trying to come to grips with the option of the Ursack. While I think the idea of a bear smashing my food for a 10 day trip sounds horrible, this is where I am at now. I doubt it would happen.
For MANY years we used the turn canoe upside down on the packs and use pans as an alarm method at night. We have brought student groups up to the BW since 1992. Usually 6 groups of 6 kids and 2 chaperones. I started in 2005 and took over the program in 2009. The program ended for many reasons in 2019. Now we do 1 or 2 personal trips each year.
Overall our groups (around 175ish trips from 1992-2025) never had a bear in camp but lots of false alarms with wind blowing the pots off the canoe. LOL
We never had a bear going after food. Most trips were anywhere from Poplar, Frost, Long Island, Granite River, Ogish, Knife Lake, Even 5 or 6 trips to Kawnipi.
Anyway, the more i think it through, the Ursack WOULD be a similar situation to the upside down canoe. If I put bells on it, tie it to the tree as directed, I guess we would get the same warning signal if a bear messed with it as we would if they messed with the canoe. Then go out, scare it away and change sites if it keeps messing with us, although we rarely stay at the same site more than 2 nights.
This could help me do less hanging and keep the food protected...and bears I guess. I do like how the canoe also helps rainproof the bags at night and lord knows we have been through some downpours in the middle of the night.
We always take our food with us for day trips or while out fishing, never leaving it at camp alone.
Im not excited about the additional cost of a Ursack which is HIGH, it does seem like it would be similar to the canoe at night.
thanks for helping me think it through everyone.
This board is great.
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10/04/2025 12:15PM |
MarshallPrime: "I'm not excited about the additional cost of a Ursack which is HIGH, it does seem like it would be similar to the canoe at night. Thanks for helping me think it through everyone.
This board is great.
"
To reduce the price of an Ursack, go to the company's website and sign up for email notifications. You won't get many, but you will receive notifications when they hold their fall and spring sales (typically 25%off).
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09/28/2025 03:18PM |
Minnesotian: "... a blue barrel 30L or the 60L version, and then filling that up with Ursacks of food. "
I was under the impression that the Ursacks needed to be tied to a tree/rock etc in order to meet the requirement but I can't find anything from IGBC about it, there's no * next to it on their list of approved products that I can find, the only place I see the extra instructions is at Ursack's website Ursack How-to-use
IGBC Approved Products List
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10/01/2025 06:38PM |
MarshallPrime: "I dont see the point of the Ursack inside a blue bear barrel. Neither is smell resistant right? Putting the Ursack inside seems redundant to me. Seems like you would need a smell proof bag inside the blue bear barrel would do the job but some say no to this.
"
The camping blue barrels have plastic seal on them, they should be water tight thus smell proof or at least smell reducing. Even when I used blue barrels i still sealed everyhting in bags to water proof or keep messes out of the barrel. But why someone whoudl use a ursack in a barrel would be to waterproof it further or kepe itmems form getting smashed.
I think why the FS allows them (ursack) in a barrel is if the bear breaches the barrel, they should not be able to get the food in the ursack.
T
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10/02/2025 07:52AM |
MarshallPrime: "Tying a Ursack to a tree so the bear can smash everything inside also doesnt make any sense to me so Ive never understood these Ursacks."
People use Ursacks because they are cheaper, lighter, and overall more convenient than bear canisters or hanging. Yes you need to be aware that a bear can ruin whatever is inside an Ursack, but it's no different than people (like me) who for decades followed the Cliff Jacobson "stash" philosophy, with the added benefit of making it much more difficult for the bear to get a reward if they do find it. There are also many instances of bears destroying BearVaults and blue bear barrels and getting to hangs, so nothing is infallible.
Every food storage method is a compromise of convenience vs risk and what any particular person prefers is going to be subjective. It's important to note that there is not any data that shows the success rates of each method, it's all conjecture. But I think it's pretty safe to say that the chances of a bear getting your food with any properly done method are slim.
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09/24/2025 03:47PM |
You are aware that you don't need to hang if you use approved bear-resistant containers, right? Not sure what you mean by "bear barrel".
The cost is what it is. For me it's not a deal breaker, but I can understand large groups being upset about having to invest several hundred dollars into Bear Vaults, Ursacks, etc if they don't want to hang. You gotta remember though, they should last a long time, so if you trip every year, and you think about the actual cost per trip, it's not so bad.
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09/25/2025 10:04PM |
NEIowapaddler: "EmmaMorgan: "Yes, more than once I have had water get into my BearVault, which was standing upright, lid side up, screwed on tight, in moderate rain. I don’t understand at all how it happens."
That is very strange. Guess I'll have to keep that in mind when dealing with rain in the future. I always have my food in plastic bags of course, but typically not double bagged like I would if I expected it to get wet. That's precisely the reason I stopped using Ursacks; I found trying to keep them from getting soaked when it rained was too much aggravation for my tastes. "
If you put your food into Smelly Proof bags in an Ursack, the food will stay perfectly dry in the heaviest of rain. That is proper technique anyway. Regular plastic bags aren't enough to decrease the odor radius properly.
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09/26/2025 12:59PM |
MarshallPrime: "I believe those blue bear barrels are no longer acceptable or if you use them they must still be hung. Is that incorrect? "
Yep, you can use a Blue Barrel, stash it on the ground, as long as all food is contained in an IGBC (Interagency Grizzley Bear Committee) approved container, of which an Ursack is one.
IGBC approved list here: https://igbconline.org/programs/bear-resistant-products/
"Q. Can you use your Blue Barrel and put an IGBC-approved container inside the barrel?
A. Yes you can."
Link to updated FAQ about food storage from Forest Service here: https://www.boreal.org/2024/05/21/492020/updated-faqs-for-boundary-waters-canoe-area-wilderness-bear-aware-food-storage-order
If anyone has more current info, please chime in.
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09/26/2025 06:36PM |
NEIowapaddler: "timatkn: "Per other comments Bear Vaults ARE NOT waterproof. If you do a long trip, move a lot, have a lot of rain it’s pretty easy for water to get in there so double bag food, waterproof your portage packs.Has anyone ever had water get into one while it was upright with the lid screwed on tightly? "
T"
Well others have already chimed in…the manufacturer clearly states they are not smell nor waterproof. If the vault was…you may not be able to open it :)
In a pack my vaults are sideways but even if they weren’t I lay my portage packs down on their side not straight up to create better center of gravity.I think that is pretty normal. If you always paddle with no rain…you have better luck than me :) Water soaks through the pack…into the vault. Or sits in the bottom of the canoe and soaks through.
Also even if standing up. The seal isn’t water proof, water hits the top of the vault, runs down, and goes through the lid because the seal isn’t waterproof by design. A light rain no issues but it doesn’t take much.
T
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09/26/2025 06:46PM |
Minnesotian: "MarshallPrime: "I believe those blue bear barrels are no longer acceptable or if you use them they must still be hung. Is that incorrect? "
Yep, you can use a Blue Barrel, stash it on the ground, as long as all food is contained in an IGBC (Interagency Grizzley Bear Committee) approved container, of which an Ursack is one.
IGBC approved list here: https://igbconline.org/programs/bear-resistant-products/
"Q. Can you use your Blue Barrel and put an IGBC-approved container inside the barrel?
A. Yes you can."
Link to updated FAQ about food storage from Forest Service here: https://www.boreal.org/2024/05/21/492020/updated-faqs-for-boundary-waters-canoe-area-wilderness-bear-aware-food-storage-order
If anyone has more current info, please chime in. "
I agree so far this seems to be legal. Waterproof, smell proof…then add the ursack so you can say you are following their made up rules not based on science or research :)
T