Taking food up early??
General Topic
I am planning on doing a 7 or 8 day pack trip around 7 miles in this August. I will be going up a few times in the early summer and thinking of heading up about a week prior to the hunt.
Has anyone taken any food up early and stashed it? If so what did you do to keep the critters away? I'm not worried about other people where I'm going.
I have not taken food up early like your considering. However I have found that the heavy duty roll top dry bags work well.
Sure would be disappointing to get all the way in and find out something has happened to the food. I guess you could pack in some can goods early but that will be a lot of trash to haul back out.
Are you planning this in bear country? That would be a risk. They bite open canned goods like candy wrappers. If it's buried they find it. If you hang it in a tree, assuming nobody sees it, the bears will find a way to get it down with enough time and ingenuity.
Back when we were baiting I hung a sealed five gallon bucket of dead carp up in the air to "ferment". We ran the rope up on one tree, across to another tree a few yards away and lifted the bucket up 12 feet off a limb on that tree so it was suspended out in the air. Took them a couple weeks but they got that bucket of goo torn down.
7 or 8 days worth of backpack food doesn't weigh that much of you plan right. I wouldn't want to risk getting in there and finding my cache scattered like a yard sale. If you're going to stash something, stash other things that have weight but aren't bear attractants, like stove, fuel, tent, etc..
Yep like Lou stated bears might find your cache.
I usually bring it in when I hunt. I have friend that has done it and has lost a lot of his cache food due to bears.
Yeah, nix the food idea...
....but what about other heavier gear like tent and such?
I've done the tent and stash some water. Just make sure there are no chipmunks or squirrels in the area. If they find your tent they may chew on it.
There's no bears where I am hunting at. I was just thinking I could take some good stuff up instead of eating the freeze dried every night. Not that I couldn't survive on it but I was going to spoil myself a little.
I'm more thinking of the little critters that will be running around or coyotes.
I've done that on a few of our Bighorn Sheep hunts.
Backpacking in sheep country is never much fun though.
How did you hide the food?
We used to haul quite a bit of non-perishable stuff in and leave quite a bit of it for up to a year. We'd wrap it tightly in oil canvas and bury it on a slope so any rain, snow melt, etc., would quickly drain away. Never had a problem with people or critters.
They make bear proof food containers for backpackers.
