[pct-l] Bear Canister or Ursack

[Bill Batchelor]

I am intrigued with this Ursack approach.  However, the "running off with it
in their mouths" comment is a drag.

Seems to me that the bear container should be 
1 bear access proof (or highly resistant)
2 preferably be a barrier to smells (avoiding interaction to begin with)
3 not be able to be carried away

I am guessing that the bear canister does all three.  However, I am not sure
if the smell barrier is valid or not.  I am thinking by the time you open
that up over and over again, handle food, handle the canister, cook and have
smell in the pot, etc. that there is just too much smell going on.  However,
I could also see an argument that an uncanistered food source still smells
WAY more than a canistered food source even with all the above smells in the
mix.

If the bear canister has value as a smell barrier, that leaves the Ursack
really only helping on item #1.  And resisting access does no good if they
can easily be carried away.  I could see a bear taking that bag for miles on
end trying to get into it before giving up.  This leaves the hiker with
esentially the same problem - no more food.  I have a hard time imagining an
encounter where the bear would NOT pick up the bag and go some distance with
it.

Again though, I really like the idea of a light and flexible solution.
However, if an encounter looks like you are likely to lose your food on a
run-away, what good does it do the hiker.  I can see it helps the bear
situation because failure to open the bag would train the animals against
the attempt.  So, it helps the bear habits - a big win, but does it do
anything for the hiker?

BillB

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of dsaufley at sprynet.com
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2007 9:05 AM
To: Carol Freed; pct-l at backcountry.net
Subject: Re: [pct-l] bear canisters

Below is what their site says.  I, too, used the Ursack with the aluminum
liner, and liked it very much.  I did hear of people having problems with
rodents chewing holes in them, but the biggest issue was bears grabbing the
knotted end and/or the string in their mouths and running off with the
entire Ursack, never to be seen again.

http://www.ursack.com/ursack-update.htm