[pct-l] bears & food

[csiechert at hotmail.com (Carl (1977 Kelty Kid))]

I wasn't going to wallow into this, but since in a later post you
(CMountainDave) said you hate faulty logic, I can't let this go.

In days of yore, the "bureaucrats" insisted that hikers hang food. Some did
it properly and kept their food. Others didn't, the bears learned from their
mistakes, and then became a threat to everyone--even those who hung food
"properly." Bears 1, Hikers/bureaucrats 0.

With bear cans, you'll still have some hikers who don't use them, don't put
everything smelly in them, or don't secure the lid when they're unattended.
And in a few of those cases, it's going to cost them; the bear will get the
goodies. And bears will, to some extent, continue to associate hiker food
with easy eats. But here's why bear cans are different:

* There's higher compliance by hikers, for two reasons: 1) It's easier to
stuff food in a bear can than to properly hang it; anyone can use a bear can
in a few seconds, whereas properly hanging food sometimes takes hours, even
by someone with experience and knowledge. Most hikers don't have the
knowledge, experience, or time to do it right. 2) USFS and NPS are making a
much stronger push at education and enforcement than they ever did in the
hanging days.

* When a hiker loses food due to improper storage, he suffers and the bear
suffers. But the food of other hikers whose food is secured in bear cans is
still safe. This was not the case with hanging, as bears learned enough from
bad hangs to get at _all_ hangs. In the 8-10 years that bear cans have been
in use, I don't think one has ever failed (except the Ursack, which was
never fully accepted). 

-----Original Message-----
From: CMountainDave@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2003 10:02 AM

<snip>
bureaucrats who INSISTED for many decades that we hang our food, which, THEY
now admit, did absolutely nothing to solve the bear problem. Of course,
hikers who didn't know how to hang food was the REAL problem in their minds.
  Now they are trusting these exact same hikers to have all their food and
toiletries properly stuffed into canisters at all times when not in use.
Gee, I wonder who they will blame this time around
<snip>