Backcountry food cache

[stykbow67]

I'm gonna be doing another bivy elk hunt this fall and I'm gonna have the chance to go out in early august to do some scouting before hand, this is an area we hunted last year so I'm somewhat familiar with the country. I would like to take 3-4 days worth of MH meals for 2 with me and cache them maybe in a stuff sack suspended up in a tree, not sure what would be the best way to keep rodents and bears out of it. any suggestions??

[Shakes.602]

Mothballs?  

[rxhntr]

I have delt with a lot of bears in the Yosemite area, and hardly anyone will hang any food. The bears have figured out all of the tricks and will literally jump out of the tree and hang on the rope until it breaks to get the food. Get a bear canister. I dont think a rodent will be able to get into it (??). but the bears I know will swat it around then leave it alone because they cannot get into it. I would venture to guess you could modify it by putting silicone around lid to keep ants out, then cut the silicone away to access. Either way, a bear canister is the way to go.

[Hummer3T]

You can buy bear proof canisters from some outdoor web retailers.  Also you can make one out of a an old beer keg or small plastic industrial soap container.

[Tracks]

I apologize in advance for being "that guy" who is a downer, but I recommend carrying your food in with you at the beginning of your hunt instead of caching it in advance.

A few days worth of freeze-dried meals isn't that much weight... if you can't get your gear into camp, how can you realistically get your elk meat out?

 I've seen too much crap left in the woods by well-intentioned people who have a change of plans or a change of heart and abandon gear/food, etc in the woods. Especially if you are coming in from out-of-state, stuff happens, plans change, and then your cache is just extra junk in the woods that tarnishes the wilderness experience for others.

If your hunting spot is too far in to pack your gear efficiently, a good option would be to hire a horse packer to drop your camp in your hunting area and then pick it up after your hunt... that way you could eat a lot better than freeze-dried and get your meat out of the woods promptly.

[Biathlonman]

All tne above are good tboughts.  If doing so i would think the 1 lbs. Cans would be better then the plastic pouches.

[Dan Adair]

What Tracks and Brad said  :D

I once made a 12 day trip.  Day six I picked up more food and ******* that a packer left at a Forest Service cabin.  I can't see caching food for a 4 day trip.  You're talking about 5 Lbs, max, and 1500 inches.

If it were me, I'd stash a good axe there on a scouting trip.  Maybe a saw, and La-Z-boy too  :D

[stykbow67]

Thanks for all the advice and ideas, but  i'm not caching food for a 4 day trip it is for the second half of our intended stay, I'm not sure it would even work because we don't plan to stay in the same spot twice, We want to be able to move to where the elk are I was just throwing it out there to get some opinions.

Steve

[vernon]

I've cached foods and camps in some dense grizzly populated areas and have had no problems.  If your going in to scout why not cache somethings.  I've found as long as you can hang whatever bag a ways out on a limb, away from the tree, and have it as high as possible it usually never gets bothered.  The moth balls work as well.

good luck

[fnshtr]

I've done it before and will be doing it again this year. If it is freeze-dried and sealed it shouldn't be a problem.

We hung ours (in a trash bag) from a pole tied between two trees. We pick an "out of the way" spot away from trails, campsites, etc. No grizzlies and few black bears in the area we hunt. We always clean up whatever we take in so the trash bag gets double duty. In fact we always clean up MORE than we take in.

We generally have a "base camp" and that is the area where we stash some food for use during the next couple of weeks. We then bivy out of base for 2 or 3 days at a time, always returning to restock.

[jhg]

Originally posted by fnshtr:
... We always clean up whatever we take in so the trash bag gets double duty. In fact we always clean up MORE than we take in...

Good stewardship of our huntuing grounds. More important than ever, as pressure on the resource steadily increases.

Joshua