Bears are very creative animals. They can enter a campsite and clean it out in a heartbeat. This attraction to food and other scents that we bring along with us into the woods is the primary factor that causes humans and bears to come into contact with each other. In response to this dangerous problem for campers, bear-resistant canisters were created. These canisters have been proven to be highly effective at minimizing this risk.
When you go camping you bring along food, toiletries and any number of other scented items. These items are like a magnet for any bears that might be in the area. Bears have an incredible sense of smell, and the slightest interesting scent will bring them to investigate. Bear-resistant canisters can keep this from happening by providing the camper with scent-proof storage.
A bear-resistant canister is generally made of a very hard plastic material, but they can also be made of other hard materials. These canisters are made solid, and you can not bend them or dent them. Bear-resistant canisters are not terribly heavy at about five pounds, but they can become heavy if you pack them tightly. Amazingly, though the canisters are only about 12 inches in size, you can pack several days of food safely inside.
Bear-resistant canisters should be used to carry anything that is scented. Even though the canisters are effective straight away, you should still pack scented items in plastic bags to further reduce scent. Though these canisters are highly effective at masking scents and protecting your food, they should still be kept well away from your campsite.
When a bear visits a campsite, the danger extends well past the human/bear interaction. The bear is a ravenous animal that will literally hunt and eat anything that remotely resembles food. This is especially true of bears that have become accustomed to human interaction. These bears are used to scavenging through trash, and they are highly destructive. Expensive camping gear such as tents can be completely destroyed.
There is also the physical danger to the camper. A bear is not likely to attack unless they feel threatened in some way, but some bears will. There are several examples of bears attacking and consuming campers through history. The more distance you can keep between yourself and the bears, the better off you will be.
Bear-resistant canisters help to avoid each of these bear related disasters. Not only are bear resistant canisters excellent at masking the natural scents of humans camping, they are also great ways to pack for a camping trip. You can pick up nylon carrying straps to make toting the canisters a breeze.
Bear-resistant canisters are also wonderful because they replace the old camping headaches of bear safety. Before bear resistant canisters, a camper had to worry about every single piece of trash, food, and other scent in their campground. While the camper still has to consider these things, the bear-resistant containers provide a much easier way of dealing with those problems. Not only are bear-resistant containers easier, they are also much more effective. Back when campers buried their trash and food, the bears found the treasure more often than not anyway. Now they face quite the challege to get into the bear-resistant containers of today.
Camping in bear country requires that you take some safety precautions. Bear-resistant canisters are a wonderful way to easily and effectively make your outdoor adventure bear-free. Though you can never completely eliminate the chance of a bear encounter, bear-resistant canisters certainly are a wonderful first step in that direction.
