12v fridge in bear country?

[hidesertwheelin]

What do you guys do with your fridge while camping in bear country. My plan is to cover it with blankets so the bear won't be able to see what it is (thinking it's a ice chest) and try to break into my wife's suburban to get into it. Will my plan work? We are going deer hunting and where we plan to camp, there are no bear boxes.

 

[1MK]

Curious on this as well, except mine would be in the bed of my truck.

 

[doug720]

No different than a regular Ice chest. Cover it, keep smells to a minimum and go for it.

We camp for a few weeks every year in an area where we see bears nearly everyday. If you give them little to see and smell, they typically move on to easier pickings.

 

[CaliMobber]

In places like yosemite, supposed to pull out and put in the bear box but my edgestar didn't fit so we just left in the car and covered. At whitney portal, its also bad, I just removed all food and put in bear box and covered the fridge. Its always a chance though leaving it in the car in bear territory with trouble bears. luckily most places just covering and hiding the fridge works fine. Just keep in the car and dont leave outside the car unwatched.

 

[Victorian]

Excuse my question: but I thought bears go mostly with their smell... I had no idea that they are already trained in identifying fridges by just looking at them through a car window... crazy.

 

[IdaSHO]

They are pretty smart.

Years ago my wife worked as a bear tech for NFS up in the Whitney Portals.


The stories, photos, and video to back it all up proved to me that bears certainly know what ice chests look like.




With that said, these days we always travel with a dog or two.

Just having the dogs along is enough to nearly guarantee that we NEVER see wildlife, at all.

The dog scent alone is enough to deter most all wildlife that may cause trouble.

 

[doug720]

The dogs and bears does not work in parts of California near Bridgeport. We camp with 3 dogs and bears visit nearly everyday, and certainly every night. The dogs do help, but do not stop the bears.

The bears know ice chests hold food, and we see cars broken into every year when an ice chest is left in sight to a bear. Even when covered, you need to minimize the smells, as bears can open most vehicle doors with the claws easily.

Here are couple from our last trip...Tent campers did not listen to advice about keeping food in a tree and came back to this. The others two pictures are a typical day. Our 3 dogs are barking inside the motor home and we have been in this spot for almost 2 weeks, the bears don't care about dogs, at least these bears.

 

[Xterabl]

For this exact purpose, a year ago I made a small LiFePO4 battery pack for my Edgestar FP430 which could power it overnight in moderate temperatures (at Yosemite) while being in a bear locker, but...the locker was indeed too short. Some campsites had taller lockers that it would fit in which I have used before on other trips but these were less common than the short ones.
I had duct tape with me and so for an added measure of "smell-security" I used it to seal all around the lid and the drain port.

 

[hidesertwheelin]

For this exact purpose, a year ago I made a small LiFePO4 battery pack for my Edgestar FP430 which could power it overnight in moderate temperatures (at Yosemite) while being in a bear locker, but...the locker was indeed too short. Some campsites had taller lockers that it would fit in which I have used before on other trips but these were less common than the short ones.
I had duct tape with me and so for an added measure of "smell-security" I used it to seal all around the lid and the drain port.

There are no bear boxed where our base camp is going to be. I will use duct tape around it though.

 

[emtmark]

Is it couth to pepper nosy bears with a paintball gun? Certainly better than the ol pots n pans routine.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Xterabl]

Yeah, the fridge was in the rear cargo of my Xterra and was NOT visible through the (tinted) rear glass. I have heard multiple opinions that visibility IS important so it should be covered with towel or blanket, etc.
After thinking about it for the past day, I even think that on the third night I threw caution to the wind and didn't tape around the lid...having been given a confidence boost after seeing some of the abusive food-laying-around-negligence of some of my neighbor campers.
There were reports of bear break-ins that (labor day) weekend, but none very close to my site.
Good luck!

 

[mezmochill]

Don't camp at established sites. And if it's a dispersed site with some giant thrashed fire ring you may need to be a little more careful.

If it's a known problem area avoid it. And Keep a clean camp.

We live outside all over the place and never have problems.

BTW non habituated black bears don't want to be around you.

Have fun.

 

[Xterabl]

Nice advice, but what if I want to camp at established sites?
LOL, there's nothing quite like being told "Don't play chess." when asking, "How do you play chess?"
So thanks for that.

BTW, I don't want non habituated black bears around me either, so the feeling's mutual.

Have fun.

 

[justrom]

In established sites we put the fridge into the bear box. Luckily in Kings Canyon, Sequoia, Yosemite NPs and in Glacier NP the bear boxes were all large enough to fit the fridge. I plugged it into the jump starter box that I carry in the truck for emergencies. It keeps the fridge running all night no problem and the jump start pack recharges during the day when we're driving.

Outside established sites we follow standard bear protocol and cook well away from our sleeping site to avoid concentrating the smells and lock the fridge in the truck covered with a blanket when we're not there. So far it has worked for us...

 

[Burb One]

I know this is an old thread, but figured I'd post here rather than a new thread, because through my research this is always one of the first threads to come up.

After calling and speaking to many rangers in the NP and NF around the Yellowstone parks, in anticipation for my Yellowstone/ Grand Tetons area trip the recommendation has been:

Hardside "lockable vehicle" are okay and legal to store food in fridge, and "airtight" containers, even if you are sleeping in the truck. Just make some effort to conceal the containers, when in the trucks or leaving for a hike etc.. Also, cleanup and odor reduction is key in general.

Softsided vehicles/ pop tents, etc.you need a bear bag, bear canister, bear locker, etc., and store them outside the truck using normal precautions/ standards

No warranty given for this information, and if I never post again in a few weeks, disregard :Wow1: