The "Bear"muda Triangle

Bear Proofing your camp

There are a myriad of ways to safeguard one’s campsite from animals looking for a tasty treat! Bear bags, bear safe food canisters, and so on and so forth. One tried and true method that we like to use is coined The Bear”muda Triangle (I take no credit for this term)…

The idea is simply (reference my above drawing) that you create a triangle of sorts 50’ to 100’ downwind from your shelter where all your food and waste activities take place. Cooking, washing, food storage, latrine, and so on. By centralizing the area that these things take place you end up directing possible animal traffic into a designated area away from where you should be peacefully sleeping.

It is also wise to make sure that your chosen campsite is not in the middle of any game trails. Most game animals (humans too) are habitual and take the same paths time after time and most predatory animals will also follow these trails. Setting up in the middle of a game trail is asking for your site to be visited.

If you are in high activity bear, coyote, mountain lion, or hog areas than you may want to consider other measures as well, such as the utilization of perimeter alarms, carrying bear spray, and even the carrying of a firearm. We are in a fairly coyote rich area (big deer populations) so carrying of a firearm when out has become standard practice when camping.

But at the end of the day, doing simple things as was explained above in creating your own “Bear”muda Triangle, can eliminate a lot of worries when it comes to chance animal encounters in your own campsite!