bear canisters on the NPT

[DSettahr]

I see this conversation is a year old... But my question is almost the same so I am reviving this. Recent Trip Report from TomCat mentioned wanton attacks by the apex predator of the Northwoods - the field mouse. Pillaging by airborne rodents was also mentioned.

Last year (2020) was a banner year for mice in the Adirondacks. After a relatively quiet year (2019) the mouse population just about exploded everywhere.

I spent one god-awful night in the Island House Lean-to on Long Lake while paddling Long Lake to the Crusher via the Raquette River. They were everywhere; all night long it was like a three-ring circus of no fewer than 10 mice hopping around the lean-to, on me, on my stuff, in my stuff. They found my bear hang and got into that too.

It made me wish that I'd brought a bear canister on that trip. But honestly the mice were so bad that they probably would've been able to get into the bear canister too (as happened a couple of times at Marcy Dam during the 2020 season).

[forgedin78]

Just curious... how did mice get into a bear canister? Or do they just chew through the plastic?

[DSettahr]

Yep. I know of one instance for sure where it happened, and I believe it happened one or two additional times over the course of the season. The rodent basically spent the day (night?) slowly chewing through the plastic until it had made a hole big enough to get in. I believe it was one of the Garcia canisters, too- not BearVault.

I think have a photo of one of the breached cannisters somewhere (I think buried in my text conversation history on my phone). I'll try to find and share it later.

[DuctTape]

all of my canisters have gnaw marks on them in various spots. My ursack has teeth indentations from a bear (but was not able to get into it.)

[Wldrns]

I saw a Garcia (the heavy black plastic kind) at the HPIC with a large hole chewed through the bottom edge. It was a rental and the renter had admitted he watched a red squirrel do the damage over a three day period. He should have been charged for the cost of a new canister, but was not.

[mmaute]

I saw a Garcia (the heavy black plastic kind) at the HPIC with a large hole chewed through the bottom edge. It was a rental and the renter had admitted he watched a red squirrel do the damage over a three day period. He should have been charged for the cost of a new canister, but was not.

If the renter was out on a backpacking trip and used and stored the container properly, I'm not sure what reasonable actions the renter could have taken to avoid the squirrel damage. One might try keeping it close to their person to deter the squirrel, however that would seem to not coincide with the general recommendation of storing it at least 100 yards downwind from camp when not using it. Not knowing the specifics of the incident, it's difficult to evaluate potential renter negligence, but it seems plausible there may not have been many actions they could have taken to prevent the damage.

[Wldrns]

I was not on scene, but it was told to me that he admitted that he "watched" the squirrel do the damage over a 3 day period. if that was the case it likely was not 100 yards away from camp. IMO, something could have been done to prevent the damage instead of observing someone else's property get destroyed for the enjoyment of it.