Do you hang your pack from a tree at night?

[turnerminator]

I keep my 2 continuous loops on my hanging loops of my pack.

Most of the time, they are unused so I use them to loop over the gather of my hammock and hang my pack there.

[1066vik]

I hang my pack from the tree and bring a spare carabiner to hook through my bootlaces and hang them off an end of the hammock -- dry under the tarp and no "visitors" nesting in them overnight.

[Wolverine]

Only if I'm going to be physically separated from my pack for a while, otherwise pack goes on ground cloth and other items go into bear bag.

[trouthunter]

Are you leaving your food and other smellables in your pack?

I always hang my food & other items with odors away from where I sleep to avoid critters being attracted to my sleep area. I don't cook where I sleep either.

Even so, I hang my pack from one of the trees I'm hanging from, or off my hammock suspension. I always line my pack with a compactor bag or a large contractor clean up bag to keep my pack contents dry while hiking or canoeing and then once at camp I can place the pack inside the plastic bag in case of rain. This works well for me since I don't like pack covers a whole lot.

Just my .02 - Mike G.

[trouthunter]

I use an S Carabiner to hook my pack to the tree strap.

Warning: At the last weekend hammock hang, I also put my daypack on the 'biner....by the end of the weekend: lo and behold, I found that a field mouse had eaten the netting in the day pack in order to get the peanut butter that had rubbed off my last power bar. NOTE TO SELF: Put empty power bar wrappings into a plastic bag...not into the net pockets of my packs!

You're not the only one brother! I have had several visits from critters over the years and while not a huge problem most of the time I have two packs with chew holes, a cooler with raccoon tooth punctures in the lid, and a tent with a chewed fly. I have also caught raccoons opening a cooler once while I was car camping with my family.

Lessons learned, nowadays I probably go to more trouble than most to avoid critter / gear encounters, but I don't have any sunrise surprises either.

Mike G.

[litetrek]

I always hang the food bag and garbage bag. If my pack is light enough and there's a good branch sometimes I'll hang the pack with food and everything else inside. A hanging pack is a pain if you forget to take out something you need in the night ... like a rain jacket. I always open the pockets of the pack at night so critters don't have to chew their way in. If the pockets are zipped shut and they smell something they want they'll chew their way to it.

[bruinfan]

the squirrels here at ucla are gnarly. they are nasty little buggers. they have chewed holes in a couple of my backpacks going after my trail mix while i was sleeping next to my bag. they also got into a brownie once that had me laughing my *** off.. i wonder how a 2 lb squirrel would handle something that is suppose 2 put down a 200lb man.

i wonder if i could spray my bag w/ permetherin or another repel. something to drive them away and that would help. ? thoughts?

[Just swingin]

I use Smokeeater908's (on Youtube) idea. Piece of paracord bout 3' with a loop tied in each end. Piece of techline prusiked on the cord with a small biner attached. I run the biner through one of the loops and move the prusik as needed. Clip the pack on that.

[Mountnman]

I use Smokeeater908's (on Youtube) idea. Piece of paracord bout 3' with a loop tied in each end. Piece of techline prusiked on the cord with a small biner attached. I run the biner through one of the loops and move the prusik as needed. Clip the pack on that.

+1 I use that method or just hang off end of hammock if raining.

[MrClean417]

I put a cord around one of my suspension trees but last weekend I just put it on my Turtledog spreader bar.