Great Hammock night failure of the ursack

[Snydman]

I was hoping to be out for 2 nights on the Momyer trail in the San Gorgonio mountains in southern California but I had and an Ursack failure as a bear shredded the interior contents all my food destroyed!!

I woke last Saturday morning at 6 AM with my dogs barking , as a pop my head of the hammock I saw a big brown bear running down the gorge where I stored my Ursack to a tree.

I had just gotten the Ursack the week before and was excited to use it. Studied how to tie the knots, excited about this instead of the bear vault!

After the bear cleared I was anxious to see if he had found the tree where I tied up the bag. Ohhh yes he found it. The bag was still tie in place the knots held. Happy about that.

Unfortunately the bear had no problem getting his teeth through the bullet proof layer and shredded everything inside..

I would've expected things to be crushed but the bear had no problem getting his teeth through the bag and truly shredding all contents. Be mindful I would still hang the bear sack as opposed to just tie it to the tree.


I had several emails to Thomas Cohen the founder of Ursack, his view the bag did not fail, but by his own definition having holes larger than a quarter of an inch it did. The bear certainly got flavor of the food and the peanut butter that was inside and was positive rewarded in my opinion. Thomas disagreed and stated that there was no research that linked getting flavor of food as a positive reward. Thomas still claimed that there have never been any failures of the bag but in my first outing a bear had no problem penetrating the bag with his teeth, destroying and puncturing all of the food inside and worst of all getting a positive reward.

Very disappointed in the bag as well as the response from the company because at the end of the day we don't want to give a positive reward to a bear.

Back to the BV 500

[SilvrSurfr]

All you got was a tiny puncture hole and that's it? Personally, I'd say the Ursack worked as designed.

What were you looking for, a refund?

[Snydman]

All you got was a tiny puncture hole and that's it? Personally, I'd say the Ursack worked as designed.

It depends on what your idea of failure is. Mine is did the bear get rewarded.

In this case if you look at the inner bag and food he certainly got flavor of peanut butter and all the contents from the inside
image.jpg

[Kallorne]

All you got was a tiny puncture hole and that's it? Personally, I'd say the Ursack worked as designed.

What were you looking for, a refund?

I'm inclined to agree it does look like it performed as advertised... Not too bad for being mauled by a bear. I was actually strongly considering an ursack but seeing the results of food crushed in this manner though, I'd rather not have to eat peanut m&m chicken dumplings if it can be avoided. Or have it rolled down the mountain for that matter. I'll stick with hanging my food.

[SilvrSurfr]

Sure looks like a 1/8 inch hole to me. I can see why Ursack wouldn't replace it since their website says, "Limited Lifetime Warranty. We will replace, or refund the cost of any properly used Ursack S29.3 AllWhite in which a gap, tear or hole larger than 1/4 inch is caused by a bear. "

Did you also buy the aluminum liner? Their website says, "Without the optional aluminum liner, your food may be crushed or punctured." It's $21.50 and 10.8 ounces.

[SnrMoment]

It's bag. Tie it up right so bears don't get to it. See PCT Hang
A simple stuff sack is all you need.

[Snydman]

Sure looks like a 1/8 inch hole to me. I can see why Ursack wouldn't replace it since their website says, "Limited Lifetime Warranty. We will replace, or refund the cost of any properly used Ursack S29.3 AllWhite in which a gap, tear or hole larger than 1/4 inch is caused by a bear. "

Did you also buy the aluminum liner? Their website says, "Without the optional aluminum liner, your food may be crushed or punctured." It's $21.50 and 10.8 ounces.

I did not get the aluminum liner. With that you might as will be caring a BV 500. And not looking for a refund just providing input that the bear got rewarded. You're looking at the hole in a relaxed state imagine it a expanding tooth with 300 pounds of bear attached to it.

I agree there were no gaping holes but the goal should be was the bear rewarded..

[signguy]

It's bag. Tie it up right so bears don't get to it. See PCT Hang
A simple stuff sack is all you need.

Plus 1- properly hung I just don't think you need anything other than a stuff sack.
Surprised the dogs didn't wake you earlier. In AZ the bears stay away if you have a dog- dogsbare used to hunt bears in AZ so they know to stay away if they smell a dog.

[SilvrSurfr]

"Was the bear rewarded" is somewhat unquantifiable. Did he get a tiny hint of peanut butter on an incisor or a canine tooth? Maybe, but we will never know if the bear was "rewarded."

Were you using the OPSak? The website says, "When used properly, the OPSak is 100% water and air tight." Clearly, the bear smelled food on your Ursack. Otherwise, he'd have no reason to attack it. I'd say the bear's reward came when he smelled the food, not when he bit into the bag.

[laghang]

I guess the takeaway is to hang the bag higher, out-of-reach. It may be meant to resist bites but it's not as resistant as a canister. I agree you don't want to reward the bear with a treat piñata.

http://sectionhiker.com/protecting-y...od-from-bears/