When leaving a cabin, how do you keep bears out?

[Rance]

Many of the cabins on west side cook inlet use the 4x8 sheet of plywood and nails. Placed under every window spot, and at any doors. Seems to work well.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by Rance

Many of the cabins on west side cook inlet use the 4x8 sheet of plywood and nails. Placed under every window spot, and at any doors. Seems to work well.

Yes, that what has been used by people for many years.
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And about food smells left behind as told my other posters: there is no way for one to keep such smells from bears unless one can put the whole cabin inside an airtight enclosure Some bears associate even gasoline with food.

[mitgreb]

If they want in they will get in! "If you know what a bear is going to do next you know more than the bear does!" Hal Waugh.

[RayinAK]

Originally Posted by mitgreb

If they want in they will get in! "If you know what a bear is going to do next you know more than the bear does!" Hal Waugh.

That's true.

About a week or more prior to moose season my hunting partners and I set-up three large tents at our campsite, and then return home leaving the tents unattended for over a week. The whole area is crisscrossed by bear and moose trails, but so far we haven't had bear problems except for one time. This happened years ago. A couple of black bears raided our campsite, and chewed through three or four action packs that were filled with dehydrated and other dry foods. The funny thing is that they raided our campsite on the first day of moose season while we were a few hundred yards away from the tents

We built a cache on the trees and stored the food in it. But we had to chase after the bears on our ATV's to scare them away from the campsite. The bears never returned after that. But from that time on we leave a radio in each tent tuned to one of the local AM stations. No idea if Rush, Laura Ingraham, Savage, and Coast to Coast keep the bears away from our campsite, but so far so good

[Teckeeee]

Bear Off.

Couldn't you put ammonia filled balloons around the entry worked for us but I am sure you have more of them up there.

[IL2AK4job]

Do what I do! Hire Chuck Norris with a bb gun! 70%of the time it works every time.

[starlite9]

Originally Posted by True Hivernant

Put up an electric wire type fence around the cabin (same type use to contain horses) with a battery powered electric fence charger. Works GREAT!

That works about once... You'll find it a few hundred yards away (if lucky) when the bear got tangled up in it and ran off with it... Moose do the same thing.

All the boards with nails and heavy shutters works to a point, but like someone said, if the bear wants in, he will get in. They are like kids, they will stick a claw in a little crack and ending up ripping an entire back wall out.

Biggest thing is not to have garbage around or major food smells coming out of the cabin. They aren't keen on mothballs, for years I would throw them around my cabin during the summer when I was out and never had bear issues.... Mostly I had snow machiner's issues that don't respect private property and would break in, but found remote trail cameras worked wonders at tracking them down to pay for the damages... Scared the hell out of them too.

But no proof that the mothballs work, but the bears left my cabin alone but did damage others in the area. I had just a normal door and windows and the bears never gave them a second thought!.