Bears and Vans

What do y'all do to keep bears out of your vans? I have had 3 bears break into my van this season.... One in the Whitney portal, one in Tahoe and one in mammoth....

Each time he pops the vent off my window and swipes his arms all over my counter in front of the window, which has nothing on it and is cleaned on a nightly basis. 

So my question is what preventative measures do you take to prevent this? No food in fridge, all food in a tote outside of van or what? Open to all suggestions, the damage hasn't been catastrophic yet, but would like to avoid.... I have a one month trip in Yosemite coming up in a few days.....

Dang man. They only come around ours when we’ve got salmon. Do you have a trailer hitch rack? We have a 5 gallon bucket for our stinky trash that we ratchet strap down onto that. Got woken up at 3am by a bear trying to pull it off but it’s easy enough to scare them off. Having a dog also helps keep the bears away, but definitely limits your ability to climb anything more than a pitch

You can't leave any food in your van/car, regardless of whether it is visible, in a frig, etc.

Do you need to open your windows at night? Could you just use a fan on top? Is there some sort of repellant that you could use on the outside, not a full bear spray or anything, but just something that might ward them off.

Or you could just stay awake all night and confront said bear, ask it politely but sternly to leave you alone, then go about your business.

Tho this time of year bears really are trying to eat a lot and load up for winter. Consider voting in the pageant.

You could put your food in a yeti with a padlock, and then grab something like a pelican case (for dry food/toiletries/whatever, also padlocked) and chain them to a tree near where you're parked overnight

Even if the bear gets into them, at least it isn't your van

https://wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Bear#4552931-regulation

Or

Electric fence
https://www.udap.com/mm5/category/bear-electric-fences 

Piss.  On the tires, the bumper, on the ground all around.

Remember, there’s a lot of cars in Yosemite. All you have to do is make it less interested in yours. 

FrankPS wrote:

You can't leave any food in your van/car, regardless of whether it is visible, in a frig, etc.

What he said. This also includes all your toiletries - soaps, toothpaste, sunscreen, etc.

And stop cooking in your van.

Gumby boy king wrote:

What do y'all do to keep bears out of your vans? I have had 3 bears break into my van this season.... One in the Whitney portal, one in Tahoe and one in mammoth....

Each time he pops the vent off my window and swipes his arms all over my counter in front of the window, which has nothing on it and is cleaned on a nightly basis. 

So my question is what preventative measures do you take to prevent this? No food in fridge, all food in a tote outside of van or what? Open to all suggestions, the damage hasn't been catastrophic yet, but would like to avoid.... I have a one month trip in Yosemite coming up in a few days.....

Why didn't you use the plentiful bear boxes at Whitney Portal?

I know it's hard to eliminate all food smells from a car that you live in, but keeping food in a fridge or cooler inside your car at night in the Portal is just a blinking invitation to the bears to break in. They will do it all the time. 

I have some friends who live in june lake who used to send me pictures of bears inside of their vehicles. They bring everything in and leave the doors unlocked so the bear can get in easily, instead of breaking something, then it can look around and leave when it finds nothing.  

Obviously you can't do that with the van that you're asleep in, but I agree that you need to remove everything into a lockable cooler, whenever there aren't bear lockers. 

Andrew Rice wrote:

Why didn't you use the plentiful bear boxes at Whitney Portal?

I know it's hard to eliminate all food smells from a car that you live in, but keeping food in a fridge or cooler inside your car at night in the Portal is just a blinking invitation to the bears to break in. They will do it all the time. 

Thanks for the lecture. And what part of my post did you read and assume I didn't use the bear box at the portal? I did for the record. Looking for more advice from those who live in their cars/vans an have experience with bears.

Thanks for everyone's recommendations - much appreciated. I have a lot to work with here.

It's interesting because never had a break in while I am sleeping in my van, always when its parked somewhere over night. Which is concerning given some of the objectives in the valley will be overnight. 

Another friend had a bear break into her house, and locked itself inside her walk in pantry. It wrecked shit breaking in and trying to get out, as you would expect a bear to do. 

Now she has these thick pieces of plywood with hundreds of screws sticking up through them and she places them outside of her doors at night when it's that time of year. 

You'd look pretty cool pulling into the campground with mad max style spikes sticking out of boards strapped to the outside of your rig, people will think you train on nails and screws! At night you throw them on the ground. Your drunk friends will love this too. So will your significant other when they have to pee in the middle of the night. Eventually your van will become known as the "bear murderer" or some other cool name. 

FrankPS wrote:

You can't leave any food in your van/car, regardless of whether it is visible, in a frig, etc.

This may be the official word but seems pretty rare in practice, especially with vans.

I've been living in Mammoth and bears have broken into cars in our housing complex with slightly open windows but have left my van alone even though I'm sure there's food in it. Talking to folks including the property manager, it sounds like this is pretty typical. 

I also don't know anyone who removes food from their van in Yosemite.

In this case, it sounds like bears recognize your particular window as an easy target and pulls it off. Replace it with a different model? 

Ben Kraft wrote:

This may be the official word but seems pretty rare in practice, especially with vans.

I've been living in Mammoth and bears have broken into cars in our housing complex with slightly open windows but have left my van alone even though I'm sure there's food in it. Talking to folks including the property manager, it sounds like this is pretty typical. 

I also don't know anyone who removes food from their van in Yosemite.

In this case, it sounds like bears recognize your particular window as an easy target and pulls it off. Replace it with a different model? 

Is it your position that food in cars doesn't attract bears?

If so, I will completely disregard it and stick to the warnings to keep food out of my car. 

In Yosemite you don't have to remove food from a hard sided camper/RV but you are supposed to from a car/van. I imagine the bears quickly learn RVs usually have people inside them at night and leave them alone. While cars are just a big food cabinet to a bear. If you leave food in a car at night there's a good chance it will be ramsacked by a bear and you'll get a big ticket in Yosemite. I've seen it happen in campgrounds more than once. A van is probably somewhere in the middle. EVERYONE I know removes food from their van when they leave it unattended for the night in Yosemite.  It sounds pretty irresponsible not to. Maybe people have been lucky but all it takes is one time for a bear to find food in a van and they'll probably be targeting vans for the rest of their (shortened) lives.

For suggestions: covering up any smell maybe with a potent air freshener? A motion activated alarm?

"You may store food inside your RV if it is made entirely of solid, non-pliable material (i.e., it has no cloth pop-outs). When away from your RV, food must be out of sight and windows and roof vents must be completely closed."

NPS Yose regs

RVs and Vans are good to go!

Gumby boy king wrote:

Thanks for the lecture. And what part of my post did you read and assume I didn't use the bear box at the portal? I did for the record. Looking for more advice from those who live in their cars/vans an have experience with bears.

Thanks for everyone's recommendations - much appreciated. I have a lot to work with here.

It's interesting because never had a break in while I am sleeping in my van, always when its parked somewhere over night. Which is concerning given some of the objectives in the valley will be overnight. 

It's not a lecture. I asked a question. You said the counter was all cleaned up. You didn't say you put the food outside your car in a bear box. If so, that's a different issue. 

FrankPS wrote:

Is it your position that food in cars doesn't attract bears?

If so, I will completely disregard it and stick to the warnings to keep food out of my car. 

Sometimes on first days (usually not, we'll check in first and empty food at the CG) and definitely on last days of Tuolumne camping trips we have the cooler and food in the car. Crag parking doesn't have bear storage lockers. Have been fine so far, but had less luck with mice. Got those bastards in the glovebox/car/engine twice the last few years. From TM and Needles.

I also know that it is very hard to get all scents out of a vehicle, let alone one that has been lived in. I think the word is that bears will break in if they just want to check it out and hope to find something - they don't have to see or smell food. Most of the time someone will have left a Chapstick or piece of gum or sunblock or trash in the car and there's the "evidence" that "caused" the break-in. Hard to prove/disprove. 

Matt N wrote:

Sometimes on first days (usually not, we'll check in first and empty food at the CG) and definitely on last days of Tuolumne camping trips we have the cooler and food in the car. Crag parking doesn't have bear storage lockers. Have been fine so far, but had less luck with mice. Got those bastards in the glovebox/car/engine twice the last few years. From TM and Needles.

I also know that it is very hard to get all scents out of a vehicle, let alone one that has been lived in. I think the word is that bears will break in if they just want to check it out and hope to find something - they don't have to see or smell food. Most of the time someone will have left a Chapstick or piece of gum or sunblock or trash in the car and there's the "evidence" that "caused" the break-in. Hard to prove/disprove. 

Yeah, I've taken chances before, and probably will again

I think it's more risky to leave food in your car, overnight, than during the day when you're cragging.

And then there's the residual smell in the carpets and seats from food crumbs and dropped pizza slices. Which are difficult scents to remove.

Andrew Rice wrote:

It's not a lecture. I asked a question. You said the counter was all cleaned up. You didn't say you put the food outside your car in a bear box. If so, that's a different issue. 

Ya sorry. Just been a rough morning getting back to my van with a broken window and a big trip coming up...

I plan on replacing the window, seems like the bears definitely know this model.... But window doesnt arrive for 4-6 weeks... 

I'll try and do a deep clean of the van and put everything in a box so I can put it on and out of a bear box easily. But as others have mentioned I have been living in this thing for almost 18 months and getting all of the smells out with be hard/impossible. 

Thanks again y'all and welcome all the suggestions I can get.

I've read some warnings that bears are creatures of habit, and they will thoroughly check places where they expect to find food

Story 1 - friends were kayak tripping on Lake Superior, they stayed on Grand Island. The island has easy access - even folks who are not wilderness aware can tent camp there. So, a bear wanted to check out one of their tents while they were sleeping in the tent. My friends most definitely were following bear country protocols, so food in a tent was not a possible target. Rangers had to dispatch the bear, they assumed that that particular bear had previously found something tasty in a tent, and was exploring dinner menu.

Story 2 - a bunch of us were driving through Mammoth Lakes, CA, decided to stay the night in a hotel. We parked our car, somehow completely blanked out on bear issues. I am quite sure there was food in the car, IIRC a baby had spilled milk in it same day - basically should've smelled like a food buffet. Anyways  - later that night we are relaxing on a balcony, and see two bears - mama and baby saunter by our car. They totally ignored it, and went dumpster diving ~300ft away.