Any BearVault 350 failures (possible human error)?

Response from our friends at BearVault:

BearVault responded

edit: the word for word response that I posted earlier I have removed....thought better of posting it on Net without making the BearVault rep aware I was doing so.


What the response boiled down to was that BearVault has been aware since August 13th of one bear -and possibly a companion - that have been opening BV 400's (350's use the same lid) by damaging and unscrewing the lid. To their knowledge it has been happening around Marcy Dam, Lake Colden and Avalanche.
These instances were the first time a bear had opened the BV 400 's and 350's in a couple of seasons.
They are actively working with the DEC on new lids.
They say they are keeping track of any reported failures and may update the "other" thread when they have info.

Yikes.....heh.... there could have been two in the vicinity that night and we were not aware.

I can't help but be a little worried about the outcome for that bear.

adkpooh said:

I am well aware now that they must be able to smell these things from a mile away- forget the contents....just from regular handling. It just hadn't occurred to me before. My backpack itself must smell.

Click to expand...

I often keep My pack in the tent while I sleep and have never had a problem. Am I just lucky, or is this a regular practice. How many others keep their pack in the tent during the night?

Kevin

adkpooh said:

BearVault has been aware since August 13th of one bear -and possibly a companion - that have been opening BV 400's (350's use the same lid) by damaging and unscrewing the lid.

Click to expand...

That still doesn't mean they were screwed on right, but if it's been more than one BV (did they say how many ?) than the bear have figured it out.

KevCon223 said:

I often keep My pack in the tent while I sleep and have never had a problem. Am I just lucky, or is this a regular practice. How many others keep their pack in the tent during the night?

Kevin

Click to expand...

I'm pretty careful about no food items in my pack, just in the BV, and I still normally hang the pack outside the tent. Not a "Bear Bag Hang", just hooked up on a limb, or something. If there are any smells in the pack, I'd rather have the animals rummaging outside my tent. If I have a big garbage bag with me, I've put my pack in that to further hide it.

I have used the Garcia for years. It has the teeth marks on it to prove it has been tested but has passed the test.

Keith

My Garcia still looks new It has never encountered a bear. MAybe they know they cant get into them

Bearvault Response

All:

I received the following response from Bearvault to my break-in at Flowed Lands last fall.

"Back in August 2007 a single bear in the Marcy Dam area of the Adirondacks learned how to open BearVault BV350/3400 models. It does this by pushing in the bump with its incisor tooth and unscrewing the lid. This bear is the only bear in the US that has managed to open BV350/400s since their introduction in June 2006. However it can open them at will and so BearVaults should not be used in the Marcy Dam area until new lids or models are available.



In April 2008, the new BearVault BV450/500 models will be available in stores. These models replace the BV350/400 models above. They are the same size/cost and weight. The only difference is that they have two bumps on the lid instead of one bump. The hope is that this will deter the Marcy Dam bear. This can only be confirmed by field testing at Marcy Dam in early summer of 2008.



If this testing proves successful against the Marcy Dam bear, we will offer these new lids to those in the affected area who have the current BV350/400 models as these lids are backwards compatible. We anticipate completing the field testing by early June. Please contact us at that time if you hike in the Marcy Dam area.



We will not offer these lids to those not in the affected area as their current model Bearvaults are perfectly adequate.



Please contact us if you have any questions.


Daniel does this anwer your question; we need to wait for the test results in May/June as the new model may not stop this bear in actual field testing.


Jamie and Cindy

BearVault"

This entire situation is very annoying!

But, as an Adirondack local, I cannot help but glow with pride at the excerpt: "This bear is the only bear in the US that has managed to open BV350/400s..." It's long been said that the fish are smarter here; now we have documented, objective evidence that the bears are smarter, too!

(What annoys me is the State's pigheaded refusal to consider the use of lockers at the popular camping areas, which is a solution that has worked in many other regions. This solution works. The bears cannot defeat it; and it saves backcountry campers a lot of trouble (and a little money). As I've posted earlier, I was astonished when a DEC spokeperson told me a few years ago that they wouldn't pursue lockers because Eastern hikers were too stupid to use them correctly.)

TCD

Not sure how visible the tooth marks are but the animal knew what he wanted to try to do. He just couldn't get any purchase. Its a good design.

Keith