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I'm going on a multi day backpacking trip and I am planning on taking only a backpacking hammock instead of a tent. When I mentioned this to a friend of mine he jokingly referred to me as a bear taco.

Do I need to worry about bears more since I am in a hammock?

(Food will be stored safely and well away from camp)

brh
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    I guess it depends on how bothered you are about seeing bears and other critters coming, as apposed to being unaware of them when you're in a tent. Mosquito issues sound like a much bigger deal. – Olin Lathrop Jun 18 '13 at 22:17
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    I don't want to write this as an answer, but I can't see how a hammock could possibly be any different. It's not like a tent will slow a bear down for more than 5 milliseconds if it wants to see what's in it. – whatsisname Jun 18 '13 at 23:20
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    bring a role of fishing cord, and a tin cup. Fill the cup with stones. Set up trip wires all around your camp that trigger the tin cup to fall down. You will be successfully awakened by impending doom, and can try fighting the bear with bear hands. Or make like a cat and get the hell out of there :) – anaheim Jun 19 '13 at 07:49
  • @Abe Miessler Hiking in bear country you want to take precautions not only of properly storing food but to be conscious of cooking methods as clothes etc. can hold the sscent and entice a hungry bear for a closer look. – Charlie Brown Jul 01 '13 at 17:35
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    @whatsisname There's a definite difference: hammocks are bear tacos, tents are bear sandwiches. But seriously, as long as your food scents are away from your campsite and you aren't hanging a bear bag from your hammock, you'll be just as safe as you would be camping in a tent. – pheidlauf Aug 26 '14 at 12:55
  • Abe, how was your walk? – Don Branson Jun 05 '16 at 01:08
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    I was eaten by a bear unfortunately – brh Jun 05 '16 at 17:01
  • I've always thought of the pistol as a defensive weapon because of the noise it makes, not so much because it can/will kill a bear. One shot into the ground might be enough to frighten the bear away. –  Oct 09 '16 at 02:15
  • @anaheim They both get bear hands? – user001 Oct 11 '16 at 15:45
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    I was rejected by a black bear as inedible. Literally. It sniffed me from feet to shoulders and walked off. It hurt my feelings dreadfully. – ab2 Jun 24 '18 at 00:46

3 Answers3

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Being in a hammock shouldn't change anything. A tent is not any safer, and may be more dangerous, since you don't have visibility of the area around you. Buy or borrow a copy of Trail Life, there's a good discussion of the issues with using a tent. A tarp is my preference over a hammock or a tent, because they make for a dryer and more comfortable night's sleep for me.

The prime rule is to not cook near where you're stopping for the night. Cook and eat your evening meal a few miles before you make camp, and the bears will be drawn there instead of to your campsite.

Don Branson
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    +1 - proper handling, cooking, and storage of food is what will make a difference, not whether you're in a tent or hammock. – DavidR Jun 19 '13 at 17:43
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    I agree, you should not worry any more or less. If there is anything to add it is just to keep the food sealed even in your backpack. I once had a peanut butter sandwich get smooshed into my tarp in my backpack. Even I could smell the PB for a day or two. – treeNinja Aug 28 '14 at 19:58
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I've been using a bear fence lately:

enter image description here

Best sleep in bear country. Look it up on Internet. Does add about 3-4lbs to your kit, so get lighter somewhere else.

user3836
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    Seems like ridiculous overkill. I also don't see how those three little white strings are going to slow down a bear that wants to get inside for some reason. The reason this may appear to work is that bears generally don't give a crap about you and your tent, whether surrounded by a few strings or not. This really looks like a gimmick to keep your money out of your wallet, not to keep bears out of your tent. It works because you believe it does. – Olin Lathrop Aug 26 '14 at 13:09
  • @OlinLathrop would most bears not mind being electrocuted then? – Aravona Aug 26 '14 at 13:37
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    @Aravona: That's a electric fence!!? Wow, that's really overkill, and requires shlepping along a power source. – Olin Lathrop Aug 26 '14 at 13:54
  • @OlinLathrop I agree that's massive weight, but you can see the red battery, and I googled them quickly - these kinds of fences I've only ever seen used statically for horses, I was just wondering if bears do or do not notice the current as your comment gave the impression they do not. – Aravona Aug 26 '14 at 13:55
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    Interesting product, but I think I'll take my chances with the bears. – brh Aug 26 '14 at 14:45
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    This looks like a great way to piss a bear off. zap, RARRRGHHH! – Bruce May 24 '16 at 22:56
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    I hope you don't wake up in the middle of the night, going for a pee whilst forgetting that you put that fence over there. It might hurt. – Ben Jun 05 '16 at 16:58
  • Does give me some ideas, I use trip wires. That is a distinct improvement over my setup +1 – bobbym Dec 23 '16 at 10:33
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    Can make lots of jokes, but looks like some real studies have been done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv2G-aRDvyY – John Lehmann Apr 02 '19 at 15:02
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One of the best things about hammocks is that you can elevate them as high as anchor points allow. That means you can sleep with the woodpeckers and squirrels up high. It's actually a lot of fun to do, but it isn't for the faint of heart, or those who sleepwalk. Getting up high among the branches lets you hang all sorts of stuff and have an arboreal campsite, it's especially good to use where you have concerns about the ground...swampy areas, gators, snakes, rabid coyotes, meth addicts stumbling around in the woods.

If you hang your gear away from your hammock and haven't cooked and eaten right underneath, you should be fine. And yes, bears can climb trees. They aren't ninjas though, and if you aren't awakened by the sound of them clawing their way up a tree a few feet away, you might as well sleep on the ground and not worry anyway. If one does go through the trouble of climbing a tree after you wake up and start yelling at it and shine a light on it, you still have recourse to a sidearm or using a pre-placed bailout rope to swing away like Tarzan. Makes for awesome selfies too.

I usually prefer tarp/fly shelters and sleeping on the ground, and have done plenty of that while hunting in bear country. In bear country just try to give yourself a protected space...like setting up in blowdowns with trees/logs piled on three sides. And then you have built in alert/protection (noise to climb over, barrier) in three directions and one approach to worry about. Pile brush to narrow it, and build your fire there. People have used that technique for millennia.

Really, don't worry. Just sleep with your pistol and knife. All smart bear tacos are armed tacos.

Don Branson
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Sean Wilson
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    You're going to tackle a bear with a pistol or a knife?? Good luck. I'll stick to bear spray, I think. – Tullochgorum Jun 03 '16 at 21:07
  • Bear spray is no easier to use and probably harder to, in a hammock than most people would imagine. It's nowhere as ergodynamic, and is as much a threat to you if you're wrapped up in a hammock or under a rain fly angling down on either side of you. If you can't clear obstructions with the spray, you're going to have it splashing back in your face. Most people have never deployed bear spray, much less become familiar enough to use it in stressful situations or enclosed areas.

    Besides...

    https://www.knife-depot.com/blog/knives-save-lives-man-with-fixed-blade-vs-525-pound-bear/#more-5761

     – Sean Wilson Jun 03 '16 at 21:14
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    Bear spray is a shoot-and-point weapon: you can walk your fire onto the bear's face. Good luck even getting off a second shot, much less an aimed one, with a pistol powerful enough to stop a bear. – Mark Jun 05 '16 at 08:22
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    Firearms have been proved less effective than bear spray time and time again. Have you considered how much stopping power you're going to need against a 600-pound grizzly? And how many shots you're going to get in the half second it will take for that bear to close the gap between you? – Carey Gregory Jun 05 '16 at 21:58
  • I don't know how many of you have actually ever deployed bear spray, but it's less point and shoot than a handgun. You can't use it in an enclosed space, be it a tent or hammock or under a tarp, without some risk of it splashing back in your face.

    I'll point you to this question/answer: http://outdoors.stackexchange.com/questions/6987/trail-gun-for-protection-against-bears/8955#8955

    And I point out the 2011 NOLS attack in Alaska where 7 people in a group, all armed w/bear spray, were attacked by a single bear, and not one of them was able to deploy their spray.

     – Sean Wilson Jun 06 '16 at 06:22
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    Anecdotes aside, the data show that bear spray has proven far more effective than handguns in the field. In fact, the odds of serious injury doubles when firearms are used as compared to bear spray. https://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/bear%20spray.pdf – Carey Gregory Jun 07 '16 at 14:48
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    Anecdotes? You mean actual, real deadly bear attacks and the results, both with knives and bear spray? There are those with firearms too, that fly in the face of claims of effectiveness. Data shows that in 2% of cases where bear spray is used it fails to work at all. When a rare life-threatening event is occurring, a built in 2% chance of failure and likely death is not your friend, regardless of popular wisdom. Anyone can deploy a knife or pistol faster than bear spray, even untrained people--and folks who own either are familiar if not trained with their use, compared to bear spray. – Sean Wilson Jun 07 '16 at 23:22
  • @Sean, Sounds like you are near or in Florida. I never considered going up that high. Not sure I have the courage to try it. I do not use a hammock because I do not like hanging there like a frankfurter while gators are roaming about. For some reason they are less inquisitve about tents, perhaps because they do not know it is so flimsy. Also, mammals like cougars do not even know you are in there and go about their business oblivious to your presence. I do not use bear spray, I make my own type repellent, very effective against large dogs. We are both armed for bears and good shots.+1 – bobbym Dec 23 '16 at 10:46
  • Knife against bear? By choice rather than necessity? – Italian Philosophers 4 Monica Oct 10 '20 at 20:23