I'm going on a trip where I need a bear canister should you still put in freeze dried backpacking food into it even if it is not opened, because it would make a lot more room in the canister if I didn't toss it in there.
Most definitelyA bear's sense of smell is about 7 times as sensitive as a bloodhound'sMale bears have been known to track the scent of breeding females from 100 miles awayThey can smell food through plastic packaging, aluminum cans, glass bottles, and pretty much anything else Each member of the party should also carry bear mace, and by carry I mean on their person where they can grab and deploy it in 3 seconds or less.
