I have two large dogs - a German Shepherd and a Presa Canario. I hike alone with my dogs in black (not grizzly) bear country.
Do I still need to hang my food? Or will the three of us be able to convince a bear that um... maybe next camp has better food?
Yes, you absolutely need to properly protect your food.
Proper food storage in the wilderness isn't just for you, it's also for the bears. Even if your dogs or you are able to fend off a bear, you may in the process clue the bear in to the fact that where there are humans, there is food. And if you've inadvertently trained a bear to think that human campers have food, and the only thing between getting that food is to rumble, you've dealt that bear a death sentence, as well as signed up some other unsuspecting person for a heap of trouble.
Even if you make the bear think "maybe next camp has better food?", then it clearly is aware that camps are places for food, and so you and everyone else who hasn't properly managed your food has failed to properly protect the wildlife and has failed that bear.
Always store your food well away from camp in a proper bear proof manner. There is no excuse for laziness.
You know, most black bears are probably going to be deterred by the presence of your dogs, but bears come in all sorts of personalities and degrees of desperation for food. Your dogs might be able to take a bear in a fight, but that doesn't mean they won't get seriously hurt in the process. Think about the possible consequences if deterrence fails:
I can't assign odds to any of these, but hanging your food seems like such a minimal effort, I can't imagine not doing it.
There are a couple of really good answers here. But I feel like something is being overlooked. You and the dogs are going to be asleep, when the bear comes walking through your camp.
If the food is hanging out of reach, the bear is just going to keep walking, in all likelihood you and the dogs might never know you had a visitor in the night. The same is going to be true for, other forms of wildlife, like raccoons, opossums, etc.
You should always keep food and food prep supplies out of reach of all wildlife; everyone will live longer, happier lives.
Do hang the food (or use a bear can, etc.) In my experience, wild animals are not deterred by dogs very much. A bear that lives close to humans might even be attracted to dogs: dogs frequently have dog food with them.
Not exactly on topic, but I have woken up to deer approaching my camp, while my large dog was barking her head off. They only stopped advancing when the human stood up.
It doesn't sound like you're thinking of carrying a bear canister either.
A bear will just wait until it's quiet then come into your camp - you may or may not be there. If you are there, then you will have real problems. I wouldn't even prep my meals near my campsite.
On the other hand, bears aren't the only animals that want your food. Consider whether the dogs will notice the mice getting into your backpack and food. I've seen a camper hang his food up without even noticing that a mouse had already hidden in it. He lost a lot of his food before he got it down to have a late snack. I'd still recommend always hanging your food when you aren't actually eating it.
And, don't forget the long cord to hang it with!
Under the right circumstances, a black bear can kill a man (or a dog) with a single swat of its paw. While most back bears are timid and afraid of humans, due to 10,000 years of being hunted by Native Americans with bows, a few, a very few, have been know to kill and eat humans.
There is a reason why the writers guide for The Outer Limits said that each episode needed to have a dangerous creature or other frightening danger and described that as "the bear" instead of the wolf, the mountain lion, the wolverine, the fox, etc. etc.
You should want to do everything you can to avoid becoming the victim of one of those very rare aggressive black bears, and a good person should want to do everything he possibly could to keep black bears from associating humans with food, possibly leading to some black bears preying on humans.
If I cared for my dogs, I would take all possible bear precautions. One bear vs one dog is likely to be ten to one odds in favor of the bear, to use an arbitrary number. Two dogs vs one bear would then be five to one odds in favor of the bear.
That is not good odds. Avoid bear fights and avoid events that could result in bear fights.
You yourself, without any dogs, might be able to scare way a bear without a fight. So you and the two dogs might be able to scare way a bear without a fight.
But if it comes to a fight, you and/or one or both of your dogs could be killed or badly wounded.
So if you love yourself, you will take all reasonable precautions to avoid interacting with potentially extremely dangerous wild bears. And if you also love your dogs, you won't count on them to be your bodyguards against bears, but will take all reasonable precautions to avoid interacting with potentially extremely dangerous wild bears.
Avoid bear confrontations.
