RATSACK - Bear Bags for Food Backpacking - Bear Sack Rodent Proof Food Storage Container - Ultralight Backpacking and Camping Food and Gear Storage Hanging Mesh Bag

This is larger than I visualized and does add backpacking weight. But it is as described. So I certain hold nothing against the seller. That is one of the negatives of buying sight unseen. I believe I could easily have used the small or medium size now that I see it. The benefit is my backpacking partner will benefit being able to add his stuff during the night as well. So it saves on buying two smaller ones. It will certainly hold all my food, soaps, and smelly items for my 3 day trip.The velcro at the top acts as the closing mechanism. The Velcro is super heavy duty, very thick. Before I saw the actual product I was concerned a critter might be able to get it open. Not so. Its almost adult proof. So no worries there.A planned backpacking trip to Havasu Falls/Grand Canyon area is coming up in a week. The squirrels are terrible in the area so this will be put to the test for sure.Follow-up after the Havasu Falls Backpacking trip May 2017. This Ratsack worked great. Not issues. Highly recommended after using it.

I hung mine the best I could at the Havasupai Falls. The rodents are relentless down there. The food was close enough to the tree that they could jump from the tree to the ratsack containing all my food. It protected my food from being completely devoured, but the rodents were able to get to 3 bars and eat parts of them through the mesh. I guess if you put some pad on the inside it could prevent that from happening, but adding volume could make it unrealistic for backpacking. I'll probably keep it for camping. The velcro is no joke also.

This rat sack made me the coolest kid in our campground. Despite having told my hiking companions that the rodents down in Havasupai were ruthless little ninja squirrels with a singular focus of nabbing all the camper food they could eat, I was the only one to bring this awesome sack. I love my food, and have no interest in sharing with those little four legged fluffy tailed tree rats so in addition to this I rigged up a lovely fishing line to hang it from a tree. Not only did it keep all those little critters out of my food but it also sent them to easier sites where folks left their packs open like a 24 hour denny's. Did I mention I love this sack? It was lightweight for my 12 miles (each way), it was easy to roll up in my back pack and very sturdy. The velcro was so strong it even thwarted me one morning. But then I had some coffee and we were good.

I have done a couple of multi-day hikes into the Grand Canyon. On the first hike, I saw a squirrel tear through the brain pocket of a pack and steal trail mix and black birds pull nuts out of a side pocket of another pack. With that knowledge, and knowing that the camping locations for our second hike would not provide metal ammo cans for food storage, we purchased this mesh sack to store our food at night. On our second hike, we came across a couple who had left their food, double bagged, and in "odor-proof" ziplock style bags, for about 10 minutes. they came back to find 12-15 black birds tearing through the bags and flying off with their food. We ended up giving them some of our "extra" rations because their supplies were completely destroyed or stolen.We camped a couple of hundred meters down from this couple and everyone in our group used the ratsacks (placing them off the ground in bushes) to store our food. None of us had any issues with birds, squirrels, or any other animals getting into our food. The next night, we did not have the options to have the food up off the ground, and could hear rodents of some sort, but no one experienced any issues with food being stolen or destroyed.These sacks are TOTALLY worth it and serve their purpose effectively.

So much to love, so much to hate. Returned to Amazon. Pros: nothing will get through this. Cons: your stuff will get soaked in the rain if hung bear bag style, Velcro is CRAZY strong, and CRAZY loud. Not great if you are an early morning person and don’t want to wake people close by, seriously it sounds like the earth is ripping apart. Very difficult to pack, not easy to hang. Interesting concept but not practical for a thru hiker.

Hung this from a tree while backpacking in the Grand Canyon. The squirrels were smart enough to chew through my parachute cord releasing the Ratsack to the ground, however, they were not able to eat my food. The did manage to partially open a candy bar while gnawing on the Ratsack, but the rest of my food was well protected. I recommend using an odor blocking bag inside, just in case. I will say this bag doesn't pack down as small as I'd like and is a bit heavy for backpacking, but a sacrifice worth making since I still had my food for the rest of the trip.

Awesome quality and size for the price. Size may be bigger than what you expect. Bought 2 large size for Havasupai for 4 people, 10 ended up using them and there still was room. Great for small to medium size animals but wouldn't doubt a bear could get into it. Strong stitching and large eyehole great for hanging.

really decent wire mesh food holder to keep the critters out of your food stash and also to keep them from gnawing holes in your tent to get to your food. I would not want to be way out in the willy wags and have my food devoured by a ring tail cat. So, the Grand Canyon Back Country Office actually requires this guy for some areas down in the canyon. Light weight, robust, does what its supposed to do.

Recently had a good test for this bag at a Tasmanian campsite with a problem possum population known for ripping into bags and tents to get to food. I hung my food and toiletries in the Ratsack inside a thin nylon dry bag. In the morning it was clear the possums had tried hard to access the food as the dry bag had multiple holes bitten/clawed through it. The Ratsack however held firm and all the contents were untouched. Recommend.

Haven't used it yet, but seems strong, I will be pairing this with odor proof bags. The Velcro is actually hard to open so it seems very good for the price. I will have or update this review once has been used.