Right you are.
However, the only way to help minimize a bear encounter is to ensure ALL food, and toiletries (toothpaste & soap) are in an Airtight zip bag and then it’s recommended that you hang your food on a bear-proof bag or cannister 100+ feet away from your campsite.
*I have had a bear come right up to my tent, its nose against my head, even though there was Absolutely No food or wrappers in or around the tent.
The bear was attracted to the very faint peppermint odor in the toothpaste I used an hour prior to the encounter.*
Bears have incredibly sensitive sense of smell, and can detect and track the smell of food (through two new sealed zip lock bags) a mile away. Ziplock bags are slightly porous
My recommendation that has worked hiking hundreds of miles through bear country:
1. Get an Ursack and follow the directions Completely.
2. Carry a small 1 Oz bottle of PineSol and put two drops on your food bag before you hang it up outside your tent, as well as two drops on your pack, and both sides of your tent.
The USFS, and State wildlife Biologists attest to the fact that PineSol (7% turpentine oil) is very effective at masking faint food odors from being detected by bears.
Ursack.com
RE: “Put all your food in a bag and hang it in a tree folks. Do NOT have food in your tent. Though the article doesn’t say, the chances are good this guy had food.”
I don’t even wear the clothes I cook in inside my tent, and I usually try to cook some distance away from the tent.
Almost as bad as bears are skunks. Get a skunk in your campsite and you’ll be sorry.
I read an article a couple years ago, a couple took their groceries into the house and put the frozen and refrigerated away, and left the canned goods etc. out. They returned home to find a mess because a bear got in. The only canned goods damaged were two opened cans of salmon.