When camping, it’s not uncommon for experienced outdoorsmen to make arrangements to outsmart hungry bears — often, by keeping all their food inside a bag (or a BearVault) and hanging it way up in a high branch of a tall tree. And you should be doing the same. The Bear Star is intended to make the process of getting your bear bag up in the air an easier affair.
A line-throwing tool, it saves you from the usual hassle of working with rocks and knots to secure your bag up a tree. Compared to typical rope plus rock combos, it allows you to throw a lot more accurately, apart from making it quicker to both secure your line to a tree and retrieve your bag when needed.
The Bear Star features a titanium line thrower with a star-like shape similar to what you’ll see ninjas and superheroes using, as well as a titanium clip for holding your bag and 50 feet of highly visible reflective cable (so you’ll know exactly where your line is with just a glance). To use, unwrap half of the 2.75mm-thick cord from the thrower and send it up a clear branch. Once it goes through, attach the bag to the clip, pull it up to the desired height, then secure the assembly by wrapping the cable around the tree trunk once and anchoring it to the thrower. Done. The entire thing bundles to a small 4.5 x 4.5 x 3 inches, too, so it doesn’t add much extra load to your gear bag.
Guaranteed line-free and tangle-free, the Bear Star is available, priced at $85.