Bear Country Containers

About BCC

I manufacture these panniers completely from the latches on down. I do the entire cutting, bending and welding in my shop located just a little bit south of Gallatin Gateway, Montana. The start of this business transpired when our horse pellets were hung properly between trees in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness; nevertheless, a bear got all the pellets on the ground and had a fall feast! We learned that hanging items between trees was a lot of work and not bear-resistant as black bears climb trees.

My first certified set occurred in 1997. The first panniers I built weren't certifiable; however, I've been adjusting, modifying, and improving the panniers ever since and finally, succeeded in 1997. The latches were modified five times to this final product. My product has been mechanically tested by the IGBC to meet their standards. I voluntarily took the panniers to the Grizzly Discovery Center, West Yellowstone, MT (just outside of Yellowstone National Park). This was an excellent live test. These grizzly and brown bears had hours to spend with my product.

Where bears in the wild need to constantly forage. Our local bear expert informs me that a wild grizzly or black bear will try for food for about 15-20 minutes, if not rewarded than will most likely move on to other locations. Of course, there will always be a bear that is an exception to this 20-minute rule of thumb.

The panniers were first tested by a grizzly bear in a confined mock camp setting. The display took place in August 2002 at the 4-Dot arena in the Gallatin Valley. The bear had 90 minutes and wrecked the entire camp, but our pack pannier.

The panniers were tested more thoroughly at the Grizzly Discovery Center in West Yellowstone, MT in March 2003. These photos are proof of this field test. Five bears for 4 hours and 45 minutes worked over the pannier, which contained fish and peanut butter. None of the bears were successful getting into the pannier.

I use a set of the certified panniers on every trip we make. We have horse-packed into many of Montana's National Forests and Wilderness Areas over the years. We believe the product is field-tested, but always willing to improve it.

Our horses, Gus and RV are the models for the panniers; both can be ridden or packed. RV, the brown horse (mostly black) is our #1 packhorse. He has been packing our goods since he was two. We also refer to him as the class clown. He is always up to something or getting somebody else in trouble; what a personality RV has.

Since I manufacture these panniers, each set is truly custom made. Our standard pair has the shelf in the center of the pannier; I can place the shelf wherever the customer prefers. I can do hinged lids (standard item) or removable lids. I can do legs or no legs, spanning shelves, or larger or smaller sizes. I do require notice and ask for 8-12 weeks on these types of custom work.

As you have seen on the web site I applied for and received a U.S. Patent, No. 6,925,785 for these panniers. The full patent can be viewed at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office web site (patft.uspto.gov). This patent protects our product from being copied, manufactured, imported, or sold by others in the USA including the latching system.

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©2003-11 Jerry Kawasaki.
To use any text or photographs from this site, permission must be granted by Jerry Kawasaki. All rights reserved.

updated 1/2011