The ironic thing here is, for all the people and trash left behind our Wasatch Mountains here in Utah sees, despite having a fairly healthy population of bears, incidents are incredibly rare. While on my last little trip a couple weeks ago, we stumbled onto a fire pit with at least a half a pack of hot dogs to the side that had been left behind and had obviously been sitting out for quite some time. I was shocked, because I personally know some neighbors who have actually encountered and sighted bears right near the meadow.
I'll agree to the inconvenience of having to find and get a good hang when arriving late to camp. In many areas here in Utah, it's really hard to find suitable trees to get a good hang. I almost always have to rely on hanging off one tree and anchoring to another to get the bag far enough from the tree trunk because there is almost never a tree in the area with a sturdy enough branch hanging out to support a bear bag far enough away from the main trunk. Still, I think I'd rather hang, or even double bag with odor proof bags and hide it away somewhere if I can't find a suitable tree(s) to get it out of reach and then just cross fingers it all survives the night rather than haul up a bear canister where it's not required. For me, the inconvenience of hanging is worth the lesser weight and efficiency of space in the pack.
