Camping 101: Preventing Animals from Stealing Your Food

After Winter's long sleep and Spring buds blooming, the Summer season is next in line. And with Summer's arrival, camping enthusiasts emerge. However fun camping may be, there are still some safe and precautionary guidelines one must take. Especially where animals are concerned.

Having a "bug parade" on your picnic blanket is one issue, as they come marching in for some treaty delights, but facing wild animals when camping can prove to be more of an unpleasant experience. No one likes to have their food stolen or to fend off wild animals in order to protect their food, no matter the size of the critter.

Each year, many campers and hikers somehow face the disappointment of having their trip cut short due to animals that have managed to ruin the camping fun with their hunger habits. Face it, wild animals have no understanding of someone's rights to their food. If they're hungry, expect some unexpected furry visitors if you've left food lying around.

Storing food in a tent is a bad idea. Keep in mind that their sense of smell is a lot more powerful than the average human. Wherever the food is - if they can catch wind of it - they'll find it. In most cases, they'll also find a surprised camper being woken up in the middle of the night having to deal with these wild nocturnal prowlers, that are only following their natural instincts. And if one thinks that hidden food in backpacks will thwart off the potential nightly raid, they should think again. Especially if the animal is much bigger than one can handle, like bears for instance.

Be smarter

The most convenient place to keep non-perishables like bread, chips and cakes is in the trunk of a hard-sided vehicle. For perishables, like milk, juices, hotdogs and other certain meats, et cetera, keep these in a cooler and put it in the vehicle. Make sure the doors of your vehicle are locked as well, because surprisingly, animals become very intelligent when they're hungry. They can easily "paw-pick" your vehicle door in seconds.

For the campers that have no vehicles, like hikers, keep everything in a locked cooler tied to a tree.

For those that are un-prepared and don't have a cooler, simply wrap non-perishables with a thick non-porous plastic or cloth and then tie a rope around it. Proceed to make a small hole in the ground with a stick or branch. Top the hole with rocks over your securely placed food in the hole. The scent of the rocks and ground confuse the hungry animals.

Another trick is to place the non-porous plastic-contained food in a stream (if one nearby) or in a water-filled container large enough to hold your food. This will prevent odors from escaping. Make certain the plastic bag isn't punctured, lest you like soppy bread or potato chips. The stream method is also good for perishable foods, as it will keep the food nice and cool by the water's nightly very-low temperature.

Some people think it's smart to hang strips of food on tree branches to lure the wild animals away from stream food, but this is not a bright idea because animals do get thirsty, especially after eating salted decoyed-bacon planted on a tree branch. In essence, that would just be the appetizer, before the real meal they perhaps may find in the water.

Ofcourse, the best technique or method, if a hard-sided vehicle isn't available, is to try to find a way to lasso a tree with a rope over a long extended branch at least 10 to 15 feet above the ground. Then proceed to hang your roped and packed food at least 4 feet away from the extended branch.

Over-all, the best solution is to simply keep food out of sight. Ninety percent of wild-animal visitations are due to food smells roaming and caught in the air.

Thinking smart will make camping a more pleasant and fun-filled experience.