Avoiding the critters

Have you ever had wild animals come and visit you, eat your food, and make a mess in your garbage where you’ve set up camp? Well, you’re not the only one.

We know that one of the biggest problems every camper has on a camping trip is when wild animals come to the camping site and steal the food or the leftovers. Since animals can smell the food from few miles away, they tend to come roaming through the site and make a mess in the kitchen or the garbage. Although they might not come if you’re making noise during the day, they will certainly come at night, when you’re fast asleep.

Here are few tips on how to avoid the critters the next time you go on a camping trip.

1. Protect your food

Cover and protect your food
Cover and protect your food

Usually, the critters come at night when you are fast asleep, then you wake up to a big mess around your campsite. To avoid that, make sure you clean and store the food in containers that make it unreachable for the animals. Here is what you can do:

  • If your coolers are on the ground, lock them, even if it’s just a strap around them.
  • Put coolers and food containers in a tree; you can hang them from a rope.
  • Put the food in the car before going to sleep.

2. Do not feed the animals

Feeding animals in the wild is a bad idea
Feeding animals in the wild is a bad idea

When in the wild you do not want to make any negative contact with the animals, and certainly not feed them. Approaching them may make them feel threatened, and they may attack you, so avoid any interaction with the animals. Also, feeding the animals is making them more comfortable with you and other campers, and they might come again expecting more food in the future.

3. Make noises

Try to be noisy as much as possible
Try to be noisy as much as possible

Wild animals will sneak around for food during sleeping hours since it is silent and dark, and there is nothing to scare them away. But during the daytime, while you’re around the campsite, it’s good to make some noise, like singing, talking, etc. Kids are great for this. Also, when you are on the campsite, consider playing soft music while you are sleeping.

4. No food around the tent

Keep a safe no-food radius around your sleeping tent
Keep a safe no-food radius around your sleeping tent

Animals will smell the food and will come to try to find it, even if you lock it in some storage unit. So, for your safety make sure that you don’t leave or bring any food around the area where you’re sleeping. It is better for you if you prepare and eat your food at least 100 feet away from your sleeping area.

5. Trash and leftovers

Make sure you don’t leave any trash behind yu
Make sure you don’t leave any trash behind yu

Before going to sleep, make sure that you throw the trash away properly; don’t leave any leftovers in the trash since it will attract the animals. Store the leftovers with your other food. Also, make sure that you wash your dishes every night before going to bed. You don’t have to store the dishes away, but they need to be clean in order not to attract the critters during the night. Having your pots and pans knocked off the table in the middle of the night is scary.

The next time you go on a camping trip make sure that you stay away from the critters, and don’t do anything to invite them into your camping ground. Although they are all around you in the wild, sometimes you do not want them to be your guests.

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tomi-stojanovik

tomi-stojanovik is one of the authors writing for Outdoor Revival