in Camping / by
It’s hard to beat camping in the fall…long drives through changing leaves, layering up your hard shell roof top tent with extra blankets, and ending a long hike or mountain bike ride beside a warm fire.
The last thing you want to worry about while exploring the wilderness is uncomfortable or even dangerous encounters with wildlife. Not only do you want to make sure you and your stuff stay safe, you want to make sure the animals don’t get into something that could harm them or the beautiful environment in which they live.
Below we share some handy tips for minimizing unwanted wildlife encounters so you can keep you and your family (including pets) safe while camping, while protecting wildlife and the environment, too.
What Attracts Wildlife
It can be an incredible moment seeing a wild animal in their natural habitat while camping. But it’s a whole new ballgame when you wake up to a raccoon, deer, or even bear digging through the trash bag attached to your tent!
Leaving out your trash or food is one of the easiest ways to attract wildlife. And certain food and cooking items are more likely to attract more wildlife than others.
Typically, animals are most attracted to:
- Trash
- Dirty dishes and cooking utensils
- Toiletries
- Fuel
- Coolers
- Dirty cleaning items like rags and buckets
Dangers of Attracting Wildlife
While encountering a bear or mountain lion during your camping trip is scary enough to convince you to not leave out anything that might attract them, there are even more consequences to these encounters than you might think.
Some animals can become too used to humans and human food, putting them in danger of having to put down by wildlife management. Other times, encounters with humans can be surprising and stressful for wild animals, causing them to use the energy that they should be saving flee from prey in the wild
Not to mention the danger of attracting a feral or aggressive animal into your campsite.
Knowing what animals are most attracted to is the first step to making sure these items are cleaned up and stored away so animals can’t access them. Keep on reading to find out how to do just that.
1) Keep Your Food and Trash Properly Stored
Just like us, wild animals love the alluring scent of a delicious camp meal. Help the animals resist temptation by making sure your food is properly stored once you’re finished with it.
- If you’re in an established campsite, check with the campground staff to see which methods they recommend for keeping yourself and wildlife safe. They can also provide any other pointers that are unique to the area you’re staying in.
- Store all food and utensils airtight containers or special camping canisters to help keep wildlife from being attracted to the smells.
- Once it’s in its proper containers, keep anything that might attract an animal locked in a cooler or utility box.
- Citrus is a natural bear repellant, so toss some oranges or orange peels in for extra safety.
- Keep all food out of and away from your tent to help keep animals from approaching.
- Be mindful of food scraps left behind after cooking. Dispose of them in Ziplock bags or Tupperware, and clean up any residue with hot water.
And remember to never, ever feed wildlife, as they’ll want to return — perhaps with company!
2) Choose Your Campsite Wisely
The location of your campsite can make or break your experience with many things — from your view and location to water, to the types of wildlife encounters you may have.
Keep animal habitats in mind when choosing a dispersed camp spot. Remember that while that alluring spot by a lake or river is beautiful, you could also encounter more mosquitos, raccoons, and bears who tend to stay close to water sources.
Similarly, anywhere that’s heavily wooded could have bears, raccoons or skunks, and places with tall grass may be home for various species of snakes depending on the area you’re in.
Choose an open area away from tall grasses or bushes. A few trees are okay, as you’ll need a place to hang your trash bags to keep it out of the reach of most wildlife.
Stay around 200 feet away from water sources, ideally away from a trail as animals use them as often as humans. Human waste can quickly contaminate the animal’s drinking water.