Camping Advice For Dealing With Wild Animals Near The Campsite

If you’re sure you don’t want to wake up at night with a raccoon or skunk beside you when camping, here are some pretty rock solid camping advice you should take note of!

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Some Solid Camping Advice For Dealing With Wild Animals

Avoid Wild Animals When Camping

I’ll be out and frank with you — out in the wild, you can’t treat animals like they come straight out of those old cartoon shows you used to watch.  You need to keep these troublesome beasts a good distance away from you.

I’ve heard countless stories about inexperienced campers finding themselves getting injured, and in rare cases, killed, just because an animal lurked too dangerously close to their campsite. As such, since I’m also not the one to invite critters into my tent, so here are some camping advice I’ve found extremely helpful when I’m out there in the wild.

1. Keep Your Food Locked Tight

Most animals wander near campsites because they smell food. Wild animals are always hungry, and to them, we’re like a buffet in an open space.

That is why you need to keep your food in a secure place. Keep wherever you store your food locked and sealed after you eat.

2. Keep Your Trash Away

Trash is inevitable and most of it is composed of leftovers. Because we don’t want to burn them or hastily throw them anywhere, we tend to keep them around.

I suggest using heavy-duty trash bags or bear bags to keep food at a certain distance. One hack that my friend taught me is to use scent killers on these trash bags.

3. Use a Bear Repellent

Another rather convenient way of keeping wild animals from your site would be repellants. They’re easy to use, just spray them like pepper spray in case a bear becomes a threat to you.

4. Use Fabric Softener Sheets

I know for a fact that many animals don’t really like the smell of the fragrance of fabric softener. If you’re going to have a picnic on your camping trip and you’re going to bring sheets, use fabric softener on them and spread the sheets around the area. That would keep smaller animals from coming along and ruining your camping trip.

5. Flash That Light

If the animal is already close, use a flashlight to scare the animal away. Wouldn’t you get startled if someone you’re looking at suddenly shines a light on you? Animals, too.

Shining a light on animals, especially late at night, is a pretty good, immediate way to get them running away from your territory.

6. Make Some Noise

A pretty useful thing to remember (and easy thing to forget in the thick of a camping trip) is that animals get afraid, too. Really good camping advice to keep, especially when trailblazing, is to make some noise so that animals would get spooked enough.

Bang pots and pans to scare off any bears and cougars or keep bear bells to use to keep animals away.

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7. In the Event of a Bear Attack…

I’ve heard countless stories about bears wandering close to a campsite. Sometimes, they’re just curious. But most of the time, they’re there because they sense you’re a threat.

Bears are territorial, so if a baby bear happens to be nearby, expect the mother to be nearby. The moment you know there’s a cub, change locations IMMEDIATELY.

If you’re unfortunate enough to have already been seen, walk away slowly from the bear while trying to look larger, and trying to stand your ground.

8. In the Event of a Cougar Attack…

Never engage a cougar. Steer clear away from it if you’re unseen If you’re unlucky enough to have already been seen, your best bet is to look larger and to wave your arms around, looking like you’re a threat to the cougar.

Aggressive cougars are ready to pounce on you the moment they find out that you’re a threat to them.

9. General Rule About Wild Animals

If you’re unsure about what to do when the wild animals draw near, keep this simple general rule about wild animals. If the smaller wild animals come around, the general rule is to not entertain them.

They aren’t your pets and they aren’t kind as they can be cute and innocent-looking. If a big animal comes around, on the other hand, the general rule is to keep away.

Watch this video by Backcountry Exposure for good camping advice on keeping animals away:

Always be on the lookout for animals near or within your campsite. Take note that there will be always wild animals nearby.  Anything other than a deer, a squirrel, the occasional chipmunk won’t normally run into your campsite. But still, there will be those times that a bear will wander in too close to your campsite and you’ll have to be prepared for that.

Do you have other camping advice you want to share? Tell us in the comment section below!

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