Keeping animals away from a camp site

[Bushman]

I was wondering what kind of tricks or techniques other people use to keep animals away from your camp site.

Any tricks for keeping away any type of animal, from ants to bears, will do.

[jason]

Well I would start with properly storing the food. That seems to be the number one issue. Keeping the food in a bag about 20 feet off the ground tied to a tree limb or a rope between to trees. Try to make sure the animals cannot jump on the limbs to the bag.

Keep the area clean. No food laying around, dirty dishes, or such. Don't keep the food in your tent. Keep trash away from the campsite. Also things like toothpaste should not be left out. It may smell like food to animals.

I think mentioned in the forums before, but I keep hearing this tip, and have yet to try it. Fabric softeners. I'm told animals and bugs hate the smell. They say you put a few around the campsite and it helps keep them away.

I've also heard of people using pepper spray to spray an area around the campsite. I've seen animal repellent, but usually its more for home use, and geared towards a single animal, such as deer, or raccoon, or armadillo.

[failghe]

Good advise from jason. But I was just thinking why do you want to keep all animals away from the campsite? After all we are in their home. I like to see the wild turkeys, deer, armadillos, birds, and such from the campsite. It gets you closer to nature. But then again bears and alligators I don't want too close.

[Hikker_Jim]

I like to put my food in an esky in the car at the end of the night to keep wild animals away. We don't have wild bears were I live, but we do have dingo's and wild cat's who can be a real pain. This way the food's locked away and safe.

[atula]

the most important thing is to keep the camp site very very clean becasue it is mostly food they are after...and this is one point that many neglect....there are some animal repellants that work well too....

[southerngal]

Good suggestions! I love being in nature and all but I don't want any bears, wild cats etc. sneaking up on me in the middle of the night!

[justontime]

Originally Posted by failghe

Good advise from jason. But I was just thinking why do you want to keep all animals away from the campsite? After all we are in their home. I like to see the wild turkeys, deer, armadillos, birds, and such from the campsite. It gets you closer to nature. But then again bears and alligators I don't want too close.

Thankfully we don't get bears or alligators, but even when camping I like to keep my distant from anything that bites or stings.

[failghe]

We use a screen room to keep the bugs away when they are bothering us.

[deltic]

Usually we try to live and let live, but on a recent trip ants were a real menace. Any tips on putting off ants without harming them?

[jason]

Originally Posted by justontime

Thankfully we don't get bears or alligators, but even when camping I like to keep my distant from anything that bites or stings.

I was watching a show on History Channel about archeologists. One of them said something that kind of stuck with me. It basically went that snakes may bite, scorpions may sting, but mosquito's kill. I think it holds true. Most animals you really do not come across, as long as you don't leave food around, but mosquito's seem so hard to get rid of.