We’ve had a lot of wildlife encounters while camping, and they all make awesome stories to tell around the campfire with friends.
Bear claw marks on a tree behind our tent.
I once had to stop my bike for a 7 point buck to cross in front of me at our campground in Acadia National Park. We had a moose and her baby walk past our tent while camping up in The Forks. My brother in law’s dogs went crazy one morning, and when he looked out of his tent a moose was standing there, just 10 yards away. We didn’t see the moose, but we heard the dogs going nuts. We’ve seen a coyote and heard packs of them at night. At one campground, we listened to them bring their puppies out to play by the water, another time we heard them chasing something down only a half mile away. Our only bear encounter so far was a campground nuisance bear, who’d gotten a taste of camp food and investigated our site every night to see if we’d left anything out for him. Other than the big animals, we’ve had a friendly campground chipmunk that sat by our shoes and waited for us to drop crumbs, mice that left “calling cards” all over our kitchen gear, and the occasional rabbit or raccoon passing by in the night.
“Chip”, our very friendly campground chipmunk.
Wildlife encounters are awesome, but keep them in perspective. Camping safely and using common sense are the best ways to stay safe when the only thing between you and an 800 pound animal is a flimsy piece of tent canvas. Here are some things we do to ensure that our wildlife encounters don’t go to the dark side.
Don’t Feed The Animals.
You will see it posted all over the place, and yet you’ll be tempted to do it anyway. When I was a teenager I found some baby raccoons in my backyard. I knew not to feed them, but I threw a graham cracker at them anyway. 10 minutes later I had gloves on and was feeding them right out of my hand in spite of knowing I wasn’t supposed to. I finally turned around and went in the house, and they spent 2 hours trying to find a way into the house to get to me. They thought I meant yummy food, and they wanted more. They climbed up the side of the house and tried to get in the kitchen window. They came up on the porch and tried to get in the doggy door. They rapped on the windows. Their fixed determination made me nervous about what I’d done. What if they never went away? What if they had rabies? What if I’d just made them dependent on me? Now fast forward to present day. What if it wasn’t a 5 lb baby raccoon that fixed on me, but a 500 lb bear? I learned that “Don’t feed the animals” isn’t just a helpful suggestion, it’s vital for the safety of everyone involved.
Put Your Food And Trash Out Of Reach At Night.
We lock our food and trash up in the trunk of our car or in the trailer, but you could always string it up in a tree. No matter how you choose to do it, make sure that it’s somewhere that it can’t be gotten into. One night I was woken up by the sound of a bear rattling our clam shell trailer, trying to get it open. He was standing up on his hind legs and pushing it with his paws. Bears have an intense sense of smell, and he knew exactly where we kept our food, but when he couldn’t get the trailer open he wandered away.
Trailers make a great place to lock your food and trash up at night.
Never Keep Food Or Drinks In Your Tent.
Water only. My husband is a stickler for this one, and after camping in the deep woods of Maine I know why. As I mentioned, bears can smell food from miles away, and you don’t want it to be in your pocket if he comes calling. Be aware that there are other things that attract animals, too, such as medicines. A bottle of children’s Tylenol is sweet and smells like candy.
Don’t Let Your Kids Explore Alone
The week we were visited every night by the campground bear, we saw little kids going up the path into the woods, talking about what they were going to do if they encountered the bear. The oldest was probably 9, the youngest maybe 5, not a single adult with them, but they had a stick and weren’t afraid to use it. I was horrified. Camping is generally safe, but if you know you are in an area that has large predator animals, you’d have to be absolutely idiotic to let your kids wander into the woods alone. Please keep your kids safe and give them the information they need to stay that way.
Be Smart About Your Tent’s Guy Lines
My brother in law and I have discussed feeling most nervous about large animals, such as moose or deer, getting caught up in the tent’s guy lines and getting tangled. Most of the time, animals will stay away from you unless they have a reason not to. At one particular place we camp, we set the tent up on the path to the river. Animals frequently walk past our tent on their way to drink or cross. If you are blocking a natural path with your tent, be sure that the lines are secured down to the ground so large animals can get by you. As my brother in law mentioned, you don’t want to be in your tent and have a thrashing 800 pound moose get tangled and fall down on top of you.
Our tent on the path to the river with the guy lines pointing down. This is where a mama and baby moose walked by us one night.
Keep An Air Horn With You
I love my air horn. Wild animals are scared of people, and if they wander too close a blast of an air horn can motivate them to move on. It’s a great way to scare them off and prevent an encounter from going south. It’s small enough to slip into a pocket, won’t accidentally hurt the kids, and isn’t something I’d ever hesitate to use.
Carry Pepper Spray
I have pepper spray, but I wouldn’t ever want to find myself in a situation where I needed to use it. I’ve heard it’s very useful in the event of an animal attack, but you have to be very close to the animal’s face, which isn’t ideal. Still, pepper spray is a great option in a situation when an animal gets aggressive or too close and you don’t want to kill it.
Get Your Concealed Carry Permit
My husband and I are both concealed carry certified. We have guns and we know how to use them. Still, I’m not comfortable carrying a gun on one hip and a toddler on the other, so I let my husband be the one that’s armed, and I stick to pepper spray and air horns. We have never used a gun at camp for anything other than target practicing, and I hope we never have to. Still, it’s comforting to know that if we ever get in a situation with a rogue animal stalking us or our children, we have a way to end it if we need to.
Wear Ear Plugs At Night
Ok, I’m going to admit something here that goes against the entire purpose of this site. I’m trying to encourage people to try camping, and now I’m going to admit that being in the woods at night scares me to death, after all of this time. It got worse after I became a mom. As much as I love camping, I am still that person who lies in a tent at night and hears every single snap and crack for miles around. My heart starts to pound when I think I’ve heard something, and I get flat out scared when I actually do hear something. The night the moose walked by our tent, I was woken up by the sound of a hoof hitting a rock outside, just 4 feet from my head. Friends, there’s no sleeping after that. You will hear everything. When the bear snorted at my husband right through the tent, he didn’t even hear it, but I sure did, and my night was over. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve shaken my husband awake to tell him something was walking by our tent, and each time he rolled right back over and went to sleep. He just doesn’t care unless it’s trying to get in, which has never been the case. I finally realized that the best way to sleep at night and stop worrying about what’s out there is to put in earplugs and stop hearing it. The odds of a wild animal ripping into your tent are about nil, and we have an air horn, pepper spray, and guns, so we are actually the threat here. If I put in earplugs at night I can’t hear the little stuff and find I sleep much better, because at camp what you don’t hear won’t hurt you.
Wildlife encounters at camp are part of what makes camping an actual adventure. Be smart and use common sense, and you’ll be as hooked on camping as we are.
Happy Adventure Camping!
Adventure Camping 