It has been my experience that if you will keep your camp clean you will have very few problems with animals.
Small children are the worst for attracting animals into camp. It is not the children, but there eating habits. They tend to drop cookies, snacks, and crumbs all over your campsite. They don’t throw away their trash; they usually just throw it on the ground. Kids also keep cookies and candy in their pockets and camping gear.
This attracts skunks, mice and other vermin into to camp. This usually happens at night when you really can’t tell what is out there without a flashlight.
Burn as much of your trash as you can, or haul it to an enclosed dumpster located away from your campsite. If I am hiking and camping on the trail, I even wash out the plastic containers and packages before stowing them in my gear. When burning grease or meat, make sure it gets completely burned or your campfire will attract animals. I have seen coyotes come into camp and lick the rocks around the campfire where I spilled grease or pancake mix on the rocks around the fire. They will even dig through the coals to find tidbits that didn’t completely burn.
I have camped in Bear Country for many years and never had a
problem with animals in camp, unless I got careless and forgot to pick
something up when I dropped or spilled it.
I usually hang my food from a limb in a tree at least 50’ to a 100’ from
camp. Keep plenty of
Keep your latrine at least 50’ away from camp as some animals are attracted to human waste. You also need to keep your latrine at least 50’ away from any source of water.
Have fun and keep it clean,
Ray