Eating in tents

[prairie 10]

And why it's usually a bad idea.

 

http://www.starcamping.com/the-day-the-bear-at-my-sleeping-bag/#more-45

 

Link is to a story of eating jerky in a new expensive sleeping bag, and what a bear did to that bag and the rest of the camping gear the next day.

[John-in-KC 311]

Every Scout and Scouter should read this.

 

If it's not a bear, it'll be a skunk or a possum.

 

True Story: One of our now-Eagles, who was a 3d year Star Scout at LT camp, had a snack before bed and didn't clean his face.

 

About 2AM, he had some friends on top of his chest.

 

Fortunately, this young man is an outdoorsman to begin with, and he was actually smiling while it happened. Sheesh.

 

[Troop185 44]

I also had a scout that woke up in the middle of the night to find a ratcoon sitting on his chest.

 

My best story is years ago when I was a Provisional Scoutmaster at a Boy Scout camp. I had forgotten to give one of the scouts his pill he was taking before he went to bed, about a half hour earlier. I took the pill over and open his tent flap to see a skunk eating a candy bar under his cot. The boy sat up in his bed, and I told him, "You can get your pill in the morning!" The skunk finished the candy bar and then, wandered away.

[tcherven 10]

Tomahawk Scout Reservation will send a troop home suspend their camping priveleges for the following year if a scout is caught with food or wrappers in their tent.

 

As a scout leader, I had to have "the talk" with my Webelos scouts about camping with wildlife and what to do with food and other smellables when we went there.

 

Now that my son is in a troop, it will be interesting to see the troop's policy and how they handle it.

 

 

 

 

[GernBlansten 10]

Last summer at Camp Ben Delatur, we were given the bear talk. They provided bear proof boxes to store smellies in. One night I awoke to the sound of the ranger's shotgun, followed by the huffing of a scared bear as it ran through our camp. He was ripping apart the door to the commissary. The next day, while everyone was out and about, a scoutmaster's tent was ransacked by a bear. Seems he had lent it out and the person who borrowed it ate in it. Just the remnants of the crumbs from the previous campout was enough to attract Yogi.

 

Also heard a story of a scout at Philmont who when opening a hot chocolate packet, blew into it, blowing chocolate all over his face. I guess he didn't clean up properly because he awoke that night to a bear licking his face. They had to put that bear down.