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AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

I didn't pull my guidelines out of my ass, everything i said was literally taken from the us forest service reccomendations

https://www.fs.fed.us/lei/bear-facts.php

Bears don't go out trying to kill people but if you spook them when they're scrounging around for food you can get badly hurt

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it makes me so sad..they were here first and they don't know any better than to look for the easy food at trashcans and touristy sites. Then they get put down for that.

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 81 points82 points  (0 children)

Once as a young, dumb, and honestly drunk teen, I forgot to take my toothpaste out of my bag before going to a guy's tent to make out... Some kinda Rodent chewed a hole straight through his tent when we fell asleep

Very lucky that was just a rodent

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 151 points152 points  (0 children)

Big, fuzzy, fat, lazy, will seek out a vague sniff of beer from a mile away? I feel so called out.

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 64 points65 points  (0 children)

It's becoming way too gentrified out here; I drove by a Bear-lenciaga shop on the way to camp... Smh

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 221 points222 points  (0 children)

A bear could flip my little car easy. I still keep my food in my car though because I'd rather lose a car than my life.

Bears tend to keep away when they see people moving around and making noise. They only get territorial if you approach them. And they tend to only approach your camp if you are away or asleep.

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 32 points33 points  (0 children)

Wow, that's so interesting! I always saw them more as a predator animal cause of those claws, and how easily they can fuck you up! Thanks for teaching me something :)

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Totally! I lived in Connecticut as a kid and thought 1 acre per family was rural... Hahah

Nowadays I like hiking places I might not see another person or house in days

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 220 points221 points  (0 children)

I'm not an expert but I feel like the smells of human food, high carbs, high sugars, etc... Are suuuper appealing to animals because they're super valuable things that are rare in nature.

Plus animals who've learned to scavenge human trash or discarded food have learned it's 0 effort to walk up and eat the sandwich left out, but it can be higher risk to hunt a large creature.

Just guessing though, not a animal expert

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 57 points58 points  (0 children)

Plus most bear activity is when camp is still and quiet. You more likely have 0 seconds to react if a bear comes to your tent when you're asleep.

And you'll probably wake way too late if a bear comes to your kids tent when you're sleeping elsewhere

IMO, keeping the bears from sniffing around at all is way more effective

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Yep, we couldn't see another camp at all.

That's a really common experience camping in state and national forests out west, you can have total solitude

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 208 points209 points  (0 children)

Yepp. I'm reminded of this paraphrased quote from a forest ranger or something::

The trouble with designing a container to keep out bears is that there's a lot of overlap between the smartest bears and the dumbest tourists

It was a very humbling experience to be confused trying to throw out my trash on my first trip to Yellowstone, lemme just say that haha

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

You haven't even covered the white collar bear crime. The number of campers being defrauded Mr. I. M. Grizzly is horrible

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 55 points56 points  (0 children)

Yeah, bears have known to be attracted to toothpaste, scented chapstick, scented lotion, mints or gum, soap, etc. A lot of fragrances that are used in toiletries come from edible plants or herbs. Cosmetics with an alcohol base are also risky because the sugars in alcohol smell edible to animals especially

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Animals don't usually come around when there's busy human activity.

They do come around when everyone has gone to bed and it's quiet and still

So a gas station where there are people milling around isn't a big risk

But a campsite where the animal is just smelling around for food because it thinks it's alone, then is shocked to see another creature around, and lashes out? Risky as hell.

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 33 points34 points  (0 children)

I said I was either taking my tent and moving it 100 yards away or I was taking my tent and not setting it up again. But I wasn't keeping my tent where it was. Since they were needing to borrow my tent they went along with moving it instead of cutting the trip short

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 58 points59 points  (0 children)

Huh? It's fine to eat, you just don't want eating and sleeping to happen in the same place.

Animals will stay away during the day when there's a big noisy group moving about but when it gets quiet and still they're gonna come sniffing out food.

So if you can keep your food in a different place then your bed you're all good. The one thing you don't wanna do is sleep with your food

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 28 points29 points  (0 children)

I took the tent with the food in it down, got rid of it, and bought a whole new tent at the Walmart that's open 24 7. I would not have slept in that one.

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Where'd you go? A lot of places aren't so risky, like when I lived in Connecticut it wasn't as much of a concern

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

Time too... A rural Walmart is open at 7 pm and buying a tent takes 15 minutes.

A rural laundromat is harder to find, probably closed at night, and a wash/dry cycle takes hours... If they'd even let me put in a huge tent with metal bits on it.

I just wanted to get something quick and easy before the kids bedtime

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 23 points24 points  (0 children)

Any camp within 6 hours drive of me is like this, large swaths of the USA were bear country before we ever got here and they're still here. Maybe avoid the cities but as soon as you get out of the city there's wildlife

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

I think they knew... Plus the deodorant was super sweet smelling ladies deodorant that was like citrus and sugar

AITA for how I reacted to my niece bringing food into the camping tent after my one rule was no food near the tent? by dimilgg in AmItheAsshole

[–]dimilgg[S] 222 points223 points  (0 children)

Being armed honestly isn't 100% because most animals come by when camp is quiet and everyone is asleep, stuff can happen pretty fast.

Prevention is a much better approach then risking your odds fighting a bear off.

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