Nice Mask

Raccoons are nature’s little burglars; they wear little masks and are mischievous by nature. I used to think they were cute little creatures of the night, amazed by their cleverness. These views have changed to a more negative approach where I’m annoyed by their cleverness and bothered by their late night shenanigans.

Most campgrounds around the country are known for their raccoon problems, where there are humans, there’s food, and they know it. For this reason we have always done our best to keep the raccoons out of our food. Our nightly ritual before going to bed was to put all of the food in a vehicle or in a tower of Rubbermaid bins and coolers. One night they came out early and we were not prepared. We were sitting around the fire and my dog started growling. I thought she was bothered by the dog a few sites over, so I quieted her down and we went back to our conversation. When I went to pack up all of the food we were missing a pack of hotdog buns, I found them in the bushes near the campsite. They had grabbed them while we were sitting just 15 feet away!

Another night, I woke up to thunder and lightning and I got up to put the rainflies on the tents. I went to my truck to get my raincoat and realized I had accidently left my windows down. Then I saw a big raccoon sitting on my center console. He had a smorgasbord of food to choose from in my back seat, and he chose to eat my dog’s food. He was sitting there pulling it out by the handful. I yelled at him and he jumped out the window. I’m guessing he happily went to sleep with a full belly.

They also enjoy rummaging through backpacks that are left out. They will spread the contents all around the campsite, I’m sure they are just sharing with their friends. One time, one of our staff’s backpacks was loaded down with ropes and gear so much that they just unzipped the bag and took just the trailmix. It was a very slick job, just like Ocean’s Eleven.

Normally they are only a problem at night, but one time during the day they chewed a hole in the Rubbermaid food bin and that was the last straw. I declared war against the critters and headed to Walmart. I bought straps to wrap around the coolers and I bought a super tough bin to put the food in. That night I set the bin and coolers out and dared the raccoons to come. I would wake up periodically and hear scratching and growling. I think they were getting angry that they had been defeated. I slept well that night knowing I had outsmarted such a clever creature.

Let’s hear it for human intelligence!

- Shane Seaton