by Dietician Kelly Hamlin MA, RD, CDN 

Tips for keeping your home, cottage or campsite critter-free

At 2:30 a.m., I was awakened by the sound of cracking wood. Generally this is indicative of a bear helping itself to my garage.

Sure enough, a small-ish one—probably a female—was walking out with a bag of garbage and towards my neighbor’s yard to enjoy her picnic.

God bless my Dad who had it cleaned up before I got up!

Based on all reports, I should have bear-proofed my garage. (A very high tech process. Take one picnic table and place it in front of the old-type pull out garage doors. Then park a truck in front of it for good measure.) But I thought I was safe. Famous last thoughts!

So, although I generally write about food safety as it pertains to keeping those volatile summer dishes from causing illness, I thought I’d offer some ideas to keep your food safe while you are here in the “Dacks.”

Whether you’re tenting, in an RV or a camp, take appropriate precautions to keep your campsite/area as unattractive to bears as possible.

A key element here is to keep your food out of the reach of bears, whether you are cooking, eating, snacking, performing other camping duties or sleeping.

And don’t forget to secure your garbage!Place your food in a secure and bear-proof receptacle. A metal food locker is a good place to begin.

Some campgrounds, such as Limekiln Lake, provide them and they are awesome!

We even put our small grill in there along with our food.

Use plastic tote containers with lids if you have to leave food in your car.

Coolers should be kept there too if there is no other choice.

It should be noted that bears aren’t the only critters you need to worry about.

On our first family camping trip in Pennsylvania, raccoons got in our coolers and had themselves a feast!

Use bear-resistant food canisters.

Apparently they are becoming a requirement in some parks and are an excellent purchase if you are a hiker.

For more information check out the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation site.

If you’re creative (and tall!) create a bear hang. You may want to check with the campground where you are staying, as some restrict the practice.

Handle food with care. Here are some bear-deterring actions you can take:

• Cook away from your tent/living area.

• Change clothes after cooking and keep those clothes elsewhere from your sleeping area.

• Don’t ever leave food unattended, not even for moment. Make sure it is guarded by others at the campsite or is put away.

• Don’t ever take food into a tent. This is crucial or a bear may be tempted to rip open the tent to forage.

Check children’s backpacks, pockets and other containers to make sure no candy or cookies have been sneaked in or simply forgotten about.

• Avoid cooking strong smelling foods. Foods with strong odors will be very attractive to bears.

Bacon (no offense to the Eagle Bay Chapter of the National Bacon Council) is a well-known bear attractant.

• Dispose of all food scraps, food particles, leftovers and containers properly and immediately in an appropriate receptacle.

• Use bear-proof trash cans at home.

• Wash plates, cookware and utensils away from the camp and preferably capture all food pieces and dispose of them in the bear-proof trash cans.

• Leave a clean campsite/cabin. Do not leave uneaten food, food scraps, garbage or empty cans etc. on the campsite.

I know, bears and deer, are cute to look at. But remember they are wild animals.

When they become too used to people (as has become the case) they become a nuisance and that’s when bad things—for us and them—happen.

Next week maybe I’ll discuss ways to keep our food safe for human consumption.

Don’t forget to come down and check out the Old Forge Farmers’ Market on Fridays where no bears (or deer for that matter!) are allowed. Just a whole bunch of yummy, farm fresh goodies. Come visit between 2 and 6 p.m. and say Hi!