Went on some trips with some buddies in the 1970's and 1980's, where it was considered great "fun" to hid something "interesting" in a fellow tripper's pack. I remember one trip where there was an iron boat anchor and a very large rock discovered in a pack a day or two after the trip started.

Tom

Yes…the rock in the pack trick I have seen on a hunting trip. Haha

On a fishing trip back in the 90’s my buddy stuck some of that old Jerry Clower Magic Bait under my truck seat. Chicken Blood scent. It stunk for 3 months. I couldn’t find it because he squished it up into the seat springs. Told me like years later it was him. Hilarious. I couldn’t even be mad.

I’ve also seen a bucket of bait crickets released in a fellow’s bedroom. He got a bit mad over that one.

At Canadian Border Outfitters was a common trick in 70s & 80s, among fellow employees & guides.
Get to camp the first night to find you lugged a big rock from Moose Lake.
Sam Cook (former CBO employee & outdoor writer) guarded his packs well, when returning for canoe trips.
He caught me crawling under a truck to slip a rock in his pack that he was standing in front of.
I thought I was about to pull off a great caper.

On a few trips we have put our 14” cast iron fry pan in the new guys pack. Its a right of passage.

I got "snoosed" one time right at the bunkhouse when the guys snuck something onto my bunk before we turned in for our first night. When I saw it, I remarked that I couldn't believe the lodge would care to be that "fancy" by placing a foil-wrapped mint on the pillow. I further stated that they must have known I was group leader and had done that only on my bed as I saw it on none of the others. They guys then all burst out laughing and on closer examination of the "mint" I understood why. It was actually a condom.

This is an entertaining thread. Can only imagine how many ill-tempered men and women didn’t take kindly to being “snoosed” and started a fight as a result. Never take yourself too seriously, lest you find yourself being “snoosed”.

Not snoosed but on the subject cheap entertainment at someone else's expense - particularly your spouse - when he or she is kicking back on a rock enjoying the sun, grab a long piece of grass and come up stealthily from behind. Then gently tap their forehead, ear or cheek. Wait for them to swat at the offending fly and settle back in to their slumber. And repeat.

One thing I believe I can guarantee is that the joke will end when you can no longer contain your laughter.

Not snoosed but on the subject cheap entertainment at someone else's expense - particularly your spouse - when he or she is kicking back on a rock enjoying the sun, grab a long piece of grass and come up stealthily from behind. Then gently tap their forehead, ear or cheek. Wait for them to swat at the offending fly and settle back in to their slumber. And repeat.

One thing I believe I can guarantee is that the jig will be up when you can no longer contain your laughter.

I thought getting snoosed was when someone spit their chew in your beer and you drink by accident.

I'll usually slip my full nalgene bottle into someone else's bag

The first canoe trip I took during my first summer at a canoe outfitter resulted in me and my now partner carrying an unplanned 7 pound can of Hormel meat chili. Our other coworker along on the trip was wise enough to pack and guard his own gear meanwhile we learned the hard (fun) way how mischievous our other coworkers were. It ended up being a really fun trip and the kicker was that me and my partner both do not eat meat so the can was entirely useless to the two of us!

Savage Voyageur: "On a few trips we have put our 14” cast iron fry pan in the new guys pack. Its a right of passage. "

If you're going to prank someone, ^this^ is the way to do it. Then, all benefit.

Tomcat: "...It was not until later that the students realized with each meal his pack became smaller and lighter."

In our group, everyone is eager to host the first Happy Hour to lighten their pack of snacks and alcohol.

MidwestMan: "This is an entertaining thread. Can only imagine how many ill-tempered men and women didn’t take kindly to being “snoosed” and started a fight as a result. Never take yourself too seriously, lest you find yourself being “snoosed”."

One of our our greatest gifts is to be able to laugh at ourselves. If somebody makes me the the subject of a well-intended zinger or the victim of a funny and harmless practical joke, I like them all the better! :)

One year one of the guys at our camp found a coyote skull. He would slip that into the bottom of the buys sleeping bags.

Then he (and later to be revealed, along with my son-in-law) found my zip ties. A different guy each night woke up the next morning zip tied into this hammock or tent.

It was my first trip and I heard the trip leader was heavy into hazing. We were at the outfitter the night before departure and I slipped away from the group and filled an old empty vinyl record album sleeve with shaving cream and carefully slid the pinched open end under the bunkhouse door of the trip leader who insisted he "needed" his own bunkhouse while eight of us were jammed into another room. I knocked on his door, and when I heard him get close I stomped on it. All I heard was a high pitched scream. No one found out it was me but they all realized that there was a new sheriff in town. That trip leader died a year later without ever knowing who did him dirty.

Not a Boundary Waters story, but not OT. Back in the early 80's my wife and I were teaching at an American School in LaPaz, Bolivia. On a field trip with my third graders we were up on the Altiplano (13,500 feet) looking for fossils in a rock field. One of my students, Michael, was carrying a backpack with his lunch and water inside. As we were tramping through the rock-strewn fields picking up fossils, I kept slipping rocks into Michael's backpack, one at a time. The other kids saw me doing this but I gave them the "hush" sign, and so it went. After a while, Micheal was clearly sweating under the weight of the rocks, and he kept shifting his backpack from one side to the other to get relief, but he never seemed to notice (think, frog in pan with slowly heating water). Finally, my students were giggling so much that Michael turned around, dropped his backpack, and said "Heyyyy.....".

If you can't have fun with third graders, why bother teaching!

Dave

My friend brought in a toddler sized doll one trip during college. Sort of became the camp mascot and participated in all the rediculous activities the rest of us did during that trip. I believe it was packed inside a cot bag. We named it Little Richard.

scottiebaldwin: "It was my first trip and I heard the trip leader was heavy into hazing. We were at the outfitter the night before departure and I slipped away from the group and filled an old empty vinyl record album sleeve with shaving cream and carefully slid the pinched open end under the bunkhouse door of the trip leader who insisted he "needed" his own bunkhouse while eight of us were jammed into another room. I knocked on his door, and when I heard him get close I stomped on it. All I heard was a high pitched scream. No one found out it was me but they all realized that there was a new sheriff in town. That trip leader died a year later without ever knowing who did him dirty."

You carry the curse.

My favorite backcountry prank was played on me by a boy scout leader when I was a teenager. He stopped a short ways in front of me on the trail and unbeknownst to me dropped a small number of Raisinets on the trail. When I just about caught up to him, he bends over picks something up off the trail and just as I come up next to him, he acts like he's inspecting them, then pops 'em into his mouth and chews slowly. He looks at me and says, "Definitely a young doe" and then just starts walking on...

That evening at camp, older guys in the troop bust up when I told the tale of our leader eating deer poop off the trail. Apparently, that prank had a decades long history in the troop...

Did a trip with some co-workers. Not me but another guy unknowingly portaged in a Heineken mini-keg put into his pack. Last time he let someone else "distribute" the food and cooking supplies. Can't say even the victim complained too much we we all could enjoy a cold beer each evening (Memorial weekend trip, water temp was about 40 degrees and kept the keg nice and cool)

I did the reverse in a 9th grade backpacking trip.

Instead of rocking others packs, I would simply drop an item of mine on the trail (well ahead of others so they could not see) in front of others.
When we got to the campsite my school mates had picked up all my stuff up and carried it in for me. They all stated hey look what I found on the trail. "Someone drooped their bottle of katsup" or what ever I had left for them.

I always make sure the food pack and stove are with me for control.

One time we were coming on to Jordan lake. I was in a 2 man, and three others in the MN III.

After a long day of paddling we decided to divide and conquer on Jordan to see which of the 2 sites were available. We had GMRS radios with us so off we went.

Both sites were found to be open and an argument ensued about who had the better site and to who had to get back in the canoe and paddle over.

They finally said to me "there is 3 of us and majority rules" my reply, "That's great but the majority doesn't have the stove or food"

I heard them cussing me out across the lake :). Needless to say they came over to our spot!

Funny story Corsair, there is a lesson in there somewhere…