I just read another post about hanging vs other options and don't want to rehash that.

I do want to hear stories about what animals have gotten into your food. I've got two stories:
1. In 1987 we went to Philmont Boy Scout Ranch and had to hang all food because of bears. Grizzly and Black bears were occasional problems, but the deadliest was the 'kamikaze' bear. Kamikaze bears are actually Golden Mantled Ground Squirrels, which look like chipmunks. We'd hang everything in the middle of a steel cable between two trees. None of the bears could scale the cable, but the kamikaze bears would climb 20-30 feet higher in the tree and leap and try to catch the burlap bag we stored the food in. I'd say they caught 30% of the time. The other 70% they'd come crashing maybe 40 feet to the ground and shoot back up for another try. Endless entertainment.

2. On a backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon in 2001 or 2002 we hung our food 2-3 feet off the ground per regulation to keep rodents out. We returned to camp one day to find a very sad solo hiker. He'd done the same thing and something had eaten 90% of his food. We ran to check ours and found a goat happily munching food out of our still hanging bag. It tittered away as we ran up. I think I heard it let out a burp of thanks for making it so it didn't even have to bend down to eat. We continued our trip, but the solo guy had to abandon his and gave us the extra food he didn't want to carry out. We felt bad for him, but we ended up with a net gain in food and a great memory. I still have the nylon stuffsack with the duct tape patch intact. It is one of my most treasured pieces of camping equipment.

Let's hear your stories.

Many years ago, on Isle Royale, there were habituated red foxes that would sneak in to check packs for food...

Nothing very exciting. Chipmunks and red squirrels.

Had a squirrel eat right through my food pack once, and destroyed a few snacks. Didn't do the pack any good either. :-(

I once camped on the St. Croix when a coon simply wouldn't quit trying to steal my food. I'd yell and it would run and then return and I'd yell....

When we were at Philmont in 2005, the chipmunks, et. al. were referred to as "mini bears". They were ambitious and persistent little jaspers.

While camped at Kawishiwi Lake, we had a weasel run off with a Nalgene bottle. We got it back. We still have the bottle and the "weasel marks" (teeth marks on the cap strap.)

Red squirrels have also had their way with several nylon stuff sacks over the years. Didn't take much food (it was in the big pack) but they put sizeable holes in my stuff sacks!

Mike

On Fourtown about 12 years ago, otters and snapping turtles loved to go after our bait and stringer.

We had a fox run through camp while we were in it and grab a ziploc of homemade beef jerky. Other than that, nothing has gotten our food over the years.

Luckily I have never had anything get into my food, unless you count my kids getting into the treats while I'm not looking.

BearBurrito: "...unless you count my kids getting into the treats while I'm not looking."

I think those would be considered "mini BearBurritos". :)

Camping at Devil's Lake State Park in WI we had raccoons open a cooler and dive into the food. The best part was the tub of cream cheese, which the raccoon had clearly dipped its paw into and scooped out a serving of cream cheese.

Jackfish: "When we were at Philmont in 2005, the chipmunks, et. al. were referred to as "mini bears". They were ambitious and persistent little jaspers."

Some things never change. Picked up the same term in Philmont circa 1995, still use it frequently. I wish I could still find squeeze cheese in a tube though.

While on Saganaga we got cross ways to some waves and ended up with about 4 inches of water in the canoe, very tense! At camp we laid everything out to dry including a bag of Fig Newtons. Dad ever so gently laid out each cookie on the rocks to dry. Within 5 min. about 20 billion ants ( maybe more) came out of the cracks and converged on the cookies. The old man still tried to save a few but the ants won. He pouted the rest of the trip.

On Kahshahpiwi Lake a Canada Jay swooped in and grabbed a nice uncooked piece of Walleye filet off the plate as I was frying up a pan full.

My kids. They are relentless, every Pearson’s Salted Nut Roll was gone on day 2. Sneaky little kiddos. The next year everyone had their own labeled “goodie” bag. My sons was empty by day 4 of a 7 day trip.

Tony

I was car camping in a National Monument Campground along the US /Mexican Border in Arizona during February a few years ago. The campground is fairly open with some tall Saguaro cactus here and there. On one particular Saguaro near me two Chihuahuan Ravens would perch on the shady side and observe campers. They could tell naive newcomers especially those without RVs who drove small cars and who tended to leave food out. Chihuahuan Ravens are similar to Common Ravens and the only noticeable difference is some white feathers on their neck.
I was careful to protect my food in a tote on the picnic table near my water jug. I watched the Ravens take food from other campsites and would scare them away but after a few times that got old. I figured it would help people remember if they got pilfered a few times and it was mostly unhealthy snacks being taken anyways.
Every time I would walk a few hundred feet to the restroom they would swoop into my camp and make sure I didn’t leave something out on the picnic table. I was there almost three weeks and I thought they would give up but their persistence paid off when I left the top of the tote unsecured one time. Unfortunately for me that time when I left I was away from camp much longer than normal. When I returned I heard them squawk a danger call and fly from the picnic table as I approached. I saw the cover was off the tote and a loaf of bread half gone. The bread must have served as a laxative because they defecated all over my cookware and other goods in the tote. They also managed to open the zipper on a soft sided cooler and start to remove a plastic bag of produce. They tried to get into plastic containers of food by pecking holes in them too. They did manage to peck holes through my 3 gallon water jug to get a drink. They even shredded a bag of charcoal briquettes for some reason maybe they liked the noise. It was kind of a mess but my fault. I thought they liked me because I had quit chasing them out of other peoples campsites and had been letting them get food. I guess not.

On a wildfire in California, Yosemete NP/Grouse Fire my fire engine captian had his afternoon sack lunch (Made by the fire camp crew) eaten by Revens.
It was jsut him and I resting and snacking on our lunch at noonish when an issue with the fire emerged a few hundred feet away. I must have put my lunch in my fire backpack as we marched off to deal with the fire issue. I almost remember warning him about his lunch but I am not sure. He left it there.

We dealt with the fire issue and when we got back to our lunch spot 30ish minutes later his lunch was scattered all over the place. "Quoth the Raven, ever more"
I remember laughing at him, but probabally ended up sharing my lunch with him in the end.

Ravens got into alot of campers stuff when I worked in Alaska.

I mouse crawled into my brothers pack where we had our food. We then tied the pack up in the tree. Next morning we found that the mouse ate into about half of the food.

I set my plate of blueberry pancakes down on the log to get some coffee. A Canadian Jay flew down and stole my whole pancake and flew back up in the tree to eat it.

I’ve had a Pike eat my Walleye and a Muskie eat my Pike. Both would have been dinner.

Mice and chipmunks is all I have had trouble with.

geotramper: "Camping at Devil's Lake State Park in WI we had raccoons open a cooler and dive into the food. The best part was the tub of cream cheese, which the raccoon had clearly dipped its paw into and scooped out a serving of cream cheese. "

We had a family of fearless raccoons take up watch on our camp. We arrived late and set up in the dark. A couple of adult coons and numerous babies wandered about as we set up. They were absolutely adorable, but pestered our coolers to no end. I tried rocks, logs on top...for a couple of hours after bed they were relentless knocking things off the tops of the coolers. I finally gave up and sat on one cooler with my feet on the other. I was super tired the next day, but that night is still one of my favorite memories watching all the baby coons prowl about me.

Not food exactly, but once on Pauness Lake a bear came into our camp mid day. We managed to chase it away and were wise enough to take our food with us for the evening fishing excursion. Came back to find our tent shredded, sleeping bags drug into the woods, etc. We paddled out in the dark.

Also had a mouse get all of the dog's food on an overnight backpacking trip in Crosby Manitou. The dog didn't mind...she ate people food.

Then there was the bear on Fairy lake I mentioned in that other thread about hanging food packs.

Day two of a five day trip, our foursome embarked to do a little afternoon fishing to hopefully catch a few walleye for dinner. So we set off around a point on Fourtown where we had caught a few on a previous trip. We paddled to the furthest spot and slowly started trolling our way back to camp. As we neared the point, we heard what can best be described as a ruckus near our camp. We quickened our pace and saw, to our dismay, a flock of ravens in our camp. As we neared, they mounted a last ditch effort to empty the remains of a freshly opened one gallon ziplock bag of Gorp. They flew away happy and we sat down sad. Later that night we buried the remains as we quietly hummed Taps. The memory still haunts me...

Very fun to read about everyone's tales.

My encounters with food thieves has been limited to bears. Chipmunks and red squirrels will try to make a run for stuff while I am cooking, but I have never had them bother anything once closed up for the night.

On my 2nd trip with a camp when I was 15, we had our food pack ripped into by a bear on our 2nd night of a 10 day trip. It ripped into and sampled quite a few bags of various dry goods, but the big loss was the big salami it dragged off into the woods never to be seen again.

I had another trip where we arrived at a campsite and found a big pile of someone's leftovers dumped on the beach. We knew it was risky to stay, but we did anyway. We buried the food, set up camp, and went for a swim. We looked up to a bear sauntering into camp in broad daylight headed to the old food spot on the beach. With 7 of us yelling, screaming, and waving our arms, it decided it wasn't worth it and slowly sauntered off. We promptly packed up and moved.

My husband had a trip in Maine where he was sound asleep only to be woken by a strange noise. He could hear an animal running, but then the noise would stop for a second only to be followed by a loud thud. Then it would repeat: running, pause, thump, running, pause, thump. Turns out a bear was running down a slope and then leaping into the air to try to grab his pack that was strung between 2 trees. It would leap and then come thudding down. It was persistent until my husband shouted, "Bear, I have a gun in here...you better leave." The bear promptly left.

Not food, but I left a t-shirt draped over my pack inside my tent vestibule and a squirrel chewed the armpit out of it while I was sleeping. Brazen!

Car camping 20+years ago in the Angeles National Forest in Southern CA, I read the boards and no food restrictions. We left out a Rubbermaid tote on the picnic table with kitchen gear while the food tote went into the car. In the middle of the night, I look out of the tent and watch a bear rummage through the site across the street and I return to sleep. In the early morning, I exit the tent to find the tote missing. I look around, and no tote. I walk the still sleeping campground and no tote. I think the host or a ranger must have taken it, walk to the host site and nothing but sleeping people, I am seriously annoyed and return to the site.

While walking on a cut through trail, I notice in the dry creek bed inside a thick of growth is the tote, about 50 yards from our site. It was on its side and unopened. I bushwhacked, retrieve it and upon returning to camp, inspect the claw marks (and teeth?) on the edges clearly from a bear.

I still have this “bear proof” tote but have never been brave enough to test it out in the BWCA. My kids get a kick out of it….”is this the bear proof tote?”

John

Zulu: "I was car camping in a National Monument Campground along the US /Mexican Border in Arizona during February a few years ago. The campground is fairly open with some tall Saguaro cactus here and there. On one particular Saguaro near me two Chihuahuan Ravens would perch on the shady side and observe campers. They could tell naive newcomers especially those without RVs who drove small cars and who tended to leave food out. Chihuahuan Ravens are similar to Common Ravens and the only noticeable difference is some white feathers on their neck.
I was careful to protect my food in a tote on the picnic table near my water jug. I watched the Ravens take food from other campsites and would scare them away but after a few times that got old. I figured it would help people remember if they got pilfered a few times and it was mostly unhealthy snacks being taken anyways.
Every time I would walk a few hundred feet to the restroom they would swoop into my camp and make sure I didn’t leave something out on the picnic table. I was there almost three weeks and I thought they would give up but their persistence paid off when I left the top of the tote unsecured one time. Unfortunately for me that time when I left I was away from camp much longer than normal. When I returned I heard them squawk a danger call and fly from the picnic table as I approached. I saw the cover was off the tote and a loaf of bread half gone. The bread must have served as a laxative because they defecated all over my cookware and other goods in the tote. They also managed to open the zipper on a soft sided cooler and start to remove a plastic bag of produce. They tried to get into plastic containers of food by pecking holes in them too. They did manage to peck holes through my 3 gallon water jug to get a drink. They even shredded a bag of charcoal briquettes for some reason maybe they liked the noise. It was kind of a mess but my fault. I thought they liked me because I had quit chasing them out of other peoples campsites and had been letting them get food. I guess not. "

That is a great story:)

We were at a campsite on Tin Can Mike Lake a few years ago and could not find a good spot to hold some fish while we went out and fished a bit more. Came back and a snapping turtle got the couple on our stringer. We named him Franklin.

Photos of the perpetrator and the evidence.

Chipmunks, mice, squirrels, jays...the usual suspects. ;)
But in 1981 or so...we caught a PILE-O FISH and built a small holding pen so we could have a nice fish breakfast. In the a.m. we woke to some eagles having a great breakfast.
(Can't remember the name of that holding pen...what's the word?)

Pine marten on Alice lake. Would run in and take food right off your plate if you didn’t watch it like a hawk. Fast guy, no fear. He also grabbed my small pack for washing dishes. Chewed up the sponge, ate some soap. Chased him as I saw him with the bag in his mouth ran away spilling items along the way. Finally cornered him in a tree where he tried the sponge and soap out—-basically spit it out at me, almost got me in the head :)

We were very careful the rest of the trip, had food in barrels, eventually he just left us alone after 2 days of minimal success.

T

The only things that have truly stolen my food are some thieving human varmints in a campground outside of Yellowstone National Park in 1977, along with some other camping equipment I couldn't afford to lose.

Beyond that, I have had a number of food items appropriated for alternative use through the years by squirrels, insects, mice, birds and other indigenous creatures I was a visitor to. Every bear I have encountered decided it wasn't worth the hassle and skedaddled.

I always liked bringing teenagers... the Bear never had a chance! The one time a bear had my food pack in mouth was a last day of a trip... i secured that food pack like it was day one of many.

While making breakfast on Lake 3, many years ago, a pair of sneaky Whiskey Jacks stole the bacon that was draining on paper toweling.
When we realized what was happening we put a covering over it.

This guy ate all of our breakfast food. First trip to Quetico in the mid 90's. I was still pretty much a greenhorn. We got to the campsite at dark and cooked up dinner and hit the tents. They next morning we headed straight for the canoes for the morning bite. We realized we had forgotten our drinks and returned to the site and low and behold mr. bear had gotten in our cooler and food pack. Needless to say that we had to find another site because he wasn't going anywhere.

Ten years of stealthy attacks from this varmit! She just snagged my PBJ!!

Other than roommates in college, nothing.

While car camping in Florida many years ago we had a raccoon open the latch on a metal sided Coleman cooler and that cooler had a pretty robust metal latch that took both muscle and intelligence to open. I was also impressed with how delicately it could open a yogurt container and clean it out perfectly while leaving the container looking unused. In those days I think the yogurt containers were made of waxed paper, not plastic.