Camping in the woods of mid Tennessee, we decided that it would be a good idea to burn an apple core so we didn’t attract critters. This had the opposite effect, as we were immediately surrounded by some persistent raccoons.
They kept coming a little too close for comfort so I gathered a bunch of stones to toss at them as they got closer. This worked wonders. (No animals were harmed during the writing of this post!!!! Just scared a bit.)
When it came time to retire to the tent, I dumped the stones out of my pockets and put them in front of the tent. Good idea except that as soon a the stones were down, I couldn’t get “The Blair Witch Project” out of my head. This didn’t make for comforting sleep at all. Solitude in the middle of a large woods is not peaceful if you keep thinking of that movie.
On a side note, I left the tent to use the bathrooms later and saw that the raccoons did indeed attain their goal. The burnt apple was gone.
Matthew Bennett 