Will A Campfire Keep Wildlife Away? (Bugs, Bears, Mosquitoes & More)

Camping and exploring the backcountry can be an exciting and well worthwhile adventure. However, to sum it does not come without fear and anxiety. Especially when the sun goes down, and the nocturnal animals come out to play.

Just a week ago, my brother and his wife, along with myself and my sister decided we would go camping for the weekend, at the family camp. We arrived Saturday night, got camp set up, and decided we would have a campfire as the sun began to fall behind the mountain.

Shortly after the sun went down, the nerves of my sister in-law climbed. And to make things even worse, a pack of cougar hunting dogs came running by, just outside of camp. This is fairly normal for the area, as a lot of guys like to go hunting for cougars here. However, given that my brother was just recently married. His wife didn’t quite have the experience we had of the area.

This made her fear for the wildlife in the area climb exponentially as the dogs passed by barking and howling. This all occurred as we sat there by the campfire an hour or 2 after the sun went down.

Given that the dogs were searching for a cougar, this got me wondering whether or not the campfire we were all sitting by provide any deterrent to cougars, or other wildlife in the area. I wondered The Same as to whether or not the smoke would act as a natural bug spray, simply because we were out their during bug season, and the mosquitoes, along with the flies were horrendous…

anyway, of course I let my curiosity get to me and the moment I got home I began to research. I mean from my past experience I haven’t had any issues with wildlife when sitting near a fire. Though, growing up I had people tell me: “Fire scares Bears, and other wildlife away”. But is this actually true?

Well today we shall have the answer, And I think it may surprise you. As I always thought the smoke from a campfire provided somewhat of a deterrent from wildlife in all situations. But turns out this isn’t always the deal…  

Why Campfires Don’t Always Keep Animals away

After Scouring many forums, and hearing a multitude of different responses. I have come to the conclusion that the presents of a campfire will rather emphasize the presents of humans to animals rather than deter them. Now this does not mean a fire won’t deter them, rather it depends heavily on the animals past encounters with humans, and exactly what emotion animals associate with humans.

You see, to animals that see humans as a way to score an easy meal, a campfire can be an incentive to some wildlife. While to others it can be seen as a “space to never go near”. For the most part, Bears, Racoons, Wolves, Coyotes and other animals alike don’t typically have any desire to come near people, and given that a campfire basically emphasizes the presents of humans, animals typically feel much more of a desire to avoid the area.

Now, If you use the campfire for cooking. Then this could turn things around, because now the smell of food is being swirled through the forest. Which then is likely to attract wildlife. But the same occurs when cooking on a stove. As long as you are cooking your food the proper distance away from camp you shouldn’t have to worry about any animals making their way into your camp.

Below is a list of common wildlife that many fear entering their camp.

• Bears
• Racoons
• Wolves
• Coyotes
• Skunks
• Squirrels
• Mice & Rats (Rodents)
• Mountain lions
• Fox

Out of the list above, Racoons, Skunks, and smaller rodents tend to enter camp most often. This is because they smell food, and often times think they can sneak the food without being seen, Fire or no Fire. Campfire likely wont deter these guys from coming within a short distance of the fire. Especially if it is at night, and they are searching for free food.

What You Can Do To Deter Wildlife

The Two Best things you can do the deter wildlife from entering your camp is by:

1. Keeping all food, garbage, and toiletries (Scented Items) in a sealed container, and free from reach of any wildlife.
2. Cook outside of camp (Cook your food the proper distance away from camp to avoid attracting wildlife to camp)
3. Simply emphasize your presents: Make Noise, Talk, Sing… “Build A Campfire”
4. Ensure your camp is tidied up before heading to bed.

Keep Bugs Away Using Your Campfire!

Bugs can be a large nuisance to deal with when trying to enjoy the wonderful things nature has to offer. However, the worst of them all are mosquitoes… Those little buggers can come in swarms, and leave you itching everywhere. But will A Campfire deter them?

Many say the smoke of a campfire will deter irritating bugs such as mosquitoes, flies, and other gnats. From my personal experience this is true. However, there are ways to increase the repulsiveness the campfire smoke has on bugs! You can do this by adding herbs like Sage to the contents of your fire.

Mosquitoes hate the scent of sage, and by filling the air around with it you can enhance the capability the fire has on deterring bugs.

Conclusion

Just to recap, depending on how experienced the wildlife in your area is. The campfire may or may not act as a deterrent to the animals in the area. In most cases the presents of a campfire is likely going to emphasize the presents of humans, and depending on how the wildlife response to humans in the area this may or may not be a good thing.

This is because depending on how the wildlife was treated in the past by humans, they will likely associate humans with that same past experience but in the current moment.

For example, if a bear has been fed often by humans in the past, then it will associate future human interaction as a way to get food. Having a campfire basically emphasizes the presents of humans. So, in this sort of a situation a campfire could potentially attract that bear into camp.

Now, the likely hood of an animal being attracted to camp by the shear smell of a campfire is quite slim. But this does not mean the campfire will deter wildlife either. Simply because, in most situations a bear will also require the scent of human food in order to feel invited into camp, but not always.

On the flip side, camping in remote areas where humans rarely are seen. The wildlife in the area will likely take offense to the presence of humans and avoid the area as best as possible.

In this kind of a situation, having a campfire will emphasize the presents of humans, which then emphasizes the deterrent to wildlife.

So essentially, the impact the campfire has, as well as how the smoke impacts the wildlife in the area will depend heavily on past experiences the wildlife has had with human interaction, if any at all.

Now, when it comes to bugs. The campfire can be a great natural bug repellent. Well, the campfire smoke that is, But there are ways to emphasize that smell by simply burning sage and other related herbs in the campfire as well.

I hope you were able to find some value here, if you have any further questions regarding campfires be sure to check out the Outdoor Luxuriez “Making Fire: Everything Campfire” section of the site. Where we go over building fire, maintaining it, and extinguishing it. Along with other campfire safety concerns.

This Is Colt Signing Off!