So, do you want to hear something funny?

SKP82

FI and I went camping last weekend.  The first night we were there, I wasn't sleeping well because every little noise was freaking me out. 

At about 2:00 in the morning, I was semi-dozing when I heard a loud noise.  I swore it was a bear it was so loud (plus I was paranoid about seeing a bear).  I smacked FI to get him to wake up.  He listened for a minute, then took out the flashlight and shone it through the tent to see what was going on. 

What he saw was an adolescent raccoon.  He said it had bag in its mouth, but he couldn't tell what it was.  It looked at him, scampered a few feet, then looked at him again.  At that point, another raccoon (the accomplice) creeped out from behind the cooler.  The 1st raccoon headed to the end of the pavement parking spot, looked back at FI, and they both left.

FI got out of the tent to make sure everything was in order.  He said he didn't think the bag that raccoon had in its mouth belonged to us.  He checked the cooler and everything seemed to be in place.

He moved some stuff around so that no other pilfering animals would bother our stuff, then came back to the tent and said our bag of cheese and butter was gone (a pound of each, mind you)!  He said the one raccoon must have lifted up the cooler lid while the other raccoon stole our food!

Those thieving bastards even came back the next night around 1:30 AM with their black masks on.  I was in the shower and FI was sitting around the fire.  The degenerate raccoons were making their cutesy little noises around where our cooler was the previous night (FI had outsmarted them and put the cooler in the car).  He scared them up a tree, and they came back down about 30 minutes later after we had gone to "bed."

We had hot dogs for breakfast the next morning since I didn't have the cheese or butter to make my McMuffins.

Isn't that crazy?  I never thought raccoons were so smart!

Have you ever had an encounter with a raccoon or do you have a funny camping story to share?

lunarsongbird

Oh yeah- some raccoons at state parks are BALLSY. Too bad about your butter and cheese!
Look how crazy THIS raccoon is....LOL: 

jaycee7389

Hahah that is crazy! I hope they enjoyed their butter lol.

My only funny camping story is from when I was little. My parents and their friends rented a cabin and one night they took us "snipe" hunting. They explained that snipes were small furry creatures that would run down trees if you banged the tree with sticks. My sister and I took garbage bags and sticks to catch and release the snipes, and started banging on trees in the middle of the dark.

All of the sudden, a snipe ran down into my bag and I hurried and closed it. My dad grabbed the bag and it was shaking around in the bag and I started crying that he was going to accidentally kill it.

So, of course, it was all a trick that my parents decided to play on us by throwing a rock into my bag. It backfired though because I bawled my eyes out haha.

jorja86

HAHAHA...I love it. My mom had a pet raccoon when she was a teenager. My (now) uncle accidentally hit a raccoon with his car, and it had a baby with it. My aunt made him get out of the car and go find the baby. They named it Rocky, and had it for a couple of years.

They have all kinds of funny stories about him. He figured out how to get the cap off the toothpaste and used to "write" all over the bathroom with it. He was so naughty.

tdwpg1984

I've heard that raccoons are really smart. We have a lot in our city and they're actually kind of annoying because they'll knock over garbage cans and tear open garbage bags and make a big mess.

I have 2 raccoon stories, one sad, one funny:

Sad: my dad once hit a whole pack of raccoons on the highway when I was in the car. We killed like 3 of them 

Funny: my neighbors growing up had a pool, and one night they heard a bunch of splashing in their pool. They looked outside and they realised they had forgotten to put the cover on the pool and a family of raccoons were playing in the pool.

SKP82

Haha.  These stories are great!

Peaseblossom55

no camping no racoon stories but those are all pretty funny.  I had no idea they were so smart!

Elle1036

I love that you called them "degenerate" and "thieving bastards".  I giggled.

SKP82

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_want-hear-something-funny?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:7120c2b7-45c7-4066-872c-e9598d9917f7Post:854688f6-3cb2-4d43-a86c-d086928af37c">Re: So, do you want to hear something funny?</a>:
[QUOTE]I love that you called them "degenerate" and "thieving bastards".  I giggled.
Posted by Elle1036[/QUOTE]

They were fitting descriptions.  I promise. 

redheadtmk

We left out a tub of margarine one night camping because we thought animals would not bother with something so gross. Next morning we found it on the edge of the campsite licked clean! Poor animal probably died of a heart attack within a week.

bethsmiles

The last time we went camping BF's brother was pretty sure the squirrels around our camp ground were conspiring to wage war on us. They did keep throwing things at him.

We are really careful with our food when we go camping though. It all gets locked in boxes or coolers and then locked in the car. We've never had issues with animals getting to it.

SKP82

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_want-hear-something-funny?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:7120c2b7-45c7-4066-872c-e9598d9917f7Post:69fa9bcb-6bdd-45e2-8225-98e221a35fc5">Re: So, do you want to hear something funny?</a>:
[QUOTE]The last time we went camping BF's brother was pretty sure the squirrels around our camp ground were conspiring to wage war on us. They did keep throwing things at him. We are really careful with our food when we go camping though. It all gets locked in boxes or coolers and then locked in the car. We've never had issues with animals getting to it.
Posted by bethsmiles[/QUOTE]

Beth - the conspiring squirrels are hilarious!

FI was so surprised this happened.  He's been camping his entire life and has never had something like this happen before.  We've even been to the same campground previously and had no problems.  I guess these animals get smarter and less afraid of humans the more they're around them.

We will definitely take more precautions next time. 

bethsmiles

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_want-hear-something-funny?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:136Discussion:7120c2b7-45c7-4066-872c-e9598d9917f7Post:ae84d447-5385-42bb-aad6-74fad915983f">Re: So, do you want to hear something funny?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: So, do you want to hear something funny? : Beth - the conspiring squirrels are hilarious! FI was so surprised this happened.  He's been camping his entire life and has never had something like this happen before.  We've even been to the same campground previously and had no problems.  I guess these animals get smarter and less afraid of humans the more they're around them. We will definitely take more precautions next time. 
Posted by SKP82[/QUOTE]

I definitely think the animals are getting smarter! Especially at actual campgrounds (as opposed to just picking an area off the road). They are around people so much they are bound to pick some things up!

I wonder what they did with a pound of butter? I can't imagine they felt to good after eating that!

SKP82

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_want-hear-something-funny?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:7120c2b7-45c7-4066-872c-e9598d9917f7Post:86465a89-75cf-4892-9e75-2d84e19772cb">Re: So, do you want to hear something funny?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: So, do you want to hear something funny? : I definitely think the animals are getting smarter! Especially at actual campgrounds (as opposed to just picking an area off the road). They are around people so much they are bound to pick some things up! <strong>I wonder what they did with a pound of butter? I can't imagine they felt to good after eating that!
</strong>Posted by bethsmiles[/QUOTE]

I suspect in a decade or so the raccoon population will be plagued with heart disease.  And/or other diseases brought on by eating overprocessed human foods.

kellyt89

When I was little, I had a blanket that I used to carry around ALL THE TIME and I'd suck my finger. The blanket was also super ratty and one night while I was sleeping my mom found the sliky edge around my neck. She was afraid I was going to suffocate so she took the blanket away and told me "the raccoon took it" I believed her until I was 5 or so years old!

So naieve...

beanbot2002

A few years back a racoon came up on our back deck. I went to go smoke a cigarette and it scared the bejebus outta me. I ran back in the house and grabbed a bunch of cans from the recycling bin and started chucking them at him all while hissing and growling at him.  I do believe it was then that I officially qualified myself for the loony bin.