# Campsite Security



## SWAMPFOX (Jun 17, 2009)

I am going to be doing some camping way out in the boonies and I'd like to figure a way to rig some type of security around my campsite before I turn in for the night. 

I was thinking some kind of monofilament fish line "fence" installed around the perimeter with some type of rattle/noise maker on so if anything broke the fishing line I'd be awakened.  

Anybody ever done anything like this or have any ideas?

Thanks.


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## Cornelia_Hiker (Jun 17, 2009)

I reckon your idea will work.

I take a dog.


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## KDarsey (Jun 17, 2009)

Yep, I got a little Blue Heeler that will let me know when you leave YOUR house.
  I don't think I'd want to do that with the fishing line, if a possum or 'coon came waddling through I'd probably be tearing up the woods gettin' outa there!


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

Use tin cans with rocks in them. You set the can on a stick, so it is balanced on there, using the tripwire to hold it there. When it is knocked off the stick, it will rattle. Army Field Training Manual.


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## RVGuy (Jun 17, 2009)

catfishing rod bells and fishing line at knee high level.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

I'm pretty sure it might have been the SMART book, but it was a long time ago.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

May have even been Cub Scouts for all I know. It sucks getting old...


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

95 Bravo, MP. Unlike my Dad, I didn't make it a career. I was at Ft. McClellan in Al, so I know enough about red clay to know it is a bugger.


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## Nicodemus (Jun 17, 2009)

SWAMPFOX said:


> I am going to be doing some camping way out in the boonies and I'd like to figure a way to rig some type of security around my campsite before I turn in for the night.
> 
> I was thinking some kind of monofilament fish line "fence" installed around the perimeter with some type of rattle/noise maker on so if anything broke the fishing line I'd be awakened.
> 
> ...





Why?


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Why?



Did you ever see Easy Rider?


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## Nicodemus (Jun 17, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> Did you ever see Easy Rider?





No, never saw it.  Again, why?


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## Havana Dude (Jun 17, 2009)

Good Lord, where you camping at, in the hood?


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## contender* (Jun 17, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> Did you ever see Easy Rider?





Nicodemus said:


> No, never saw it.  Again, why?



Not to go  but I tried to watch it once. I came to the conclusion that you need to be high on some sort of funny grass to make any sense out of it.


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## duckdawgdixie (Jun 17, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> 95 Bravo, MP.



OOoooook now i understand the rest of your threads


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> No, never saw it.  Again, why?


The Protagonists were Bikers going across the country in 1969(?), and pick up a drunken Lawyer (Played by Jack Nicholson) who decides to join them on their way to New Orleans. Along the way, they end up stopping in small town America for a bite, and run into the Uptight Moral Country folk, who assume the long hairs to be Commies or Devil Worshipers... or both. Some of the townies follow them out of town, and while they are sleeping in their camp off the side of the road, the townies attack them, beating Jack to death with an ax handle.

That's why


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## Nicodemus (Jun 17, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> The Protagonists were Bikers going across the country in 1969(?), and pick up a drunken Lawyer (Played by Jack Nicholson) who decides to join them on their way to New Orleans. Along the way, they end up stopping in small town America for a bite, and run into the Uptight Moral Country folk, who assume the long hairs to be Commies or Devil Worshipers... or both. Some of the townies follow them out of town, and while they are sleeping in their camp off the side of the road, the townies attack them, beating Jack to death with an ax handle.
> 
> That's why



Oh, ok. I still wouldn`t worry a whole lot though. I might regret it one day, but I don`t worry about such as that, or any other kinds of varmints, for that matter. Ain`t nothin` gonna mess with you.


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## SWAMPFOX (Jun 17, 2009)

A couple of reasons for my concern is: (1) I want to camp in the Osceola National Forest in north Florida which has a decent bear population. I know all the precautions to take regarding camping where there are bears but still would like an "early warning" system. (2) I plan to camp in the Ocala National Forest in central Florida and there's a bear concern there, as well as unwanted 2-legged riff raff.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 17, 2009)

SWAMPFOX said:


> A couple of reasons for my concern is: (1) I want to camp in the Osceola National Forest in north Florida which has a decent bear population. I know all the precautions to take regarding camping where there are bears but still would like an "early warning" system. (2) I plan to camp in the Ocala National Forest in central Florida and there's a bear concern there, as well as unwanted 2-legged riff raff.


That is very true. Bands of thieves and meth labs. Several people went in, but didn't come back.


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## allenww (Jun 18, 2009)

Come on, folks.  You are safer in the woods, statistically, than you are in your living room.  

But I'm with the others - if it is truly of concern, take your dog.


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## duckdawgdixie (Jun 18, 2009)

balvarik said:


> If worried about being snuck up on,
> may I suggest you get in contact with any E-1 11B to help you out!
> 
> Mike
> Sua Sponte



 haha thats what i was thinkin


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## TheAlpha (Jun 18, 2009)

Do like the Haji's do,     grab a couple of geese and tie some stolen 550 cord around their feet. 

11B's are just like geese:  They eat everything, crap where they want, and complain everytime you make them get out of  bed.

The plus side of geese is they don't sleep on guard duty.


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## tony2001577 (Jun 18, 2009)

allenww said:


> Come on, folks.  You are safer in the woods, statistically, than you are in your living room.
> 
> But I'm with the others - if it is truly of concern, take your dog.



If no dog sleep with your glock under your pilow .........


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## Nicodemus (Jun 18, 2009)

Be the "gitter", not the "gittee".


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## tony2001577 (Jun 18, 2009)

Nicodemus said:


> Be the "gitter", not the "gittee".



Now thats funny right there !!!


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## Slings and Arrows (Jun 18, 2009)

LOL, what are you gonna do when the bear trips your wire??  Or maybe a skunk??  I would just assume sleep through all of that.


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## Steve762us (Jun 18, 2009)

tony2001577 said:


> If no dog sleep with your glock under your pilow .........




Sounds like half of an odd Chinese proverb...

"If no dog sleep with glock under your pillow, you no wake up with flea in magazine."


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## Steve762us (Jun 18, 2009)

Forget the cans of pebbles, we're Americans...nothing but the latest technology can do!

Grrrr...Doberman! Must be mean:
http://www.amazon.com/Doberman-SE-0305OR-Infrared-Perimeter-Protector/dp/B000E60514

...and here, a whole site dedicated to camping alarms!
http://www.campingalarms.com/


OPSEC-- it _is _a Ranger word...


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## Slings and Arrows (Jun 19, 2009)

Steve762us said:


> Sounds like half of an odd Chinese proverb...
> 
> "If no dog sleep with glock under your pillow, you no wake up with flea in magazine."



 I hate fleas in my mag!


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## tony2001577 (Jun 19, 2009)

steve762us said:


> sounds like half of an odd chinese proverb...
> 
> "if no dog sleep with glock under your pillow, you no wake up with flea in magazine."




he who wake with glock under pillow , wake happy no bear eat him for midnight snack .


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## kevina (Jun 21, 2009)

A dog and a 45 should do the job.


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## greene_dawg (Jun 22, 2009)

No offense, but millions of people camp in the backcountry every year without stringing up fishing line and tin cans full of rocks around their campsites and they do it in much more dangerous places than the Osceola NF. Keep a clean site, hang your food and anything a bear might smell, and enjoy your time in the woods. If it gives you piece of mind, take a dog and a decent caliber pistola but I'm guessing the odds are about 1 in 1,000,000 that you'll need either.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 22, 2009)

greene_dawg said:


> If it gives you piece of mind, take a dog and a decent caliber pistola but I'm guessing the odds are about 1 in 1,000,000 that you'll need either.


Better to have it and not need it...


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## greene_dawg (Jun 22, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> Better to have it and not need it...




Not worth the weight to me. But, that's just me. Spent many a night in the backcountry and stats show that your in about gazillion times more danger driving to the trailhead than you are in the backcountry. You're many thousands of times more likely to be bitten by a rattlesnake than to be attacked by a bear but I'm not going to wear chaps or snake boots on the trail...


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## horse2292 (Jun 25, 2009)

They do make a device that is small and has a motion detector. When activated it has a high pitch alarm and flashing lights(for night). The alarm changes each time so an animal will not get use to it. This are routinly used in grizzly country. I have heard guys that have hung there meat 2-3 hundred yards from camp and heard the alarm go off and on several times. Would scare the crap out of most anything at night. Could you imagine walking through the woods and some high pitch alrm goes off and red flashing lights going off. Can be used for dogs around trash cans. One guy posted (on another forum) he used it to catch his daughter sneeking out one night. BUSTED


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 25, 2009)

horse2292 said:


> One guy posted (on another forum) he used it to catch his daughter sneeking out one night. BUSTED


Coulda used something like that a few years ago.


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## Rich Kaminski (Jun 25, 2009)

I always take my friends "Mr. Smith and Mr. Weston" and my dog.
If you want to keep the bears away, string a rope 10 yards around the camp and put turpentine on strips of rags that you will tie on the rope. They do not like the smell.


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## horse2292 (Jun 25, 2009)

In Alaska they also use the electric fence. Search bear fence on the net.  Super light weight kit ($$$$$)for you camp site. definately keeps the bears away.

What about bears that maybe have never smelled turpintine. New odors could draw a curious bear in. I fence will shock every bear.


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## Mako22 (Jun 25, 2009)

Ocala National forest and Bears??? What a 150 pound Florida black bear??? I'd be more worried about the meth addicts that run around that forest than bears.


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## SWAMPFOX (Jun 25, 2009)

*Woodsman69*

What you mentioned is a concern of mine re: camping in the Ocala Nat'l Forest...and I am not referring to the bears.


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## greene_dawg (Jun 26, 2009)

I'm with you on that one Swamp. My biggest concern is something on two legs walking into my site...


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## mriver72 (Jun 26, 2009)

If i had to worry about being safe i would just stay at home because the trip will be no fun if you think someones coming to harm you .


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 26, 2009)

mriver72 said:


> If i had to worry about being safe i would just stay at home because the trip will be no fun if you think someones coming to harm you .


Unless you could hunt while you're there. Are Meth heads considered varmint?


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## greene_dawg (Jun 26, 2009)

mriver72 said:


> If i had to worry about being safe i would just stay at home because the trip will be no fun if you think someones coming to harm you .



I agree. There is a certain level of danger in the wilderness but sometimes our fears make us overreact. Like I said, driving to the TH is the most dangerous thing we do on a backpacking trip but none of us ever think twice about doing that. Sometimes the lions and tigers and bears and things that go bump in the night make us think that we're in danger when statistically speaking, we're the safest we'd be all week. I've had friends backpack for two weeks straight in Denali with nothing more than a can of bear spray. I know we can say "if/then" all day long but looking at the numbers you are quite safe in the backcountry using nothing more than common sense and woodsmanship.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 26, 2009)

How many of you would go camping in Cracktown? Ocala is the same thing, only less buildings, more trees. Personally, I would treat that place as a very last resort.


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## Nicodemus (Jun 26, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> How many of you would go camping in Cracktown? Ocala is the same thing, only less buildings, more trees. Personally, I would treat that place as a very last resort.



When you say Ocala, are you talkin` about the Scrubs (Ocala National Forest)? Back in the 70s, I spent a lot of time huntin` in there, and fishin the Oklawaha River. Fair amount of bears, but I never had any trouble out of em.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 26, 2009)

Well, things have changed since then. There are literally gangs roaming through there now. Thieves, Meth heads, rapists. People go in, not all of them come out though.


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## Rich Kaminski (Jun 26, 2009)

Yes, crack heads are varmint and we do have a season on them. Just don't tell anyone where your best spots are located. LOL


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## greene_dawg (Jun 26, 2009)

Don't know much about it. I do know that there are way too many quality backcountry location in the South to go to a place like that.


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## SWAMPFOX (Jun 26, 2009)

*Capt Quirk*

Funny that you should mention the unsavory lowlife that seems to have become more prevalent in the Ocala National Forest. I thought it was just me with a bit of paranoia tossed in. What triggered my concern was the news story of a few years back of a couple who were camping there and the guy was murdered and his wife raped by a couple of thugs.  

Then about a year ago, I phoned the Ocala National Forest HQS and spoke with a woman. I asked her about a particular camp ground on the south end of the Forest and asked if she thought it'd be safe to take my wife and daughter there camping and she advised me not to. She said that the locals take over on the weekends and things in her words "get rough." That was all I needed to hear.


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## Capt Quirk (Jun 26, 2009)

Yeah, news like that spreads, but yet the enforcement won't or can't do anything. But give them a paraplegic in a wheelchair, and they'll show him who's boss!


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## mriver72 (Jun 28, 2009)

Capt Quirk said:


> Unless you could hunt while you're there. Are Meth heads considered varmint?



I guess if they attack you they would be Varmints.. Ive never been attacked by meth heads myself but the next time i go camping i will keep my eyes open for them dang i might just stay home this worries me !!!!


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## Corey (Jul 28, 2009)

Like they said, if i was scared for my life there is no way I 
would take my family in there. Now by myself it might be 
a safari


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