When you go out camping this year or next, one thing is certain. You always need to be sure to take the proper supplies with you but you may not know what not to bring camping. In fact, there’s a massive list of things that people sometimes bring that they should not.
Some stuff people might bring or not bring is under the “controversial” tag. Where some people will swear you should bring “that item” or “those items.” Other stuff people bring tends to be useless to them or make their camping trip a bit harder than it should be.
Remember, camping is supposed to be fun. Taking away all the fun would pretty much ruin the whole thing. Who would actively choose to do that, right? That said, when you think of things not to bring camping, the list could be endless.
However, we thought about some of the most common items people take or think they should take. The list had to be narrowed down quite a lot, but we feel you’ll agree with our choices.
Table of Contents
A Gun
There are some controversial things one might bring or not bring. Everyone needs a knife but what about a gun? Unless you’re going to be in a place with a high potential for vicious animal attacks, you really don’t need one.
In fact, there is actually a higher probability that you’ll injure yourself or someone you’re with if you have a gun. Why? People can get, shall we say “skiddish” during the nighttime. Even with a small bit of light from the moon, you cannot really see.
If you just assume an animal is coming after you and then you shoot without thinking, you could kill a person you’re with. While we’d never tell someone not to have a gun in their home for protection, there is a difference when it comes to the outdoors. Most animals are afraid of humans and will likely steer clear of you if they do not think you’re a threat.
Therefore, as long as you’re smart about what to do when you see a potential predator and can keep focused…you’ll be fine. Of course, if you’re going into a place like Africa or the Australian Outback…take as many guns as you can carry.
Cologne Or Perfume
You would be shocked to find out that several people will take cologne or perfume with them while camping. While we’d advise taking deodorant with you because trust us, you’ll need it….that’s different. One serves a clear purpose and will be good to have if you’re sleeping in a tent with one or more people.
However, Cologne or Perfume does not do you any good. We know that some novice female campers might go camping with their boyfriend and feel they need to take some. You don’t want to come across as a potentially stinky person. We do understand that.
We also know that a man might go camping with a woman and feel like he needs to take some cologne to hide the stink that will build. Yet both are bad to take for a few main reasons. The first is that no matter how much you have…you’re going to still develop body odor that only so much of that stuff can hide.
This is why deodorant is better to have. It’ll help mask the main source of the problem. You might not even need that either. But if you had to choose, go deodorant.
Second, a lot of smells are bad to have because animals will smell them and take an interest. Of course, they can then track you using the smell as their guide. If it is a hungry predator, you’re going to be in a bad position.
On top of this, the more you sweat…the more likely it is that bugs will be a problem. They are drawn to smells. So combine your sweat with cologne or perfume…that is a recipe for big problems with flies, gnats, and potentially mosquitos.
An Ax
While it is true that an Ax or even a Tomahawk can be great to have as added protection in the wild, you might not need either. A lot of people think they’re going to need an ax to chop down wood to use for fires they’ll need to build.
However, that is incredibly unlikely. Most of the time, you’ll be able to find perfectly good branches and sticks lying all over the place. If you did need to get some wood still on trees for some reason, it’s highly unlikely an ax will be useful then either.
You could easily pull stuff off. If you really needed extra assistance, your basic camping knife could offer that assistance. Axes are relatively heavy to take on a camping trip. They can even be dangerous at times due to one bad swing or something worse.
Tomahawks are much lighter but even they are not really going to be “needed”. The only real blade you will need is a knife, which is light to carry and offers a lot of protection on its own…in the right hands. If you did feel you might need extra assistance, a pocket chainsaw is light to carry and works very well for cutting down larger objects.
Beer Bottles & Soda Cans
We’re not sure if it has been said enough. Nature is beautiful and anyone who decides to screw that up is a human piece of garbage. A lot of people will take bottles and cans into the wild with them while camping. While a water bottle is one thing, beer bottles or soda cans are terrible.
Cans can burn a bit but it takes incredibly hot temperatures to burn aluminum. Bottles are more likely to break when left behind. This can cause numerous issues for animals or even people potentially. A barefoot human might step on a piece of glass and cut themselves open, causing a medical emergency.
Meanwhile, animals could get cut by walking around or getting too close to the broken glass out of simple curiosity. A whole area filled with bottles and cans takes away from the true beauty of the environment. You’re ruining it for other people but you’re also hurting the homes where some of these animals might be if not for your decision to camp there.
If you must take bottles and cans, pick up after yourself. We mean completely. Make it so spotless that you could eat off the ground yourself!
Family-Size Containers Of Food
This is another area where we feel a lot of people might know better, but we can see how some may make this mistake. If you are going camping with your family, it makes sense to take family-size containers of food. However, this can become a huge problem for a lot of different reasons.
First, what do you plan to do if there is food leftover? You cannot technically “save it for later.” Now you’re just throwing food into the fire if anything, which is like throwing money away. On top of this, people also do not consider how much room those containers take up in a cooler.
The average cooler is not built for a lot of those larger containers. God help you if the ice in your cooler were to run out for some reason. That can lead to bugs congregating at your campsite.
Plus, there might be a pretty significant odor from this, which can certainly make animals want to check the area out. Even if you found a way to get rid of the food before the animal(s) got there, the smell will be present for a while. Making them want to explore your camp.
