The Land Buyer’s Guide
Your guide to buying, owning, and developing rural land. Practical tips, real‑world insights, and simple explanations to help you understand rural land decisions.
The Land Buyer’s Guide
How to Store Food Safely Around Wildlife on Rural Land
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So you've finally got your piece of rural land, maybe you're camping out on it, building a cabin, setting up a little homestead, and then one morning you wake up and something got into your food. Yeah, that's what we're talking about today. Hey, welcome back to the Land Buyer's Guide. I'm your host, Scott Thomas, founder of LandParker.com, where we help everyday people buy rural land at affordable prices, with owner financing that actually makes sense, sometimes as low as $100 down and $100 a month. And today we're getting into something that doesn't always make the top of the list when people think about rural living. But honestly, it should. We're talking about storing food safely when you've got wildlife around, because once you're out on rural land, this stuff becomes real pretty quick. Let's just start with the basics of why this even matters. Animals like bears, raccoons, skunks, foxes, rodents, they all have an incredible sense of smell. Way better than ours. And what seems totally sealed up to you? To a raccoon, that's just a puzzle worth solving. The thing is, when wildlife finds food near your camp or your cabin or your homestead, they start coming back. And then they start associating your place with an easy meal. That's what wildlife folks call habituation. And it's not good. Not for you, not for your property, and honestly, not for the animal either. So good food storage isn't just about protecting your groceries, it's about keeping that wildlife interaction healthy and safe for both sides. Now here's something I think is really smart to keep in mind. If you set up your food storage to be bear resistant, you've basically handled everything else at the same time. Raccoons, opossums, rodents, if the system can stop a bear, it's going to handle all of those no problem. So even if you're on land where bears aren't a big concern, thinking with that bear aware mindset is actually a great baseline. Before you set anything up, take a few minutes to just think about your specific property. What kind of wildlife is common in that region? Are there known bear populations nearby? Do the neighbors deal with critters getting into their trash or outbuildings? Your local wildlife agency is actually a really solid resource for this kind of regional knowledge. They'll know what you're dealing with better than a general internet search will. Okay, so let's talk containers, because this is where a lot of people start. If you're camping on your land or just spending a few nights at a time, hardsided bear canisters are a great option. They're portable, they're tough, and they're specifically designed to keep animals out. If you're in grizzly bear country, look for one certified by the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee, the IGBC. That certification actually means something. Now if you've got more of a permanent setup, like a base camp or an actual structure on the property, a mounted bear resistant food locker is worth the investment. These are usually heavy gauge steel and you can bolt them to a post or a tree or a platform. If you're storing larger quantities of food outside, this is the way to go. For things like animal feed, bird seed, or compost, a heavy gauge metal trash can with a locking lid or a good bungee cord handles raccoons and smaller animals well. It's not going to stop a determined bear, but for that category of critters, it does the job. And inside any structure you've got, a cabin, a storage shed, whatever, airtight metal bins or heavy duty plastic totes are great for dry goods. Grains, flour, pet food, that kind of stuff. Mice and rats are sneaky. They can get through gaps you wouldn't even notice. So inside storage, you want bins with tight ceiling lids and no cracks. Here's something people don't always think about though, where you put the food matters just as much as what you put it in. If you're camping, a good rule of thumb is keeping your food storage at least a hundred yards away from where you're sleeping. And if you're in a more backcountry section of your land, a bear hang is still one of the most reliable options. Food bag hung at least ten feet off the ground and four feet out from the tree trunk. It takes a few tries to get good at it, but once you've done it a few times it becomes second nature. Keep your food storage area separate from where you're cooking when you can, and be careful about storing food in vehicles, especially ones with soft tops or windows that don't close perfectly. Bears and raccoons have actually broken into cars because of food smells. It sounds wild, but it happens. And if you've got a cabin or barn storing food in a secure interior room, ideally one with no gaps where rodents could squeeze through is going to serve you a lot better than just leaving stuff on an open shelf. Alright, let's talk daily habits, because this is really where it all comes together. After you cook, clean up the area well. Crumbs, grease splatters, all of it. Food residue in pots and pans sitting outside is basically a dinner invitation. Wash dishes and put things away before you turn in for the night. Food scraps and compost, deal with those intentionally. A sealed compost bin works, or bury scraps well away from where you're sleeping and cooking. Don't just toss them into the bushes nearby. Trash is a big one. Keep it in a wildlife resistant container and empty it before it builds up. A full trash can sitting around is one of the most common attractants there is. If you've got livestock, keep their feed in sealed metal containers and clean up any spilled feed at the end of the day. Same thing with fruit trees or a garden. Pick ripe produce when it's ready and grab fallen fruit off the ground. That stuff draws animals fast. And pet food. If you've got dogs or cats out on the property with you, bring their food bowls inside at night. Pet food left outside overnight is one of the quickest ways to start getting regular wildlife visitors. Now, one thing worth knowing, wildlife activity around food tends to pick up at certain times of year. Late summer and fall is when bears are going through what's called hyperphagia. Basically, they're eating as much as possible before hibernation kicks in. They're more active, more motivated, and more persistent during those months. And as the weather cools into autumn, rodents start looking for warmth and stored food inside structures. During those high activity windows, it's worth doing a quick walk around your property and checking for vulnerabilities. Gaps in storage areas, bins that aren't sealing right, compost setups that have gotten loose. Just a simple check can save you a headache. And look, even really experienced homesteaders deal with wildlife getting into their food sometimes? It happens. If it does, discard anything the animal got into. Don't try to salvage it. Then figure out how it happened before you restock. Because fixing that gap is the priority. If it was a bear or a large animal and the behavior seemed aggressive or unusually bold, that's worth a call to your local wildlife agency. They want to know about habituated animals. Here's my takeaway on all of this. Living close to wildlife is genuinely one of the great things about rural land. It's part of why people want it. But setting up good habits from the beginning makes that coexistence a whole lot smoother. You don't have to spend a ton of money, you just need a bit of planning and consistency. Get the right containers, think about where you're placing things, and stay on top of the small daily stuff. Once it becomes habit, you don't even really think about it anymore. And hey, if you're still in the early stages of figuring out rural land ownership, that's totally okay. Everyone starts somewhere. If you're curious about getting your own piece of rural land, come check us out at landparker.com. We've got rural vacant land available across the country at discounted prices, and we offer owner financing to make it genuinely accessible. Sometimes as low as $100 down and a hundred a month. No bank needed. You can browse available properties, learn more about the process, and figure out what makes sense for you. That's landparker.com. Thanks for hanging out with me today, and I'll catch you on the next episode.