When you're preparing to go camping, one of the things that you need to think about is how you'll minimize your chance of an encounter with a wild animal. A run-in with a wild animal, particularly if it's aggressive, has the potential to damage your camping gear and potentially even cause an injury to members of your group. Fortunately, there are a lot of different animal deterrent products on the market that you can buy in advance of your trip and pack with your gear. There are several aerosol spray products that can be highly effective at keeping animals at bay. Here are some benefits of using this type of product.

It Doesn't Cause Serious Harm

You don't want wild animals to interfere with you when you're camping, but that doesn't mean that you wish them any serious harm. While some people may think about using devices that can harm animals, deterrent spray is a better choice because it doesn't have any lasting impact. Certain sprays, including those that contain capsaicin, cause irritation for a short period of time after contact. The irritation will be enough to make any wild animal stay away from you, but you'll find comfort in knowing that you haven't caused any harm to the animal.

It's Easy to Carry

There are some animal deterrent products that are large, which doesn't make them a good choice when you're camping. During this activity, you may need to carry your gear for a significant distance, which means that you'll want an animal deterrent product that is lightweight and easy to carry. You may also want to carry an animal deterrent product when you go hiking. Spray products are compact and thus easy to fit in a backpack or other piece of camping gear for a long walk, and many of them have straps that allow you to attach them to your belt or elsewhere on your body.

It's Effective From a Distance

When you want to keep wild animals away from you, you want a product that is effective from a distance. This will minimize the risk of a close encounter. Spray products are valuable because you can deploy them even if the animal is not overly close to you. Many animals will smell the spray even if it doesn't make contact with them and decide to move away from you. Learn more about animal deterrent products, including various spray products like Spark Away, by shopping at a camping store before your trip.