Making A Shelter

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Scotty

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So if you were out and had NOTHING on you to make a shelter, what would you do? I think I would look for existing shelter to begin with. If you can't find an unoccupied cave or shelter, then start tearing off pine limbs and try to make lean to. I would also try to find vines to try to lash everything together. So that would be shelter, what would you do?
 
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Grandpa

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First, I wouldn't be caught out without anything but for the sake of your question.....If I had a pine tree, I would hunker under it and stay as dry as possible until the storm subsided a bit rather than hustle around in it and get soaked. (It takes quite a bit of time for rain to penetrate to the bottom of a good spruce or fir). If a night out was inevitable, natural shelter first such as a ledge, a downed pine, a cave, and then augment that with natural things like your downed sticks, bark and finally pine boughs. It takes a real emergency for me to take live branches of a pine though. Much easier to use sticks overlaid with bark or big leaves and held down with more long sticks.
 

bsmit212

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I like Grandpa's answer. And how he limited it to the way you put your question. If I ever got caught in this emergancy situation I would think it would depend on where I am, weather, temp, and what is avaialiable around you.
 

oldsarge

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I know it could be a million to one chance that I would loose all my gear, but we all know about Murphy's law. That's why I carry a good fixed blade knife on me at all times. Strapped to the sheath is a basic survival kit, inside is a space blanket and basic fire starting materials, not to mention a few other items. I agree with bsmit212 and Grandpa, it pretty much sums up the right way to think.
 

Pathfinder1

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Hi...


It's pretty much standard and agreed that you NEVER want to get caught without proper emergency supplies when afield.

However, just in case you had NOTHING around you. I would start piling up all the NOTHING that was nearby, and tunnel a nice, warm area inside it...!! :tinysmile_shy_t:
 

ppine

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Pathfinder1,
I would like to emphasize again the quote at the bottom of your page, which is more important than all of the threads on today's forum put together. Thank you.
 

Pathfinder1

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ppine;
Pathfinder1,
I would like to emphasize again the quote at the bottom of your page, which is more important than all of the threads on today's forum put together. Thank you.




Hi...


You are very welcome. What a very kind thing to say.
 

Hikenhunter

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I agree with others here. First of all you should never get caught with out anything. However for the sake of your question it would first depend on where you are when this happens.Since I frequent forested areas I would look some kind of natural shelter then build off of that. Piling up lots of leaves and pine boughs and burying yourself inside of the pile will keep you warm and help to ward off the elements.
 

ghostdog

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Its a good question and there are things you can do in any terrain like pile up rocks for a wall barrier or make debris shelters where wood is plentiful.

Like others I am never without certain things and my pack is always on my back unless I stop for food. A poncho and a tarp are part of my kit no matter how far I'm going. It is good to be able to get a shelter up in a few minutes with materials you have on you rather than using a lot of energy scavenging materials and then attempting to construct something that will be weatherproof.
 

Scotty

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I certainly do NOT intend to be caught out without anything. :D However, I don't discount I would totally lose my mind and run off in a direction that would lead to me not knowing where I was. As a matter of fact, I frequently lose my mind and do some pretty stupid things.
 

offtrail

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You did not mention what type of shelter you were needing. A shelter can be anything that protects a person from a type of situation. Could be just a sun shade or a wind brake, A shelter can also be a blind for concealment. Have you ever noticed after a rainstorm that one side of a big tree is always dry. In an emergency just hugging a tree on the dry side is enough to keep you from getting drenched. Sometimes you will get caught out in the open with nothing to make a shelter. That's why I carry a tarp and never leave home without one. I had a nice winter camp set up made from logs and thatched the roof with field grass. Found a old rusted 55 gal drum that I used for my fire place. Then went down to the river and found some bricks that I used around the front of the fireplace. It was my home away from home and just 20 minutes away from where i live. Then one day I went to camp and it was all tore down, some kids had found my camp and decided to destroy it. Never again will that happen, I use a tarp now and make sure I leave nothing standing when I brake camp.
 

stm1957

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I had a nice winter camp set up made from logs and thatched the roof with field grass. Found a old rusted 55 gal drum that I used for my fire place. Then went down to the river and found some bricks that I used around the front of the fireplace. It was my home away from home and just 20 minutes away from where i live. Then one day I went to camp and it was all tore down, some kids had found my camp and decided to destroy it. Never again will that happen...
You talk like you think that you were a victim of vandals?

Out here in Colorado, there is a lot of public land: National Forests, BLM lands, National Parks, State Parks, etc. There are some pretty remote areas, where it might be easy to assume nobody goes. But that is not the case, and because of that, the excepted and generally practiced philosophy is that building any type of shelter or structure on public land is not acceptable unless you have an outfitters license, or a grazing permit. Permanent or semi-permanent camp sites like the one you speak of are very frowned upon, and whenever they are found they are dismantled, either by other campers, organized groups (like the Sierra Club), or even forest service work parties.

That camp site that you put together, and that you think is so nifty, will most likely be just an eye sore to anyone else. If everyone that ventured into the woods decided to erect a shelter out of the materials at hand, the untouched natural experience would soon be ruined. Some people don't realize that one of the most important things that they can do when they are out in the back country is to be considerate of the next person. Many of us are drawn to the wild places by their pristine qualities. That shelter that you "bushcrafted together" just wizzed all over that pristine quality.

If you have a need to practice that type of bushcraft it would be wise to only do so on private property, with expressed permission from the landowner.
 

offtrail

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You talk like you think that you were a victim of vandals?

Out here in Colorado, there is a lot of public land: National Forests, BLM lands, National Parks, State Parks, etc. There are some pretty remote areas, where it might be easy to assume nobody goes. But that is not the case, and because of that, the excepted and generally practiced philosophy is that building any type of shelter or structure on public land is not acceptable unless you have an outfitters license, or a grazing permit. Permanent or semi-permanent camp sites like the one you speak of are very frowned upon, and whenever they are found they are dismantled, either by other campers, organized groups (like the Sierra Club), or even forest service work parties.

That camp site that you put together, and that you think is so nifty, will most likely be just an eye sore to anyone else. If everyone that ventured into the woods decided to erect a shelter out of the materials at hand, the untouched natural experience would soon be ruined. Some people don't realize that one of the most important things that they can do when they are out in the back country is to be considerate of the next person. Many of us are drawn to the wild places by their pristine qualities. That shelter that you "bushcrafted together" just wizzed all over that pristine quality.

If you have a need to practice that type of bushcraft it would be wise to only do so on private property, with expressed permission from the landowner.
Since I gave no detail as to what type of property my shelter was built on. You have shown yourself to be a bu*thead I would never go camping with the likes of you, You jumped to conclusions without any facts. I would go further and give more detail but i'm not wasting my time on you sir. Please in the future before you go popping off get some detail or at least ask some questions before you run your mouth.
 

Grandpa

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Sorry offtrail. Out here we adhere strictly to "leave no trace". Even fire rings that are not in appropriate places are scattered. Cutting of any live material is not only highly frowned on but illegal in all USFS, BLM, and NPS administered lands. I say "out here" but this view is also shared by my friends and family in the east. If your shelter was torn down, I suggest you do something to stop trespassing on your property.
 

offtrail

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Sorry offtrail. Out here we adhere strictly to "leave no trace". Even fire rings that are not in appropriate places are scattered. Cutting of any live material is not only highly frowned on but illegal in all USFS, BLM, and NPS administered lands. I say "out here" but this view is also shared by my friends and family in the east. If your shelter was torn down, I suggest you do something to stop trespassing on your property.
It's not that I disagree with you, it was the way stm1957 worded his reply. Being passionate about the outdoors and people respecting her is a great concern of mine also. Next time stm1957 might try to get to know someone or get some facts before attacking someone. Now i'm ready to move on and forget about the whole thing :tinysmile_fatgrin_t
 

jason

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Going to close this thread for a week until cooler heads can prevail. Merry Christmas everyone.
 
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