building shelter vs tents

[crwydryny]

depends on where I plan to go. if I'm going somewhere with lots of open fields and few trees then I take a tent as it is easier. if it's going to be in teh woods I usually take a tarp just in case it gets wet but usually just rig up a quick and easy shelter. a tarp also makes it easier to build a leaf litter shelter (just pile the leaves on the tarp then tip them onto the shelter frame) among it's many other uses

 

[S.S.]

If you are in open areas use a tent, if you are in woods, take advantage and build a shelter.

 

[Nonsuch]

With due respect to others, I don't think building natural shelters is good for the environment, even if only dead materials are used and no wood cut. That material is some other creature's habitat or food supply. It's maybe good to do it once, just so you know how, and for the experience, but not as a habit. Everyone has come across some "project" or other, assembled in a favourite wild spot, and then just left, or disassembled and scattered but it still being obvious what has been done. I favour tarps over shelters, and frankly prefer a quality tent over a tarp. You can still open it up and just use the netting door if you want that outdoor feeling. I have a strong feeling our ancestors would have gone for a good tent if thy had the chance…

EDIT - just realised I said this earlier in the thread...

 

[Retired Member southey]

But if your not removing the material, just stacking it in another shape how is that removing a food source? on a personal point of course i would rather find\see no shelters when in out an about, but would rather find a natural shelter using no man made materials than the equally lazy persons tarp or string left round trees.

 

[Nonsuch]

Yes I think it depends how well the material is scattered after use.

I was thinking of woodlouse A losing his bit of habitat because it has gone into someone's shelter and then that bit of habitat getting put back in a different place for the enjoyment of woodlouse B etc.

Not sure I should be worrying about this however! : all of this pales into insignificance alongside Scotland's litter problem. The beer or Irn Bru can has become almost ubiquitous in our woods wherever (some) people have passed.

 

[tartanferret]

i'm with you about string left round trees, also a lot of people have been building bivvies leaving big nails hammered into trees in my local woods. The last one i saw even used a massive section of steel mesh fencing, god knows how they got that there, i wouldnt fancy carrying it thats for sure !

 

[stavros]

I love building my own shelter from natural materials. This said, they must be low impact, i.e stuff that's lying about.
I will always leave any shelter i have built standing!!
The reason? Someone else can use it, i can use it again or use the remnants for firewood.
I wouldn't build said shelter for one night in the woods.
I would use alternatives mentioned for more than a night.

 

[stavros]

I love building my own shelter from natural materials. This said, they must be low impact, i.e stuff that's lying about.
I will always leave any shelter i have built standing!!
The reason? Someone else can use it, i can use it again or use the remnants for firewood.
I wouldn't build said shelter for one night in the woods.
I would use alternatives mentioned for a night.

 

[stavros]

 

[Neumo]

I think a sense of perspective is needed here. The amount of material that Eagle Owl is talking about removing every now and then really will have a minimal impact. I suspect he removes only a tiny proportion of the boughs that are left in the logged area, and you ignore the fact that the boughs he takes will very probably create such a habitat wherever he repositions them. A little bit of a heavy handed holier than thou response maybe?!

I agree that a sense or perspective is needed here. Taking a few bits of wood from the wood floor & making a shelter in the same woods = no change to the wood ecosystem in my book. The important thing is the dispersal of the bits when you are done, so you cant see straight away that there was a shelter there is the important bit. In many of my local woods peole just leave them, which I think is wrong if you dont own the land. You need to remember that logging of some kind takes place in a lot of managed woods, so people complaining about moving a few sticks around when lorry loads of timber leave the same wood is not an argument many will take seriuosly. Woods need to be managed, especially ones in the UK where they have been managed for several thousand years, so cutting down the right trees or taking some hazel out of a coppiced clump is actually a good thing in many cases.

Forgot to say we should all have a go at building natural shelters as it is one of those skills that you need to do a few times before you get it right. I use a tarp most of the time now, nearly always with a hammock. I do tent when on an organised camp site, like I did at the CLA Game Fair a few months back; dont mind it but it is not the same as waking up all comfy in your hammock when the first thing you see when you wake up is the trees....