Bushcraft Etiquette (resurrected)

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,518
3,458
65
Exmoor
I might poop in a bag myself. It would be better than finding a tree! Also, it would scare the posh dog walkers.
Just remember to take it away with you and dispose of it properly and I have no arguments. Hang it on a bush and I'll get the dog warden out!:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimbo75

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,518
3,458
65
Exmoor
Actually all joking aside this is a serious etiquette issue and not much spoken about. When I took my patrol camp leader badge in the guides back in the eons of time we had to know how to build and manage a proper latrine. How many people do more than dig a hole each time they need to go, or pack it out? I always build a latrine from habit if I'm out wild camping in the woods. A log seat makes things more comfortable. Two crossed logs each side of the hole with a sturdy log laid across it. When finished and before leaving it's filled in and marked with crossed sticks. Hole must be about a foot or more deep.
 

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,353
2,364
Bedfordshire
Depth is a very variable thing. The idea is that it be deep enough to prevent anything getting dug up, turned over or washed out, but not so deep that you are into the bacterially barren sub-soil where ones deposits won't break down. That is assuming that one is digging in soil that has both top soil and subsoil, and isn't all sand or rocks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Woody girl

C_Claycomb

Moderator staff
Mod
Oct 6, 2003
7,353
2,364
Bedfordshire
I wonder whether the global move against the wasteful use of plastic bags will filter down to the pieces of lazy excrement that hang and leave pooh filled bags from hedges!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Janne

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
Weird, I thought the same a few days ago.
When our dogs ( 2 Cockers) were alive, we used to carry a small shovel and just move the dog produced fertilizer under a bush closeby.

Not for the ‘plastic waste ‘ reason, but because I think it is super unhygienic to touch fecalia with my hands, as those bags are posdibly holed, and then tying it ( and posdibly getting the manure on my hands) and creating a tiny hot house and incubation chamber for the myriads of bacteria and parasites.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Robson Valley

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,518
3,458
65
Exmoor
I do believe that you can get compost able ones made of cornstarch. But these tend to be more fragile than the plastic kind. Yes I too would move dog poo into a hedge with a pooper scooper carried in a plastic bag when I had dogs. I realy don't know the answer to it. As you say there is a chance of getting it on your hands. I carried wet wipes and also hand gel so that should sort that problem. Trouble is then you end up with hedges full of dog poop. Not nice to walk past especially on a hot day. The resulting odour is less than pleasant.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Robson Valley

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
Not a match for big dogs rolling in the grizzly bear crap that you didn't see.
Boy, do they think they smell pretty. Berry purple dog.
Thank heavens for pick-up trucks with canopies over the back box.
Tie them to a post in the back yard and hose them off with doggie soap.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Janne

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,518
3,458
65
Exmoor
My old lassie dog had a habit of rolling in fox poop. That was pretty nasty i can tell you!. Never smelt bear poo but having smelt bear pelt I can imagine it's non too pleasant. But then what excretion does smell nice?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Janne

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
To me, the most sensible bit of bushcraft ettiquette is to be quiet. Natural sounds.
Even wood splitting is OK. The snap and crackle of a conifer wood fire is a normal expectation.

Carry some sort of a digger so you can bury what you don't plan to bring home.
Dig a deep waste pit that you use for everything and then cover it as you leave.

Herbivore scat (moose, elk, mule deer, white-tail deer, mountain sheep, mountain goat)
doesn't have much of a smell and there's a lot of it around here, even in my front yard!.
The dogs figured it was a buffet for them, elk was the best.

Omnivore/carnivore scat is the worst here. Worse than pigs. The bears and the wolves & coyotes.
They always crap in the middle of the logging roads so you don't have to dodge the piles.
Cattle in the high grazing leases just let fly in every direction.

Llama turds on a hot summer day will stink for miles. For a while here,
Llama scat was a so-very-trendy thing to dig into home flower beds.
Never. Again.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toddy

Janne

Sent off - Not allowed to play
Feb 10, 2016
12,330
2,293
Grand Cayman, Norway, Sweden
I can not even fathom why people take entertainment electronics into nature!
Youtube videos would be fine if I choose the music, but a guitarr?
Or even worse, an ukulele.....

I used to hunt with a guy that always took a balalaika with him.
One day he discovered I used those in the ear hearing protectors, he was not happy!

I get into nature to hear silence. No cars, only natural sounds.
These days nature is mote silent than ever as I have lost lots of my hearing. I am supposed to wear two hearing aids.
 

Fadcode

Full Member
Feb 13, 2016
2,857
894
Cornwall
People find solace and piece in many ways, many joggers will listen to music as they jog, others whistle while they walk, whatever floats your boat, but I must admit it can be annoying when loud music is thrust upon your ears, I remember back when Walkmans were in vogue, everyone had them turned right up so everyone could hear the music even if they didn't want too, now its the same with phones, very obtrusive.
But people wearing earpieces totally oblivious to their surroundings, traffic, and all can be quite dangerous too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Toddy and Herman30

Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
As you all expect, streams of mountain snow-melt water come bounding and smashing down over the rocks
with a lot of spray and considerable sound. In the big June melt, you can hear the rocks rolling on the bottoms.

Based on fire-pit stone rings for camp sites, I can't show you more than 1 in 10 which is within 100M of a creek.
The other 36 are tucked back into the shelter of the conifer forest, near a lake shore or some abandoned gravel pit for big tents and caravans.
I suspect that the water noise drives the campers away. It sure isn't for lack of flat spots to pitch a tent or three.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,106
2,833
66
Pembrokeshire
Canned music - even if it is stuff I like - and huge amounts of light to drown out the natural night and destroy the atmosphere of the night time woods ... worse than head torches around the camp fire (especially when the lanterns are left burning when the site is unattended!) PITA!
 

Toddy

Mod
Mod
Jan 21, 2005
38,937
4,570
S. Lanarkshire
It can be like that here too. Overcast skies late on in the year, or very early in the new one, and you can't see your hand in front of your face. Even down near water which reflects.
 

John Fenna

Lifetime Member & Maker
Oct 7, 2006
23,106
2,833
66
Pembrokeshire
It is great being out in the dark months - I was out last weekend when it was pitch black at about 5pm - and yes, torches are needed then...
But folk coming into the campfire with headtorches blazing into your eyes as they turn to look at you - not good!
 

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
4,518
3,458
65
Exmoor
I'm not keen on the L E D car headlamp head torches that seem to be the rage nowadays. Fine on a mountain while night walkingand you need to navigate. Just not nessasary in the woods or round a campfire.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Herman30

Herman30

Native
Aug 30, 2015
1,351
1,030
57
Finland
Right you are, Woody girl. To see what you are doing in the dark you don´t need a very powerfull torch. Some 10 lumens is quite enough.
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE