Land access: would you give permission?

[rik_uk3]

If I owned 15 or 20 acres and knew the people well then maybe, just maybe. Shooting absolutely not. A couple or three acres then no, unless I invited them to join me. A few camps by folk with all the best intentions will soon strip the land of dead wood and I admit I'm selfish enough to want to use it if I chose to. This is the motivation behind Nigel and I keeping our spot near Sennybridge for our use to be honest.

 

[Ex-member PaganBushcraft]

There was a Farmer called woody near me when I was in my teens that had an Airstrip and a red diplane If he saw us on his land he would fly away get some altitude then cut his engine glid back and drop harfcharlys from about 100 ft up one minite you where walking a long the next Thud a harf brick would bury it's self 2 ft from you He did not like pesants as he called us on his land The CAA tuck his licance off him in the end for repeated violations of flying under power lines. He then got his Shotgun permit revoked for using Rocksalt shell as that shows intent to do Bodily harm before the fact the Police told him if he had used Birdshot and shot some one it could have been put down as an accident but not when the Doctor digs Rocksalt out of a wound and it go's in his medical report.

yep a shotgun round loaded with rock salt, non lethal and stings like a bugger, it stopped me poaching when i was youger though...

blanks are pointless, and if its young lads they will just nick the blank gun and use real rounds in it intsead...

the rock salt this is not a good idea though, and i would never do such a thing on people poching deer from the farm where i used to shoot...

put some more signs up saying people will be shot or beware of the bull etc etc, fences with razor wire is the only real way, and even then they will just bring cutters and go through it...

the rozzers are not bothered, and when or if they turn up its a comunity support officer who cant do much appart from turf them of the land....

once young people have found a spot to doss around it will be hard to get rid of them..

 

[Ex-member PaganBushcraft]

My dream is to win the euro lottery and buy a wood sooooo big you can get lost in it and never find your way out and I would give permition to all true Bushcrafters to us it when ever thay liked for meet or to teach there kids or arange groups from schools as long as the knowage is being past on I would even build logcabins here and there for them to use for free. Archery ranges ect' as long as the people take out what thay brought in with them and did the teaching on a no profit bases if thay want to make money from it then thay would have to pay rent witch would go into the a community pot If some one did abuse the wood ( beercans, needles vandolium, forest fires ect' ) then as I said the wood is big enough that thay would get lost and no one would ever see them again. as I would also buy a J C B with a long reach arm on it (for bigging wells you understand.) Have just read it back to myself .Makes me sound like a right PYCHO. HaHahahaha Im not mad everyone else is. hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaa.

 

[Toddy]

Y'know ? reading this thread, I finally see why there's so much bother with access to land south of the border

Toddy

 

[John Fenna]

Even if I had enough cash to buy me a wood the cost of the fences, armed response teams, traps, spring guns, electricity (for the fences), mines etc would ruin me!
That - and the worry of some scabby peasant using my woods for their own pleasure - would drive me loopy!
Nah - I will stick to using other folks woods

 

[gliderrider]

But firstly I might suggest that they come and help out when we do any work in the wood. Quid pro quo and all that. If they are prepared to work hard for the sake of the wood, then they are likely to respect the wood.

Yep, sounds about right. Though as others have said, I'd probably use it myself and IF others wanted to use it for camping they'd have to be with me to start with. I'd fence it etc, depending on wether there was a Right of Way through it. Shooting etc would just be for me.

 

[bronskimac]

Being in Scotland where wild camping is generally legal I would only kick up a stink if the campers were abusing the space. I would allow small fires but again if they are tearing down living wood or had a fire that threatened the wood they would very quickly get their marching orders.

There is now a by-law banning alcohol and camping on a stretch of Loch Lomond because it was being abused and overused.

About three years ago when I first visited Glen Etive I think I only saw one group of canoeists, we had the place virtually to ourselves. Returning this year there were several encampments all along the 14 miles of single track road mainly next to cars or vans. We took an extra bin bag of other peoples rubbish when we struck camp.

I think this news story about Loch Lomond sums up the stupidity/selfishness of some "campers":

"Whereas the people on Loch Lomond are trying to hack down trees with wire saws, some of these fisherman are turning up with chainsaws. They're more organised.

"There was even one with a lawnmower which was used to prepare the area for his tent. This was in a farmer's field."

 

[ConorM]

Being one of the many owners of Scotland i do not mind who comes on my land , as long as you take your rubish home and leave the place undamaged.

 

[Lasse]

I'd say it depends on the size of the land, the location, the ecological vulnerability and the kind of people that live nearby...

Nobody wants local hooligans trashing the place, obviously. Anyone who respects the nature would be welcome though, if their visit is ecologically acceptable at least. The disturbance might be too great in small reserves, but then it's maybe possible to have some paths which people can use without doing too much damage... If possible I'd follow the idea of Allemannsretten. Letting people enjoy nature is probably the best way to show them it's a good idea to have more of it.

 

[21st century pict]

Here’s a thing now,the other day I had a walk down to the Bird hide near where I live, on the track I found the packaging for some camera parts all opened bit at a time a little paper trail down to the hide I’ll guarantee a wildlife photographer or a birder there was nobody at the hide which means he walked back past his rubbish so we can’t just blame the yobs. And I have been up plenty hill’s and found fag butts all round the triangulation pillars, What’s the chances that that was hill climbers.
I’ve never seen a yob at the bird hide but there’s plenty rubbish there and there’s even been some bird seed stolen, that doesn’t sound like Yobs .But you can always tell a yob by his fire all the usual rubbish but they normally chop down live trees, green wood for the fire, wise up...
Not that I’m anti Ned hunting ,don’t get me wrong there now. I just find it a bit ironic that townies or yobs usually get all the blame.

 

[gliderrider]

Punji Pits, thats the solution. Maybe a few sprung spear traps too. Anyone that isnt paying attention to the wood gets it.

 

[sandbender]

"...So, you have your bit of land, and then along comes someone asking politely if they can use your land for..."

dog-walking - No
camping - Yes
trapping - No
shooting - Perhaps

I have let people camp on my land before and have never had any problems. I have been invited to camp on the land (or gardens) of complete strangers and it behooves me to return the same courtesy to others. Of course the moment someone starts a forest fire or leaves a pile of half burnt plastic for me to clean up my attitude may change.

Folks on mountain bikes though, that I cannot abide.

 

[Laurentius]

It's an interesting question because more than a decade ago "my family and I" were looking to purchase a piece of woodland and we looked over several locations. I can recall a particular Beechwood in the Chilterns where we were looked on with great suspicion by the locals because we intended (horror of horrors) to manage the woodland which would have meant cutting down trees that were past there best since this was a very neglected and essentially dying woodland. We had every intention of maintaining the access arrangements for people who used the woods for walking there dogs and what have you, we were not opposed to extinguishing any sporting rights, and if anything wanted to open up the access. However when me met those attitudes we backed off and to my regret never went ahead with anything. I am in no financial position now to buy so much as a second hand car, never mind a plot of woodland, so it goes.

Having seen the amount of abuse of local woodlands (nature reserves notwithstanding) in these latter days, I wonder whether we were not being too optimistic back then, and I do wonder now what the optimum balance of public access and preservation is.

 

[Harvestman]

Y'know ? reading this thread, I finally see why there's so much bother with access to land south of the border

Toddy

That is exactly the reaction I thought the question would get. if us responsible bushcrafters won't allow people onto our hypothetical land because we are suspicious of their intentions or habits, no wonder we can't get access ourselves. It seemed to me interesting to try to look at the access problem from the other side, as it were.

 

[jackcbr]

That is exactly the reaction I thought the question would get. if us responsible bushcrafters won't allow people onto our hypothetical land because we are suspicious of their intentions or habits, no wonder we can't get access ourselves. It seemed to me interesting to try to look at the access problem from the other side, as it were.

I think it might be a bit more that all we can afford down here is very small isolated pockets of woods. If I had a bit of larger land, far from the madding crowd, I'd be happier to let people use it. But when it is so small that you can recognise every tree like an old friend, you tend to be a bit more protective.

 

[jackcbr]

Also if it was responsible Bushcrafters using my wood, how would I ever know that they'd been there?

 

[British Red]

That is exactly the reaction I thought the question would get. if us responsible bushcrafters won't allow people onto our hypothetical land because we are suspicious of their intentions or habits, no wonder we can't get access ourselves. It seemed to me interesting to try to look at the access problem from the other side, as it were.

I saw very few people saying they would allow no access at all? Many saying that they would want to know who was using their land and have a say in what it was used for. I actually saw "us responsible bushcrafters" saying "yes, with some restrictions, once the person has asked politely and demonstrated responsibility".

I think that shows how we can "get access ourselves" - ask nicely, offer to do jobs in return (woods don't manage themselves after all) and abide by the restrictions the landowner puts on, and, in many cases, access is granted once you have shown yourself responsible. That mirrors my experience of "real" landowners to be honest and shows maturity, courtesy and consideration on both sides - as it should be.

Maybe I was reading a different thread? Or maybe I just interpret it differently?

Red

 

[Man of Tanith]

personally i would allow others to use this hypothetical woodland on a few provisos
1 i get a call whenever people intend to use it
2 they use the same area each time within the woodland for both the camping and also the fireplace
3 if they intend to bring more than just themselves they need to clear it with me
4 if they plan to do anything more than camp cook and have a fire it must be run past me no tree felling etc without prior knowledge
5 if they use it a lot then they should bring in fire wood to prevent stripping the area
6 if they ring me i am automatically invited should i have a free hour or evening.

coincidentally these are the rules i adhere to with my permission which is owned by my god father
he always says go for it when i ask if i can do something and has never asked to come and see what i am upto but he has the option
i always ring him as it is near a tiny little village and he has been told several times hippies are living in his woods when in fact it is me lisa shannon and jake.

 

[Harvestman]

Yeah Red, I think I may have been seeing what I expected, rather than what was there. I just re-read the thread and you are right.

Thanks.

 

[dasy2k1]

If I had some woodland i would allow its use for camping provided I was asked in advance and the place was left as found or better.

Who would automatically get a yes answer on asking would depend on who they are and how they found out about it....

Scout groups and bcuk members would be much more likely to get a yes than some random bod

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk