Natural Shelter and leaving no trace (Small Rant)

[Opal]

Gone are the days when we made dens under the living room table, making sure the tablecloth hung down enough so me mam couldn't see us (I've a big family). We made dens on top of our roof (three landings high our flats) climbed up the spout and passed the wood up, who needs woods.

 

[cbr6fs]

Read my posts. Kids in my local wood build harmless dens. Teepee understood it. Not sure why you having difficulty?

As i don't know you, don't frequent your area then i think it's pretty much understood by most that i'm not talking about you specifically.
My comments are from my experiences that i've seen with my own 2 eyes.

It may well prevent misunderstanding in the future if you type exactly what you mean rather than some abbreviated code.

 

[mountainm]

It may well prevent misunderstanding in the future if you type exactly what you mean rather than some abbreviated code.

Beg your pardon?

 

[Robbi]

i think we've found a troll lads :viking:

 

[mountainm]

I'll sum up my previous posts so there's no misunderstanding on what I'm trying to say.

If its kids having fun making dens then i have no issue with it.

+1 as long as there's no builders tarp or nylon rope involved...

I've never made one myself - but in our local woods it's the kids that do it. They tend to do a good job too they're certainly not eyesores and not hurting the trees or surrounding environment. Only dead wood has been gathered and put in one place, instead of being scattered around. They could scatter it around again but I suspect they use them on a regular basis when they're playing in the woods. And I see no harm in that.

I agree with that - I guess the simple wikiups we get in our woods are not in the same league as the type Teepee posted up. They always make me smile and the kids go and investigate them. Once there was a picture perfect Fly Agaric growing in the middle of one.

Vandalism, when nothing is damaged? Some sticks have been moved from one place to another....

I'd rather kids were in the woods building shelters from sticks than sat at home glued to a display, regardless of wether they knock the shelter down afterwards or not.

Lets get one thing straight. Vandalism is destructive. Moving sticks about is not destructive. The shelters I've seen have used fallen wood. Have no fire scars and no litter and use only sticks to build them.

Well that is vandalism. But I think it's the local cubs/scouts in my wood and to be honest they're pleasing little structures - like sculptures. That seem to get re-used and repaired. Kicking one down would be an act of vandalism too as they do no harm.

Like I said - if it's just sticks being moved around there's no problem. If people are damaging trees and leaving litter it's different. In my eyes anyway.

They don't need knives and axes - it's fallen dead wood? Besides I had a penknife when I was 7.

They don't use logs. Staves at most. Things that can be broken easily. Dead wood.

Read my posts. Kids in my local wood build harmless dens. Teepee understood it. Not sure why you having difficulty?

 

[cbr6fs]

Beg your pardon?

Our personalities will tend to come through in our posts, for me i'll be the first to admit i do tend to go on a bit.
I try my hardest to say what i want to say in as few words as possible, but being on forums for a number of years and being a mod on other forums, i find i tend to have to be pretty exact in what i want to say otherwise it tends to be open to misinterpretation and misunderstanding.

With that in mind you post below is pretty abbreviated by any standards.
The first 2 statements are great (wish i could sum up as efficiently) the teepee statement is a bit ambiguous to me especially as we have a member active in this thread called teepee.

Read my posts. Kids in my local wood build harmless dens. Teepee understood it. Not sure why you having difficulty?

What really threw me though was that i thought i was pretty clear in taking about my specific experiences not yours.

 

[sasquatch]

This thread makes bushcraft look fun!

 

[mountainm]

This thread makes bushcraft look fun!

This thread makes a trip to the dentists look fun.

 

[John Fenna]

i think we've found a troll lads :viking:

Plus one on that - he is now on my ignore list.
His previous thread posts have mainly seemed a bit iffy too!

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

Where are we now on this thread? I'm lost....


There is a vast distinction between children building dens and some of the cra'p that has been left behind. The stuff I have seen is unsighlty with fire scars / litter / beer bottles etc etc ad infinitum - It has been left by adults in a national park, in full view, without permission and breaking the law - I'm sorry but that cannot be defended by any right-minded friend of the countryside.


Signed, Trolly the troll

 

[EarthToSimon]

I lost track of this thread a while back, thanks for the advice. there was a good bit of the cheap blue rope about on them and a builders tarp, so I've took them off and binned them. Most of them are the teepee type against a tree so they're stable enough. Leaving them as they are.
All been built from dead wood so no harmed trees round here.

Sorry for causing the big debate, just looking for a bit of advice on what someone more experienced would do.

 

[Bushwhacker]

I don't see any trolling at all, just a lot of autism.
Question: Are the posters happy, sad, angry or just trying to get a point across?

 

[cbr6fs]

I lost track of this thread a while back, thanks for the advice. there was a good bit of the cheap blue rope about on them and a builders tarp, so I've took them off and binned them. Most of them are the teepee type against a tree so they're stable enough. Leaving them as they are.
All been built from dead wood so no harmed trees round here.

Sorry for causing the big debate, just looking for a bit of advice on what someone more experienced would do.

That's good to hear.

I wouldn't worry too much about the debate, it does tend to happen that a few folks here get mardy and throw their dummies out if anyone dares to put a different viewpoint across.

Funny thing is the kids came in to see what i was typing and had a read through the thread, you know that some folks have "issues" when two 11 year old kids say they should grow up


What i find funniest though is when people comment about how bad a thread is, surely if it's THAT bad normal folks wouldn't read it, never mind take time out of their day to write something that has absolutely NOTHING what-so-ever to do with the thread

I don't see any trolling at all, just a lot of autism.
Question: Are the posters happy, sad, angry or just trying to get a point across?

I'll take the 4th one please

 

[mountainm]

Plus one on that - he is now on my ignore list.
His previous thread posts have mainly seemed a bit iffy too!

Used ignore for the first time ever. It's liberating!

 

[Tengu]

I blame those idiots on the telly who encourage this sort of thing.

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

Used ignore for the first time ever. It's liberating!

Who said that?

 

[Bushwhacker]

There's an 'ignore' function? What the .......? That's mental! In essence, that's an infringement of free speech, well, either that or an online version of clasping your hands over your ears and going, "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALA"

 

[Dartmoor navigator]

The OP asked a question:

"Personally I feel that no matter how you sleep in the woods you should try not to leave a trace, but is it seen as acceptable to leave natural shelters?"

There is a potential for infinitely variable views, of which some will be diverse... bound to get snags


Peace and love

 

[mountainm]

There's an 'ignore' function? What the .......? That's mental! In essence, that's an infringement of free speech, well, either that or an online version of clasping your hands over your ears and going, "LALALALALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALA"

I prefer to see it more like noise cancelling headphones. Filtering out the distractions.

 

[Bushwhacker]

I still refer to my previous statement that it's no different than a grey squirrel drey.