overnighter (pic heavy)

[m.durston]

hi all,
me and my mate chris decided a few months ago to start doing a few overnighters at the airsoft/paintball site we play at.
after seeking permission from the guy who rents the site we invited a few other mates along. financial circumstances and a mates car picking a fight with a bentley conspired that only 2 of us were going!!!
the only trouble we had was we got woken up by a muncjac deer at 2am who was having a singing contest with an owl. after shouting 'shut the 'fruitcake' up' it was quiet for about 30 secs but the little swine got about 10m away and started up again!
thoroughly hacked off i jumped up with a headtorch on and chased after the deer shouting "AAARRRRRWWWOOOOOOGGGHHHHHHHH".
childish i know but it was lovely and quiet the rest of the night! lol

anyways heres a few pics, thanks for looking.
our sleeping arrangements

brewing up, the pothangers were fixed with tree roots which were still going strong after 2 days of heavy use.

chris wearing his limited edition noel edmunds jumper on the phone to his missus

me with my beef rissoto

sundays lunch getting ready for the pot, pre shot and frozen by chris's brother a few days earlier.

rabbit frying with onions, later added to a stew slowly cooked for an hour

chris with the stew

 

[w00dsmoke]

Isn't it lovely when we meet people in the woods who are there to be close to nature and appreciate all it has to offer...:AR15firin

Sometimes I wonder why inner city parks are not used more often for camping they would be far more appropriate in this case.

 

[MartinK9]

NIce looking spot, thanks for sharing

 

[BOD]

Unless I am completely knackered the first night does not bring good sleep.

Something always keeps me awake.

By the second night only an elephant trumpeting could wake me up.

 

[Melonfish]

i'd try that at my local airsoft except most of it is just swamp!
great for ambushes mind. we regularly scare pheasants out whilst playing too, that or they wander accross you as your lay in ambush and startle the hell out of themselves and you and then you get hosed by the opposition

looks like a nice setup tho! whats the site called? i've been to a fair few.

 

[stretch3144]

I'm so envious!
But I can't beleive your mate is using a tent!

 

[m.durston]

Isn't it lovely when we meet people in the woods who are there to be close to nature and appreciate all it has to offer...:AR15firin

Sometimes I wonder why inner city parks are not used more often for camping they would be far more appropriate in this case.

I'm not saying i dont appreciate nature, the site is known for having an extensive network of badger sets which when we next come up with my 9 year old son we are hoping to watch.
both of us are ex forces and so are very used to sleeping outdoors with all the accompanying noises, but i think even ray mears himself would have got the hump lol

melon the team we play for is tech brigade, the site is in newgate street near hertford.
we share it with a paintball team and as such some areas are awash with dulux from time to time.
it also suffers from some militant tree hugger locals that tend to vandalise the work we do up there.
for example we needed some wood for building defensive positions so one of the guys who is a tree surgeon identified some dead/rotten trees and some beech that had been damaged by high winds and chopped them down.
a few days afterwards the locals came up and wrote messages on the tree stumps like "you will pay for this" and proceeded to set fire to all the work we had done.

this is the thanks you get when you try to make the wood safe from deadfall

stretch i know what you mean about the tent, it was so mild that night he was sweating in his sleeping bag lol

 

[Aaron]

I wouldnt take any notice mate, either from Mr Woodsmoke or from the local branch of Friends of the Earth (maybe they are one and the same - cant see clearly but is 'Unecological thugs' written in purple text?) They clearly seem to have missed the point that:

a) Muntjac are a pain in the **** if you are trying to sleep
b) What you did didnt cause any harm
c) Given that muntjac arent a native species you probably have more right to be in the wood than it does
d) cutting and moving the dead wood has done very little harm, given that you have stacked it together in the positions you have built it is effectively achieving the same ecological function as a habitat for bugs and beasties.

Ho hum, glad you had a good time.

 

[Goatboy]

for example we needed some wood for building defensive positions so one of the guys who is a tree surgeon identified some dead/rotten trees and some beech that had been damaged by high winds and chopped them down.
a few days afterwards the locals came up and wrote messages on the tree stumps like "you will pay for this" and proceeded to set fire to all the work we had done.

Oh I know what you mean,the British public are very narrow minded when it comes to trees. Plant an area and they moan that it'll be a monoculture hell, thin or fell another... even the one they complained about you planting and they moan about the fact that you've taken away the lovely trees. The type of woods that most folk enjoy are managed woods. Bit I guess a foresters job is something akin to being a traffic warden in their eyes.
He ho
GB.

 

[w00dsmoke]

I think anyone who get's annoyed at deer during the night because of the noise they make which disturbs their sleep has totally missed the point in being there in the first place. That's fine but it's not fine chasing deer with a head torch screaming at them. Why increase an animals stress just because you can't sleep? I just think it shows a total lack of respect let alone an understanding for the wildlife around us whether naturalised or not. I think being so close to wildlife is special experience, one to be enjoyed and looked upon as such.

Now what I don't understand is this, if someone wants to be outside and bivi, watch badgers with their kids etc , then that shows an awful lof of respect but on the flip side chases deer screaming at them with a head torch? It doesn't sit comfortably with me and I don't think it's particulalry funny if that's what the intent was.

Whether you watch wildlife, shoot, fish or live in the greenspace; without respect, i think it's done for the wrong reasons.

(mr ) w00dsmoke

 

[Aaron]

Lets be honest the bloke has admitted it it was a silly thing to do, and he didnt cause any harm, so why not spare us the self righteous preaching in the first place? And why do you write in purple? Answers on a postcard pop pickers!

 

[m.durston]

well Aaron you cant please everyone can you!
i cant see how chasing off a muncjac deer at 2am is disrespectful to wildlife. its not like i went out to hurt or maim the animal for waking me up lol
disrespectful to nature would be me and my mate not doing an area sweep for rubbish and not putting the fire out properly, as the old adage says "leave nothing but your thanks".
maybe i should have stripped down to my underpants, painted symbols on my torso, and prayed to the wood spirits to ask for a good nights kip

 

[rik_uk3]

Looks like a good camp, and nothing wrong in using a tent, lets be honest, hammocks are pretty new on the UK camping scene compared to tents.

 

[w00dsmoke]

Lets be honest the bloke has admitted it it was a silly thing to do, and he didnt cause any harm, so why not spare us the self righteous preaching in the first place? And why do you write in purple? Answers on a postcard pop pickers!

Self righteous preaching.. For the record there's is nothing self righteous in contributing to an animals stress and that was the point in my post


And why does anyone respond in a forum whether in purple or not? It's a discussion forum and if you don't like what you put up being discussed why do it?

 

[wanderingblade]

......I can't beleive your mate is using a tent!

....................and one that appears to be called a 'Ladypacker'

As for moaning about the whole Deer thing - get over it! Little blighters spend half their lives getting spooked by one thing or another, and if it's made it more wary of humans then it's probably done it a favour.

 

[m.durston]

....................and one that appears to be called a 'Ladypacker'
.

LMFAO!!!! i never noticed that. I'm gonna rip the **** out of him for that one lol

 

[Tye Possum]

Well actually I think I'd prefer to have a tent if I was camping at a paintball/airsoft site, offers more protection I'd imagine! As for the deer, well maybe it was a little disrespectful but who wants to be kept awake all night by a noisy deer, I mean it's not like you threw rocks at it or walked over and hit it, which is probably what I'd do if my friend's snoring was keeping me up all night.

 

[Aaron]

Self righteous preaching.. For the record there's is nothing self righteous in contributing to an animals stress and that was the point in my post


And why does anyone respond in a forum whether in purple or not? It's a discussion forum and if you don't like what you put up being discussed why do it?

Hillarious but predictable. Do all Masons write in purple ink?

 

[wildman695]

with a bit of thought the muncjac could have become tomorrows dinner, hee hee, introduced pest species protected or pest?

 

[w00dsmoke]

Hillarious but predictable. Do all Masons write in purple ink?

Whatever bud, if it floats your boat keep going :You_Rock_

pmsl