Natural Bushcraft Shelters

**hunter63** · 03-02-2015, 02:05 PM

Grew up in a small town in central Wisconsin....kids in the 1950's .........had a woods 1/2 a block away....mostly jack-pine, about 8" in diameter.
Not sure who owned the land....thinking maybe the city....but nobody seemed to care if the kids "logged" some of those pines for log cabins, stockades, shelters and forts of all shapes and sizes.
Even brought them home for the back yard forts...one was 3 stories tall.

Lumber yard by the railroad, provided nail sweeping, (I do suspect they dumped some out just to watch us pick them up.
Nail kegs were fun as well, looked like BP kegs on Davey Crockett TV shows.

Old falling down houses were also a materials gold mine....and again nobody seemed to care.......
We could have gotten lock jaw for rusty nails, we salvaged, cuts from tin, all sorts of asbestos, broken glass, lead pipes......just all sorts of fun stuff.....It's was a wonder we didn't die.

Was a fun childhood.......and seems like it's still going......LOL

**Enigma** · 03-22-2015, 07:14 PM

Shelters are one of those things students always want to do, then after 3-4 hours work, and their shelters may still not be waterproof, they get a bit 'over it'. The reality of shelter making, if you don't have lots of wide foliage, is it takes a LONG time to make them waterproof depending on the area you are in, and what materials are available. General Aussie bush is pretty ordinary for good wide materials, (unless you can strip wide strips of bark off trees). Wide leaved material like Palm and Gymea Lilly are great to use, but are only on the east coast. Snow is easy, Bamboo is great, but takes a LONG time, pine forests are easy, due to the abundance of needles, however most of the fallen timber is always half rotten.
Finding natural shelters is always the number 1 choice, because if there's no need to expend energy, then don't do it. Use stone overhangs, large boulders fallen large trees etc first, before starting a shelter from scratch.
It does give people a sense of achievement however to sleep in their own hand made shelters. :-)

**Enigma** · 03-22-2015, 07:17 PM

here's a few images I found from a course a few years back. This was in a pine forest.

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Each student built their own shelter.

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**richbat** · 03-24-2015, 10:58 AM

That's some pretty darn good looking shelters.

**Enigma** · 03-25-2015, 06:50 AM

Pine forests are always easy for students. :-)

**Enigma** · 03-25-2015, 07:18 AM

a few more

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Johnny's shelter

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DXX's shelter

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Jim found a friend. He pulled quite a few ticks off this little fella.

One of the SF boys, doing their chicken.
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**hunter63** · 03-25-2015, 06:16 PM

Ticks on a lizard?.....

BTW some fine shelters there....Nice job guys.

**Enigma** · 03-26-2015, 02:38 AM

Originally Posted by hunter63

Ticks on a lizard?.....

BTW some fine shelters there....Nice job guys.

Yes, most of the reptiles and mammals in our bush get ticks on them. As far as I know, most have also built up resistance to the paralysis types that effect domestic pets like dogs, cats and rabbits badly (eventually they kill them).

**Auban** · 03-26-2015, 08:37 AM

My typical go to shelter for when I only have a short time to set one up is basically a hasty fighting position, lined with bedding and covered with sticks, a layer of leaves, and then buried in the dirt. It wouldnt work so well in a desert, where you would need a pick ax to dig with...

Even though it's a hole in the ground, it WILL keep you dry if you build it right. Adding more debris on top to shed water helps.

I wouldn't want to stay in one forever, but if it's going to rain and I have nothing else, this seems like less work than other methods, at least in my area.

If I were somwhere else, I might pick a different method.

**hayshaker** · 03-26-2015, 09:33 AM

in Hawaii i built a roof with 3 side walls all coverd with used beach mats with a rubber tarp under the mats.
and a 3-man dome tent inside otherwise the 3in cockaroaches and mosquitoes would get ya.after awhile
when the mats would disintigrate a bit the shelter became invisible from 20 feet away. it matched the surrounding
terrain that well.the rainy season sucked major though. living outside in the rain for six months at a strech really sucked.
that i would go outer island for a few weeks where it was dry.and lest i forget the huge centipedes and scorpions.

**madmax** · 03-26-2015, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by RangerXanatos

This is one I built using no tools. Just what I could gather with my hands including roots for cordage.

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I did not sleep in it. I had a nice warm bed a couple hundred yards away. Lol.

Dang! Nice job!

**madmax** · 03-26-2015, 10:38 AM

Palm frond fire reflector/wind break.

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/a...psuksxinxd.jpg

Hootch

http://i905.photobucket.com/albums/a...psxci7nlqn.jpg

Dang it! Still workin' on the forum pic post thingy.

**Rick** · 03-26-2015, 01:12 PM

That hooch would never do. No, sir. I'd have to run the check list of all the things that could burn me, bite me or sting me before crawling inside. Heck, it could even be hiding a dinosaur.

**madmax** · 03-26-2015, 03:05 PM

We're really not right...

**Rick** · 03-26-2015, 03:34 PM

How did you know I'm left handed?

**hunter63** · 03-26-2015, 03:42 PM

Psssst, Rick ...those are northerner traps......they invite you down....trap ya, THEN feed you to the dinosaurs and mosquitos.

How else would you account for so many people going to Florida and not coming back?

**madmax** · 03-26-2015, 03:46 PM

This could get complicated. LOL.

**Zack** · 03-26-2015, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by Enigma

here's a few images I found from a course a few years back. This was in a pine forest.

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Each student built their own shelter.

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Cool! I think I'll try building a shelter of my own next time I'm out.