How important....

[Cliff Stamp]

Then I had some training, the crux of it being to live and travel without leaving a trail, signs of even passage, much less temporary occupation.

There is a difference between hiking/camping than wilderness survival. In the latter situations you are not passing through but trying to get out or stay alive. In general I would not go into woods I didn't own and just hack down trees for entertainment and would put the required time/effort into leaving little trace. However in a survival situation I would not think twice about cutting down green woods to quickly build a shelter, or make a large signal fire, these skills, like all, need to be practiced.

The forest is also not that fragile that random cutting will induce major harm, trees are constantly uprooted by wind, burned by lightening, and destroyed by insects or animals. This isn't of course cause to add to the destruction but it should give some perspective on the impact of small scale cutting, very different of course than industrial clear cutting and there is also no reason to leave plastics and other garbage that will never break down. Of course proper live cutting is helpful, remove damaged trees which are blocking light from new growth.

-Cliff

 

[Codger_64]

There is truth is what you said, Cliff. In an out and out survival situation it is an open playing field. Rules of conservation, wildlife management, etc. be damned. In such a situation, I'd poison fish, I'd use unlawful traps and snares, I'd make use of every stick and stone I needed to in order to survive.

But one can practice skills without destroying vegetation that might take a year to regrow. One can still build from materials gathered in such a way as to leave little or no trace of the harvesting. It takes no more time, just a bit of forethought. Can you bend and tie six saplings into a dome without cutting them, then release them when you are through? Sure. Can you practice signal fires without tossing on green living wood and branches? Sure.

Again, I don't live where you do, and maybe your woods do not see the annual traffic mine does. Maybe no one will pass by your project spot for the next few years, or the next five. I just like leaving a spot as pristine as it was when I first saw it. If not more so. That's just me.

And my own land has been inhabited since before the turn of the century (an old ruined log cabin sits in the pasture behind my house), so I can behave differently here than I can when visiting wilder lands. There, I both at home and a guest at the same time.

Codger

 

[Cliff Stamp]

But one can practice skills without destroying vegetation that might take a year to regrow.

Longer, 20 or so likely. Yes you can practice many skills, but some are direct, how to fell, cut and split fresh woods is specific to that wood and even type and you can't get it aside from working with them. How specific vegetation induces cover. Large sheets of birch bark for example have a very different effect on repelling rain than dead and sparce boughs, or most ground litter.

Can you practice signal fires without tossing on green living wood and branches? Sure.

But without using such branches do you know how much flame/smoke they produce, do you know how far away it can be seen, do you know how long it lasts, or what it takes to ignite it, do you know the best way to cut it. I have seen someone for example throw an armload of green boughs on a fire and not realize the massive flame potential it will produce , inexperience and a quick wind change would be an unfortunate situation.

Again, I don't live where you do, and maybe your woods do not see the annual traffic mine does.

Rarely, outside of direct land next to houses or within an hours or so walk, it is basically never touched. Quite close to houses there is a lot of cutting done, usually by kids building cabins, so there is a lot of waste, trees cut off at 3' above the ground for example. But all of this is getting build up so fast that it makes no difference.

I can see a point that if everyone decided to go into the woods and chop down enough wood to make a leanto tomorrow then it would be likely that yes there would be a destructive influence and you can certainly be overkill in terms of chopping up things for entertainment without regard, however there is also ways to make a difference in a positive manner.

Wood lots for example have to be trimmed of damaged trees so you can do your part in removing these. You can also transplant trees. I found three really young maples last week growing along a road leading to a local graveyard which had no chance of surviving because they would be cut down once they overlapped the road assuming they actually survived being run over as they were basically on the sidewalk.

I transplanted them about a mile into the woods in a small clearing close to a place where I cut down a small birch awhile back because I wanted to work with the bark and the fresh wood. But again I can certainly understand a perspective which sees too much unnecessary cutting and I think you can go a long way in developing skills while minimizing cutting.

-Cliff

 

[mewolf1]

When the Spaniards went back to the Queen, after being lost at sea and finding this country, they reported a "pristine untouched wilderness" . That's what I like to hear when someone has been to a place that have been too many times.

 

[Coldwood]

I have an early American style tomahawk that I sometimes carry, use for throwing...eyedrop type poll, knockout handle, swedged blade...I've used it for clearing brush, splitting wood, pounding tent stakes. A good tool. I think I would prefer a heavy knife; ideally I would prefer a machete.

 

[pit man]

What about such as the TOPS Outfitters AX ?