Survival

[Don Rearic]

Broken glass and turds.

I grew up in a time where we would BB or Pellet Gun bottles sitting on a log. Slingshots too sometimes. That was in one specific area behind the neighborhood and never really hurt anything. But, even in that isolated area, we learned, we grew. We didn't have broken glass all over the damned place.

As someone that has had to scream like a bitch while his Dad dug out a piece of broken glass, out of my foot, if I see someone chunking bottles in any body of water, it makes me want to leave the area quietly, slash their tires, bust their glass and leave a big Cleveland Steamer on the hood of their car. I have never done that, I'm just sayin'...

Watching your bobber or working your lure, there is nothing worse than seeing the dreaded Brown Shark floating down the river. Likewise, Doberman Blunts (canine or human) left adjacent to a campground make me want to put my foot up someone's ass sideways.

I see people with all of this shit in their camp and they're too stupid or too cheap to buy a $15.00 entrenching tool at a surplus store, FFS.

That's one of the reasons I want a U-DIG-IT Trowel, I don't feel like humping an E-tool anymore. I've never been in the military and I've used them for years anyway.

Like many of you, I don't really dig Sheryl Crow's wipe your ass with a postage stamp sized piece of toilet paper or you're evil, but people just don't have any manners for the most part.

In general about camping, I tend to sit and stew over people that don't control their kids. I don't like kids who are not trusted with fire by their parents coming over and screwing around with mine, dumping shit on it, food, tin cans, poison ivy...you name it. I hate people who let their dog shit near your camp so you can enjoy the malodorous, furry, four-legged fart factory they have.

 

[runningboar]

That's one of the reasons I want a U-DIG-IT Trowel, I don't feel like humping an E-tool anymore. I've never been in the military and I've used them for years anyway.

Fiskars makes a very nice and very light trowel with an aluminum blade that packs great and works like a charm. I wouldn't try to dig a fighting position with it, even a hasty, but it works great to bury your poop. Chris

 

[Don Rearic]

I dunno, is there much difference between digging a hasty fighting position and excavating for a good BM?

 

[George D.]

The original question seems to be predicated on the idea that the world will be here forever.

That is not exactly a correct assumption.

I believe that when Jesus returns and melts the dirt with a "fervent heat" that it will not matter anymore if you left a Pepsi bottle in the woods.

Having said that, I HATE to be walking a pristine Appalachian trail and come across the wrapper to a granola bar laying on the ground.

I usually end up picking up other people's trash, just because it is ugly.

Most tid-bits of trash get buried on the spot or burned later.

 

[Thomas Linton]

As a kid, I saw a guy toss a beer bottle overboard as he zipped down the Colorado. I turned to an adult and asked, "What is he doing?! The glass can break and get on the beach!!" The response was, "He used the Gravity Method of trash disposal. Open our hand and let gravity take care of it. He thinks the whole world is his trash can."

Last time we backpacked to a favorite spot on the Allegany, the little bay was covered with 1000's of beverage cans - mostly beer. It acts like a natural trap for floating trash. The stack we collected was over six feet high and about fifteen feet in diameter, and we could not reach a good number that were out too deep and beyond reach with the ropes we had. Not to mention the ones that sank. We could not carry them out, but left word at the Ranger's (There was a jeep road in to service the pit toilets.).

We have a local judge who sentences them to pick up trash with a big sign on their backs: "I am a slob," but LEO's have even worse critters to clean up after. Michigan has tried a big deposit on beverage containers. Results?? Providing there is a safe background, shooting 'em would advance the species.

 

[RedbeAR15]

Exotic Invasives are a real problem in many areas- Take a few of these out on your trips. Cut/slash and treat the stem/stalk with appropriate treatment= easy

We need to take our land back in many areas as Trash comes in many forms, and some are green

 

[batosai117]

Having said all that, if I was really lost, I'd do whatever it took, live trees and fishing/hunting regulations be damned. I'd still try not to burn down the whole county with my signal fire, though.

This part of your quote made me LMAO

In all seriousness, I was taught at a very young age to respect the land and leave no trace camping. I've been in scouts since I was 5~6 and made Eagle about 5 years go. We always picked up after ourselves.

What ticks me off is broken glass and fishing line all over the place.

When I was a Range and Wildlife Management major, we learned that sometimes you have to chop and burn stuff for the greater good. Same with animals (not chopping and burning of course), to prevent overpopulation certain species must be hunted or they will eventually eat up all of their food and die of starvation.

I believe we were taught this of the Buffalo population on Yosemite national park. The population got too large and they were overgrazing areas of the land. This was because they weren't being hunted and had no natural predators to 'cause them to move around. So, wolves were introduced which kept the population steady and also made the herds keep on the move. Problem solved. Sometimes you gotta burn dead grass and hunt animals for the greater good, all a part of being good stewards of the land.

 

[James_Terrio]

Always glad to make someone laugh, J.

re: bury your damn poop... what's wrong with a good old garden trowel? I gave up on the e-tool a while ago.

Another pet peeve is the jackasses who haul in a generator to watch TV. What the hell? Yes, they're taxpayers too and have as much right to be there as anyone, I guess. But I go to the park to see and hear a bit of nature, not the darn Packer game. Watch it in your RV and keep the volume to yourself, please. (sorry to drift a bit)

 

[batosai117]

Always glad to make someone laugh, J.

re: bury your damn poop... what's wrong with a good old garden trowel? I gave up on the e-tool a while ago.

Another pet peeve is the jackasses who haul in a generator to watch TV. What the hell? Yes, they're taxpayers too and have as much right to be there as anyone, I guess. But I go to the park to see and hear a bit of nature, not the darn Packer game. Watch it in your RV and keep the volume to yourself, please. (sorry to drift a bit)

I LOL'd again Recently I was guilty of checking my emails when I went shark fishing. I felt like I was going to die if I didn't log on for an entire weekend My blackberry has me spoiled, heaven forbid the battery would have died

I'd never go backpacking and lug around anything that would make me feel out of place in nature, besides my phone of course

 

[James_Terrio]

Well, hey, I bring a radio camping for obvious reasons, but I don't blast it, y'know? That's all I'm sayin'.

 

[bikermikearchery]

I tried to get this idea in to peoples mind in connection with my 1000 post. Don't know if the idea came across. Not only what you do but how you influence other people. There are some people in the world who if they see you pick up a piece of trash, they will in kind do the same. Then there are the people who only understand when you punctuate with extreme duress.

 

[Mentor]

Another pet peeve is the jackasses who haul in a generator to watch TV. What the hell? Yes, they're taxpayers too and have as much right to be there as anyone, I guess. But I go to the park to see and hear a bit of nature, not the darn Packer game. Watch it in your RV and keep the volume to yourself, please. (sorry to drift a bit)

I was headed down from the summit of Mt. Algonquin in New York last summer when I passed a fellow on the way up, iPod blaring. It's funny - here in Toronto, even if someone has their headphones cranked, you only notice it if you're within a few feet, due to the normal amount of urban ambient noise. But, on the top of a mountain, with only a gentle breeze and the occasional birdcall to break the silence, I could hear this guy coming from 20 ft away. No big deal, really, and not on par with hooking a generator up to listen to the game, but it struck me as totally incongruous to the setting. Some experiences just don't need to be set to a soundtrack!

All the best,

- Mike

 

[Loosearrow]

I had to chuckle at that Chris, but you are correct in that field sanitation isn't about wiping your own a$$! I teach my kids to never urinate or defecate around water; burying your business along with your TP helps keep critters away, minimizes disease spread and makes a much more tolerable camp area for others.

Cigarette butts are my pet peeve. I grew up in the Army where we had to "police" up cigarette butts from all the smokers (I never smoked) and I hate picking up after other people! Some jackass flicked a butt out their window last weekend and burned over 100 acres of a grass field and a few trees; closing down the highway and threatening a Senior Citizen's Home and several other private homes...

RANT ON:
I'm no tree-hugger (although I am originally from WA state), but I do believe we should all be responsible stewards of our private and public lands. Some of the biggest hypocrites that are always criticizing hunters, outdoorsmen/women and good'ol Marty are typically the worst "environmentalists"...they don't conserve water, they don't recycle and they don't volunteer to clean up parks or other public lands...what they do is spout off BS with little true understanding or knowledge and most likely they've never spent one night in the remote outdoors. RANT OFF

I'm a believer of living by example. Show your children and others how to be responsible and even pick up after other slobs for the benefit of the outdoors. Recycle, avoid being wasteful, teach to garden, hunt/fish. My daughter has a shirt with a quote from Gandhi: "You must be the change you wish to see in the world"...don't bitch at others, show others by example.

ROCK6

I know about picking up butts in the Marines. We were shown how to pull them apart in small strips and roll them into small balls then pitch. You will never see them after that. Leave no trace. Obviously some of the Marines didn't learn that or I wouldn't have had to pick some up. When I go to primitive camps on private property, it is a big no no to even have your covered firepit seen.

 

[stingray4540]

Sometimes I feel like I spend more time collecting garbage, then I do fishing or hiking. Even when I get somewhere were I think "man, I bet no one has ever been here before", then I find a coors light can and I snap back into reality.

And that is what pisses me off. If I see someone littering, I start turning green with anger.