Well, if I could haul a few hundred cinder blocks with me and some metal roofing I would go with that....

But a well built stick hovel is going to be superior to any tent you could carry.

But is also going to take a lot of time. So, carry a tent, set it up, and then get to work building better shelter to move into.

And no, I won’t click on your GD video’s even if they are amazing and awesome and any other perforative clickbait you want to use,

 

And no, I won’t click on your GD video’s even if they are amazing and awesome and any other perforative clickbait you want to use,

Yes, I wanted to show my stuff off, but the question was still genuine nonetheless.

 

You do good work.

I think the word "work" is the key to answering your question. The time you plan to spend in one place drives how much effort goes into it. That being said, I am a big believer in the old army principle of always improving your foxhole.

 

Definitely prefer building shelter over carrying a tent.

 

Movement is your primary focus.
Keep it light.

Tarp

 

Well....only if you have somewhere you want to go.

 

I have spent months in tents during winter and spring month, even in deep snows. But i have also spent tine in improvised shelters.
IMO, any iimpromised shelters worthy to survive a winter blizzard will take days to construct. Lessor impromized shelters are very poor.
So I consider a modern tent a very high priority. Especially a modern outfitter tent equiped with a wood burning stove.

The thought of trying to survive a winter storm under a tarp gives me the shivvers.

 

Modern lightweight equipment. Calories need to be conserved. Natural material may not be handy. Daylight is an issue. Axe/saw noise in escape/evasion is probably not the best. Yes, have knowledge and practice making natural debris type shelters or lean to's. but building a barn may not be a good plan and not the most mobile option. now if you plan to become semipermanent, then yes, making something more sturdier than a tent is good. but even then an easier may be to set up a canvas wall tent with an outfitter's style wood stove.

as far as a youtube link, even to one's own channel: I dont know of any forum rules prohibiting it as long as it's not obvious clickbait. nothing wrong with marketing/promoting one's own true work. there is a few people here doing that, including that guy who was on Alone.

my bigger concern is how did you get away with practicing "bushcraft" in the pine barrens? I've been there, its in the republic of nj and I thought it was protected land and they would treat you worse than a murderer in newark if caught for disturbing it.

 

my bigger concern is how did you get away with practicing "bushcraft" in the pine barrens? I've been there, its in the republic of nj and I thought it was protected land and they would treat you worse than a murderer in newark if caught for disturbing it.

Thanks for all that. I was on private land.

 

Natural or Modern?

Depends.
When you are talking highly mobile (quick, fast and light) or mosquito's, Modern.
When you are talking about long term or 6" of snow overnight, Natural.

 

as far as a youtube link, even to one's own channel: I dont know of any forum rules prohibiting it as long as it's not obvious clickbait. nothing wrong with marketing/promoting one's own true work. there is a few people here doing that, including that guy who was on Alone.

No, no rules against it. But most people suck. And most youtubers suck even more than most people. Many should be classified as a separate degenerate species...and among that species, are a lot of 'survivalists' youtubers who suck even more than average. Maybe its not fair, most of the time when a new member posts a video they made on a forum its junk and they are just trying to go viral.

This guy however does not suck, nor do his vidoe's. I am seldom impressed by anything on youtube....this however, is impressive.

now if you plan to become semipermanent

Any long term survival plan requires that. The idea of traveling everyday with just the pack on your back for weeks on end is mostly a fantasy.

 

Just a bit on YouTube videos being posted by members. It’s not against the rules unless the member just posts links to their channel and do not take part in discussions on the forum. If it’s just links and not discussion, it’s spam and will be dealt with.

As for Aspiring Caveman’s videos.... I see no problem. In fact, I like them.

 

Scenario: it's time to bug out and you need to stay mobile for a while. I mean roughing it. What is your preference when it comes to keeping yourself dry and generally out of the weather? Modern equipment or natural shelter?

Your thoughts.

Natural shelter is slow and often leaves extensive evidence of your presence.

 

That is something I am interested in as well. I have ten acres of forest here but I think I would have to clear at least an acre of it of all small trees to come up with enough poles to build one of these.

 

If I'm 'bugging out' and 'having to stay moble' it means people want to shoot me.

As such I'm going to J hook so I can ambush anyone following me and harboring up in the biggest thicket or other terrain feature that's going to make it hard to approach me without alerting me.

Then you lay out your claymores (in another life) and go to sleep wrapped in your woobie while disturbing as little as possible.

Hopefully you do it good enough that whoever is tracking you never finds your hide.

Because if they do a couple times they can learn your patterns and anticipate you, and turn your ambush.
So change your patterns.

This is 101 guys.

 

Yep, the on-the-go part means I'm not taking the time for a lot of construction. As mentioned, for both time and traces.
Go bags have a small tarp, groundcloth and bivy sack.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

I've been living on my BOL for over twenty years, so I am pretty well set. But if something like fire forces me out, this is my "shelter on the go" and the OP's awesome shelter would be great as a base camp when I return to my burned out homestead.

https://www.amazon.com/Camping-Mosquito-Compression-Lightweight-Portable/dp/B01KGOVEI6



So many people can't afford a second home on a remote piece of land, so they may feel like the whole idea of a BOL is too far out of reach, but they certainly CAN afford to make something like this, if they had a place to build it...

Hopefully this thread (and the Caveman's excellent Youtubes) will encourage more folks to consider a remote property for a BOL, with the idea that you don't need a "real" house to survive.

 

When you go mobile, most of the time you can sleep on the ground with a poncho liner draped over you. Most of us who served in Viet Nam did that for months on end. When the Monsoon season hit, then you needed a light shelter which would be some tarps or ponchos tied together to deflect large amounts of water.

You can put up a tarp shelter in a few minutes if you have some paracord, string or light rope. If you are about 6 feet tall you should probably get a tarp about 12 feet long or double your length. This gives you enough room for one person to comfortably shelter under a tarp. If you try to put a tarp or poncho over a tree limb, expect that tarp or poncho to sway when that limb moves around because of the wind. That's why so many of us used steel rods, engineers stakes and log poles instead of tree limbs for holding our tarps or ponchos.

You angle the tarp or poncho down so that the water immediately runs off of it. Also figure which direction the rain will be coming from and angle the tarp so that the rain hits the tarp flat from that direction. You fix your rucksack off to one side or the other so that, if need be, you can use it for cover and shoot from behind it.

With a poncho and poncho liner, you can tie the liner into the poncho and have an instant kind of sleeping bag for use on cooler weather nights. So right up until the really cold snowy nights you can pretty much sleep on the ground without actually putting up a poncho or tarp shelter.

Travelling light has always pretty much been how Americans have moved across the U.S. over the years. Early pioneers did it. Hobos did it. Rodger's Rangers did it. When you look at it, it's almost a custom or tradition for us to travel light.

 

If I am truely on the go and want to stay natural I would do a tarp/vapor barrier and a debris hut (pile of leaves on you in a shallow hole). Easy to make, keeps you warm and mostly dry.

 

Early pioneers did it

Early pioneers had wagon trains, boats, carts and horses. Nobody pioneered anything with just their backpack.

 

All about the tent/tarp. It’s 5 minutes to put up, can be used just as a wrap, and weighs 3.5 lbs, and doesn’t rely on anything that may or may not be available in the landscape.

 

Nice videos by the way. First time I have seen a Tracker do anything useful as well.

To the question it would be a combination. I mean if I found a tarp or some corrugated iron. I am not going to leave it on the ground and not use it.

And I also would have to sleep somewhere while I am building that.

https://youtu.be/aC-A6SP3EsQ

 

Nice videos by the way. First time I have seen a Tracker do anything useful as well.https://youtu.be/aC-A6SP3EsQ

That cracked me up. Did you mean the people or the knife?

 

Scenario: it's time to bug out and you need to stay mobile for a while. I mean roughing it. What is your preference when it comes to keeping yourself dry and generally out of the weather? Modern equipment or natural shelter?

The reason I'm asking is that I'm partial to making stuff from things from the landscape. It has its pros and cons. Here are a couple of examples of (long term) natural shelters that I've done. They work like a charm and blend in with the landscape much better than a tent.

Your thoughts.


This one was built in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

Awesome Survival Cement Cabin (Hogan) w/ Cedar Bark Roof and Dakota Fire Pit - YouTube


This one I just finished a month ago in Europe.

Amazing Long-Term Survival Hut, Rammed-Earth Walls, Debris Roof - YouTube

You aren't "stating mobile" if you have time to build those structures in your video.

Obvious answer is thus, modern equipment. Though such can be a simple as a tarp.

 

Depends on the climate your in.

With that said an old school military poncho and some cord go a long way in many different environments and are light weight. Easy enough to put up a low laying shelter in the woods or a sun shade in the open. Plus it's a poncho and can be used as such for movement during rain to keep you partially dry.

If its super cold you're going to need to take a little more time to ensure you have a shelter that will keep you alive.

If your in a jungle you're going to have to take some time to ensure you have a place to sleep off the ground.

Regardless of where you are at staying dry and conserving energy for required tasks is super important.

 

I like my modern tent... keeps the bugs and snakes and rodents out., and the cat in. Most improvised shelters won't do these things as well. Also better at keeping rain and groundwater out than some improvised shelters.


As far as speed... I can be in a pine/fir/spruce with a few extra branches very, very quickly. But it's more camouflage and rudimentary shelter, and won't prevent the cat/dog from wandering off/chasing something.


In winter, I like igloos, and secondarily snow caves. Good camouflage and when constructed/used properly with a moss burner, you won't freeze to death There is still the issue of cat/dog wandering/chasing. No snakes or bugs to worry about, but other critters can be a problem. Not too much time invested if you know what you're doing.


Pine barrons… the biggest thing when I was there was no smoking, no fires, and it was jail and a huge fine if you threw a cigarette out the window while driving through (70 was a prime example). They did levy both civil and criminal charges/penalties on people that started grassfires, forestfires, etc. I wish Kommiefornia and some other places were half as conscientious about preventing fires and prosecuting people that were responsible for them as NJ

 

Tarps/ponchos are one item that are nearly indispensable for most regions in my book. Same with a poncho liner/woobies...

Even with a tent we will often use 1 or more tarps either under the tent or as an additional rainfly or "dry" space outside of the tent. I've only done a few debris shelters as a learning opportunity and found (for me anyway) that having a small tarp or sheet of plastic directly over my and under the debris helped ensure that the sleeping space was water resistant. One of the things I noticed on the TV series Alone is that many of them used their tarps in a similar manner.