A couple of weekends ago my buddy @stephen alley and I headed out to the back of the farm to get a night out in. It was relatively dry, but it was forecasted to be one of cooler nights we've had. We settled on a spot just inside the woods near one of the grown up fields. There was plenty of dead standing materials and a lot of beech trees. We had decided to build debri shelters to boost our insulation for the night. I went with the extended tripod style and @stephen alley went with a lean to with closed ends. I cut some small pines out of the edge of the field to add a layer to catch the leaves and then I went to work piling up leaves on my shemagh and carrying them to the shelter. I finished it up by pulling some bark off a downed tree and laying it on some of the leaves to guard against wind blowing them away. Steve dug a dakota pit for us and got the fire going with some flint and steel. We got some summer sausage in the skillet and started getting the ingredients for the bannock prepped. Steve got to work on a pot hook so we'd have some coffee to go with the bannock. He went with the X notch for the hanger.
While we waited on the bannock I got to work on a spatula to match @stephen alley new skillet. I have to say this was some of the best bannock I've made. The pralines were awesome and my wife suggested using cinnamon sugar instead of regular sugar. We made another pot of coffee before we crawled into our shelters and bedded down for the night. The next morning before we headed out I grabbed a quick shot of the tools for the trip. My Sargent M1, my SAK, and the trusty GB Wildlife Hatchet. I have to say the shelter was pretty warm considering the lows were in the upper teens and my bag is rated to 20 and it's 6 or 7 years old. I made the opening just big enough to get in and get situated and I put about 2 inches of compressed leaves under my foam pad. I even pulled my pack into the opening to help seal it off. I definitely see the benefit to these shelters and it was relatively easy to construct. We went back to check on them the other day and they were still standing after several big rains.
Looks like you had fun. Hard to tell in the pictures but... If you put the Dakota fire hole near a tree (at the base of) and dig it deeper you can use the tree to hide some light. As well as the branches and leaves dissipates the smoke. I do not have a point if you are wondering.
Haha, thanks for the suggestion. When the wind is an issue and we plan on filling in the fire scar I like it. Plus it really helps cook because all of the heat is focused straight up.
When you use a Dakota fire are there any concerns for leaving behind a smoldering fire? Or are there certain soil types where the Dakota is not recommended? Edit: Love the looks of that wood bowl/cup.
I would avoid it in soil with lots of plant material or roots. Roots can smolder for a long time. We always totally drown these out, fill in a little, stir it up, make sure it's not giving off heat, fill in more, and then tamp it down minimize air pockets.
Great job on the photos, informative and insightful. Question for all the debris shelter builders, North, South, West anywhere...do ticks or the concern of ticks affect your shelter building, the materials or locations, or times of year you might build one? I ask this because I was out at my deer lease collecting natural materials and found 2 black deer ticks on my pants after only a few minutes....
I've only practiced them in cooler weather when the insulation was necessary. I've used a browse bag, in that case a contractor trash bag, for a mattress in warm weather but the tall grass inside was sealed up.
Thanks for bringing this up. Central Michigan does not have much in the way of ticks so this is not something that I even thought about.