Training Hike: Hide site and Dakota fire pit

[Badlands Rifleman]

I just wrote a new article documenting my training this past weekend, I’d love to hear what you guys think.

https://badlandsfieldcraft.wordpress.co ... -fire-pit/

[Johnny Paratrooper]

Good stuff. I may have missed your reasoning for putting the dirt on the poncho. Was that for easy cleanup?
I have a camo net, probably the same make as yours, I should rig it to my poncho.

[ken_coleman]

I'm not Badlands Rifleman, but this is what they taught me back when I was in the infantry....

Putting the dirt on the poncho ensures it does not contaminate the ground, since you can never recover it all if it is just put on the ground. If any is left on the ground, it is considered ground spoor.

Placing it on the poncho will ensure it can either all be moved somewhere else or placed back into the hole to prevent ground spoor being seen by trackers during evasion or if you just don't want to be followed.

Badlands Rifleman may have different reasons for doing what he did.

[Johnny Paratrooper]

I'm not Badlands Rifleman, but this is what they taught me back when I was in the infantry....

Putting the dirt on the poncho ensures it does not contaminate the ground, since you can never recover it all if it is just put on the ground. If any is left on the ground, it is considered ground spoor.

Placing it on the poncho will ensure it can either all be moved somewhere else or placed back into the hole to prevent ground spoor being seen by trackers during evasion or if you just don't want to be followed.

Badlands Rifleman may have different reasons for doing what he did.

Nice. Good to know. I have used tarps digging to prevent damaging yards and gardens during construction. It makes sense the principle is the same.

[John Claye]

Great writeup, and maaaaaaannnnnn, that area is beautiful.

[Badlands Rifleman]

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it. You both are correct as to why I used the poncho, to avoid creating spoor and to help fill the hole in easier. Anything you guys would have done differently?

[ken_coleman]

Thanks guys, glad you enjoyed it. You both are correct as to why I used the poncho, to avoid creating spoor and to help fill the hole in easier. Anything you guys would have done differently?

I know this was just training and there was no known enemy...so that is the basis of the comments below.

If I read this correctly, your first site (Dakota fire pit) was 100 meters away from your hide site. I could be wrong about this. I'm referencing this part "On the other side of the draw about 100 meters away there was another cluster of trees and it looked a bit more level so I went over there."

If it were real, I'd put the fire at least a terrain feature away and for sure our of SLLS range. The smell of wood smoke travels far, especially downwind.

I like and promote the idea of building the Dakota next to and under trees to dissipate the smoke as you mentioned, but one thing to be aware of, in doing so, is root fires travelling underground.

Great write up and you're actually out there doing stuff.

[Badlands Rifleman]

You’re correct, it was only about 100 meters away, I’ll keep that in mind from now on, it makes perfect sense. That wouldn’t have been a hard thing to do since I was on a ridge. Good point on the root fires as well, I was definitely keeping that in mind since it’s so dry out. Thanks for the solid advice!

[Johnny Paratrooper]

Did you consider a field latrine location? I believe you mentioned water source, obviously you don't want to contaminate your own water.

[Badlands Rifleman]

I was thinking about over in the trees past where my fire pit was but to be honest I wasn’t sure. It seemed like it would offer the most concealment for a bare ass lol. Plus it wasn’t up hill of my main position. What would you do?